Kilbeggan 18 Year Old

Every year, Cooley is asked the same question: at what age do your maturing whiskeys peak? And each year, so far, the answer is "Not yet!". We've seen a 19-year old grain whiskey and an 18-year old malt whiskey so far, both single casks for speciality retailers.

I'm a huge fan of the aged malt, in particular, consistently rating it each year as my favourite whiskey. I like the grain too. Not as much, but it stands up on its own.

What I've found much harder to approach are the Cooley blends. I have just poured a basic Kilbeggan here and it hasn't quite lost the brashness of newly-distilled spirit. Even at 15 years old, I didn't take to it, finding a certain bitterness within that characterises Cooley blends for me.

That 15-year old, introduced in 2007, is no more, replaced by a new 18-year old, in the same "perfume bottle". Well, this new expression has turned me around completely. Suddenly it all makes sense. I can recognise the various hallmarks of a Cooley blend but they are now rich and rounded and perfectly integrated. There is a tangerine sharpness to the initial taste with just the right amount of oak chiming in on the finish. The combined effect is a lingering mouthful of rice pudding and strawberry jam.

I can't fault this whiskey. I didn't expect to like it, but I love it. There are 4,000 bottles in this batch but I hope Cooley can find a way to produce more when that runs out. 18 years old means this was distilled before 1993. From 1993 to 1995, there was a hiatus in production at Cooley due to a takeover attempt. Get it while you can, then!

The new Green Spot packaging

Quoting the press release:

Green Spot’s traditional green bottle is replaced with a stylish clear glass bottle with higher shoulders, a shorter neck and an enlarged base offering the perfect backdrop for the striking new label. A contemporary canister, which features an image of a cask marked with a green spot, is set to increase the gift appeal of this celebrated limited release expression.

Green Spot is a great whiskey but it has been in need of a makeover. Also, as I said earlier, the label modestly neglected to mention its best feature: that Green Spot is a Pure Pot Still whiskey (now "Single Pot Still").

Here's the pic, and I have to say, it is tasty! (Click on it for a big version.)

For comparison, here's what it currently looks like:

The new Redbreast packaging

I'll just quote from the press release:

The enhanced Redbreast range retains its distinctive shaped bottle, label and logo, with additional elements such as a wood cut illustration of a pot still, printed on copper foil and, by way of explaining the origin of the name of Redbreast, a robin motif. A strong point of reference for consumers, the descriptor 'single pot still Irish whiskey' is given a clear presence on the front label. A colour code has also been introduced with burgundy distinguishing Redbreast 12 Year Old from the green Redbreast 15 Year Old. Gift cartons for both expressions have also benefited from a considerable upgrade with heavier carton stock and the use of emboss and copper foil devices, adding to the range's super-premium cues.

("Super-premium"... I hope that's not code for higher prices.)

And now the pics (click to see bigger versions) ...

Single Pot Still is the new Pure Pot Still

In 2010, when Irish Distillers released their Redbreast 15yo in the US, they were pulled up by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). The issue was the use of the word "pure" on the label. "Pure Pot Still" (PPS) has a well-defined, traditional meaning in Ireland (whiskey made solely from a mash of malted and unmalted grains in pot stills). Purity is a difficult concept to nail down, however, and the TTB decided that consumers would be better served by preventing the use of the word "pure" on spirits entirely.

Irish Distillers are the only remaining makers of the PPS style in Ireland so it was up to them to come up with a new term. The result: "Single Pot Still" (SPS). This works nicely for a couple of reasons. It's still clear that it's the product of pot stills (rather than column stills) but it adds the "single" designation that indicates this is the product of only one distillery. That's a concept whiskey drinkers already value in malt whiskeys ("single malts").

PPS used to be the standard whiskey style in Ireland. With the introduction of column stills and popular taste changing to favour lighter whiskeys, PPS became the exception rather than the rule. The legally protected term, "Pure Pot Still", was dropped in the 1980 Irish Whiskey Act, and subsequently misused by Cooley on some of their malt whiskeys.

Only two PPS whiskeys survive today, Redbreast and Green Spot (though it is still an important component of Jameson, Powers and other IDL brands). Such was the thorough devaluation of the PPS term that Green Spot failed to even declare this on the label.

That's all changing now. Work is ongoing to protect the term "Single Pot Still" at EU level. The Redbreast and Green Spot packaging has been updated to highlight the new term. IDL is now hinting at "innovative extensions" to the SPS range later in the year.

Brendan Buckley, Global Category Development Director for Irish whiskey at Irish Distillers, said:

This initiative symbolises a new chapter for pot still Irish whiskey, and signals renewed energy in the category. [...] we will be investing behind these brands with the clear intention of restoring our unique whiskey style to its former glory. We are confident that through this initiative, the Irish whiskey category will benefit, as more and more consumers continue to discover this exceptional style of whiskey.

That's a sentiment Irish whiskey drinkers will stand behind 100%.

And from now on, this blog will use the "Single Pot Still" term too.