WHISKEY (IRISH)

MAGILLIGAN’S “PURE POT STILL” WHISKEY

I am really not sure if anyone will read this review, if anyone will care, because this is all very confusing. The whiskey is manufactured at the Cooley Distillery, located in Riverstown Ireland, is also bottled in Riverstown, but is specially bottled for and distributed by Ian Macleod and Co, Edinburgh Scotland – so presumably the brand name is owned by the Scots too.

It gets even more confusing, because unlike the term “Single Malt,” “Pure Pot Still” is not a protected legal term. Irish law allows any whiskey distilled in a pot still to be termed “pot still whiskey.” Even though the principle and defining characteristic is that pure pot still whiskey is distilled from mash made using predominantly unmalted barley, it is not legally necessary for a distiller to add unmalted barley to his or her grain mix – whilst still calling the resultant whiskey a pure pot still product.

Indeed, some whiskeys produced by the Cooley Distillery break from tradition and do not use unmalted grain. They are actually single malt whiskeys, but can be legally labelled “pot still whiskey” if the distiller so chooses. In this instance, the distiller and distributor have labeled the whiskey both pure pot still and single malt at the same time.

According to more learned whiskey professionals, Magilligan’s actually has no unmalted barley in the Magilligan “Pure Pot Still” Whiskey. Therefore, our first attempt to try an authentic pot still whiskey has failed. Apparently Green Spot or Redbreast are better whiskey recommendations for those searching out the traditional “pure pot still” experience.  We shall in time take our own advice.

Continuing the confusion is that the unmalted “green” barley is responsible for giving pure pot still whiskey its spice, yet despite all absence of the “green” stuff, spice is a word used in the tasting notes I read elsewhere. Unless these gents were wrong, and only Cooley themselves can tell us that!

As our review of the Macallan 1851 Inspiration first intimates, here are Grainmash we don’t take too kindly to having the marketing spiel take the proverbial, and this tasting represents the second such instance during this quest.

On the above grounds, this whiskey is disqualified from any right to the claim of the best whiskey in the world, despite some redeeming features. You see, it is light in colour, and it smells nice enough. It sits on the front of the tongue, stays firmly on the centre, and does not hit the jowls. It is therefore (as I learn the term for the physical sensations I can describe) a dry whiskey. In fact, whilst the swallow has a touch of a throaty rasp, the finish is very much back to the ceiling of my mouth and the front of my tongue, and again therefore quite dry.

The verdict for this 5 year old youngster is brief – it’s a fresh, light, drinkable whiskey, equivalent to a light white wine, and if it were not for the complete and utter sense of having been hoodwinked, I would not mind another. There’s absolutely nothing offensive about the product. Ian Macleod and Company has some making up to do, and I hope my next meeting with them is rather more encouraging.

As I tend to leave half finished bottles kicking around the place, I will offer samples of this to someone who really doesn’t like peat, but would like to try a little Irish twinkle whilst visiting Grainmash HQ. As for the Cooley Distillery itself, apparently there’s rather a nice Tyrconnell Madeira Finish which I ought to test against the Bushmills 21 Year Old Madeira Finish, before I decide which Irish Madeira Finish is top of the Grainmash “Madeira Finish” Whiskey pops. If you read the above, wow and enough! Onwards in search of something more direct.

© 2009 GrainMash.