Powers John's Lane Release & Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy

[DavidH]

Cooley have already distilled the SPS spirit so let's hope we get to try it on Wednesday or at Whisky Live.

Thanks for writing up the Midleton launch. The insider details that don't appear in the press releases are always very illuminating.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

The reviewer says he met a sulphured cask. Not doubting his integrity or anything, but why would a distillery with probably the best cask management policy in the world (maybe) lead them to a sulphured cask? I might even have tasted this one. I suppose we all have different palates.

It's taken me a whle to digest all that has been happening over the last few days. Between the launch and the on-line reaction it has taken me till now to settle a bit

Anyway in relation to the 3 single casks that were on offer I will try and offer this insight on it. Firstly we ran a fair bit behind time due to various reasons mainly IDL trying to take care of close to 70 people in 5 different groups. So when we arrived at warehouse (3a I think) which is one of the old original warehouses we were well behind schedule. The 3 midleton Masters Barry Crocket, Billy Leighton & David Quinn were possibly going to talk about each cask individually but it ended up David Quinn doing a basic introduction to all 3 and then then telling every one to dig in.

All samples were direct from cask and at cask strength.

The first one I tasted was the 1994 MMP (Spirit Type) MD1 (Cask Type)

MD1 stands for first fill Madeira and the MMP which I think stands for Medium Mod Pot but I actually missed the exact definition.

I heard lots of people saying a light a floral whiskey but this description is slightly misleading. True this whiskey has a light floral charachter but it was not a light whiskey and such a description is more fitting to Cooley's wonderful Tyrconnell 10yo version. This was surprisingly quite a full whiskey with a big mouth feel and would remind you of a sherry type matured whiskey just with the Madeira taste influence just to give you an indication. Not sure if that is explaining it any better but it is just to let people know it was not a light whiskey in my mind.

Next was 1996 LPM (Light Pot Midleton) and Cask B0 (Zero) Basically First Fill Bourbon Virgin oak.

These are brand new fill Casks i.e. this wood never held anything previous to the Midleton spirit going in. This to me was a lighter whiskey and full of tonnes of sweetness and vanilla. Again I heard people compare it to Bourbon which technically would be correct but there was definitely a noticeable difference as for my money Bourbon is bigger on sweet but dark sugar type flavours as well as the Vanilla etc. So the B0 would be much more refined except on the finish which Lew from Malt Advocate really enjoyed but I found quite woody and possibly one of the reasons that they use this very sparingly and probably could never release this on it's own.

Lastly was the the 1995 MMP-4 Cask BS2 Again a Medium Mod Pot but the 4 means that it is a much heavier style of Mod Pot that the regular Mod Pot. BS2 is basically a Second Fill Sherry Butt.

A few people mentioned the sulphur effect but after tasting and not getting it I tried thinking about it logically. Firstly why would a second fill cask be exhibiting a sulphured trait, obviously it is a distinct possibility especially if it was badly sulphured in the first place and also the cask itself was possibly sourced in the 80's, but did Jameson ever have a sulphur problem back then??? Further I've been lucky enough to have tasted several cask strength samples of the Sherry SPS and one thing I have noticed it that these are very big full on whiskeys and alot of people who would love Jameson 12yo & Redbreast 12yo are very surprised about the taste profile of some of these single sherry cask samples. There is a meatiness to these whiskies that possibly border on sulphur but I didn't really get the sulphur that people were talking about, yes meaty but not so sure on the sulphur. So another question I have to ask, am I mistaking sulphur as meatiness or are others mistaking meatiness as sulphur. I have definitely tasted whiskeys with sulphur and it is not pleasant when it dominates in any sort of way. And as John M says would IDL actually put this out on display so people could report on the sulphur.

What has to be remembered is that all these whiskeys will never dominant constituents of an IDL whiskey and are used only as building blocks or for round off. Curiously the BO's are not regularly used in Jameson Gold but not more than 15% of Jameson Golds make up wopuld be BO casks. The Madeira has never been used for anything to date and of course the heavy Sherry Mod Pot 4 would be used sparing too if it was being used at all.

Not sure if that throws any further light on the casks but I'm sure Lew Bryson of the Malt Whiskey Advocate was only writing as he saw it.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

People at the evet tweeting about new Redbreast developments by the end of the year too.

Is that the repacking of the 15 y.o. from PPS to SPS ? ore is that possible a new 18 y.o. Redbreast SPS?

The repackaging is already done whether or not they have it released yet is another thing.

See new packaging here

As you can see it has really departed from the 12yo with the new dark Green. Quite strange when you see it for the first time but the 15yo was always too similar to the 12yo so a good thing in my opinion.

So the question is is it going to be a new 18yo or something of that ilk? ... and if so what is the colour going to be? ... I'm guessing navy and by the way I have no inside information on this just a guess.

