Killowen – Belfast Whiskey Week – Exclusive Bottling – 11-Year-Old Single Malt – Bonded Exclusive

This 11-year-old single malt is finished in a delicious port cask originating from Northern Douro. The cask itself was rich with grape residue from a previous lifetime and wood stained heavily by a rich port, even after thorough rinsing. It is 227 litre cask that was only filled to about two thirds its’ volume, after plenty of sampling and a healthy allocation to last years Whiskey Week, the yield only amounts to 301 bottles at 54.3%.   

18 months resting in this cask has seen a few different versions come to the fore. During Belfast Whiskey Week 2020, the Killowen box offered an interim view at this cask, at this time, the whiskey itself tasted like a generous mouthful of skittles, while still beautiful, it created a fear that the cask would become overpowered by these fruity notes. Thankfully the drier spicy notes offered by the European wood have instead, balanced the overall pallet and the richness of the cask residue, has provided even more body. This is an expression of Irish single malt that does not yet exist, if the right whiskey producers made more of this, we would buy as much as possible just for drinking.