[JohnM]

I'm sure it's possible it was sulphured. It's just that I'd find it strange that a company with such a magnificent cask management policy would lead some pretty influential people to a sulphured cask, given that they have warehouse upon warehouse of unsulphured casks. I think when someone says something at a tasting, others can tend to latch onto it. But again, I'm not saying the reviewers were wrong or anything.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I'm sure it's possible it was sulphured. It's just that I'd find it strange that a company with such a magnificent cask management policy would lead some pretty influential people to a sulphured cask, given that they have warehouse upon warehouse of unsulphured casks. I think when someone says something at a tasting, others can tend to latch onto it. But again, I'm not saying the reviewers were wrong or anything.

Totally right John and as I said on what does john know I did not get it but I did hear Dave Broom mention the word but I did not get it in any context, I was litterally passing him and I heard him mention the word nothing else. I think as IDL have more and more of these events and the SPS style becomes a bigger business people might be able to begin to understand what is going on in thesr whiskeys. I think it is very curious that this is possibly the heaviest pot still that any of these people may have had a chance to taste and that it may have been a new experience that they cannot easily relate to. What will be interesting is what can IDL do to educate people to this style.

The new powers also uses a good bit of Mod Pot 4 and it has a very evident effect on the whiskey.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Serge has now put up his thoughts and in fairness to him he has given them very high scores from his perspective as he is a fairly hard marker on Irish whiskey. So these scores represent very high praise. Just to give you an idea I would not be surprised if Jim Murray gave marks in the 90's

Whisky Fun

You may need to scroll down a bit to get to the 2 new Pot Stills and he has interesting thoughts after that also.

[JohnM]

That is very high marks from him. He usually looks down his nose at Irish whiskey. Good to see.

Powers 12

Beats many Scottish blends in my book

Yes, and why shouldn't it?

[Luke Gough]

Serge has now put up his thoughts and in fairness to him he has given them very high scores from his perspective as he is a fairly hard marker on Irish whiskey. So these scores represent very high praise. Just to give you an idea I would not be surprised if Jim Murray gave marks in the 90's

Whisky Fun

You may need to scroll down a bit to get to the 2 new Pot Stills and he has interesting thoughts after that also.

Serge is a hard marker on all whiskies/whiskeys - and all the better for it!

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Forgot to say that we were given a lovely 4x5cl test tube sample box of the Greenspot, Redbreast 12yo, Powers 12yo John's Lane Release & the Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy.

I think they may also be releasing these for sale eventually so keep your eyes peeled.

SEE HERE

[DavidH]

Oh, very nice!

I think they may also be releasing these for sale eventually

Yes, they mentioned this at the last IWS tasting.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Powers Johns Lane Release in the CelticWhiskeyShop €55, I got a nice surprise when I opened the box, it contains a lovely reprint of Alfred Bernard's visit to John's Lane in 1886. The insert folds out with a large b/w image of the distillery on the reverse, might even look well framed. I imagine this may only accompany the first batch, but could be wrong on that.

[JohnM]

I believe the Barry Crockett one is being held up by boxes... Might be June, is what I've heard.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Heard that too, but you can taste it Saturday at Whisky Live I'm sure!!!

[JohnM]

Fingers crossed.

The latest whiskycast episode is about the launch, with tastings etc. IDL planning, on average, two new whiskeys per year for the next 22 years...

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Fingers crossed.

The latest whiskycast episode is about the launch, with tastings etc. IDL planning, on average, two new whiskeys per year for the next 22 years...

Yea Mark was buzzin around the place trying to corner people for interviews ... did you notice any difference between the start and the finish of the piece ... i.e. as more whiskey was consumed . John Clement Ryan was there and I have to say what a gentleman and a really nice man. Full of chat and stories.

For those who don't know John C Ryan was (I think) the last link to the Powers family to serve on the board of Powers.

Must give it a listen.

Powers Johns Lane Release in the CelticWhiskeyShop €55, I got a nice surprise when I opened the box, it contains a lovely reprint of Alfred Bernard's visit to John's Lane in 1886. The insert folds out with a large b/w image of the distillery on the reverse, might even look well framed. I imagine this may only accompany the first batch, but could be wrong on that.

That is a brilliant touch ... looking forward to getting my hands on a few. 600 cases is not a lot really but I suppose like most Irish it may take a while to catch on.

[Luke Gough]

Just got my bottles, terrific Alfred Barnard review/print of Powers distillery inside All in all very happy!

[JohnM]

A bit early in the day, but I'm having some now... Lovely. Kind of dusty and very Powers - honey and spice. Biscuity and a lovely dry finish, like licking an envelope. I like it a lot. Still love the 12 yr old blend too. maybe they should turn the blend into an 18 yr old.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Another Blog posting from over the water.

Check out the CaskStrength guys thoughts.

CLICK HERE

[matt]

found this will browsing: http://www.irisch-lifestyle.de/Indoor/Neuigkeiten/

No new news, but the PDF on the site look very nice printed out in every Whiskey folder.

Cheers