Future IDL Releases

[IainB]

We all know they plan on releasing a load of new stuff over the next few years. Apart from the proposed "Spot" expansion what would your wish list be?

Here's a few thing I'd love to see:

On the SPS front:

Cask strength Redbreast 15
Redbreast 21
Maybe a Powers John's lane 18
A single sherry cask SPS

On the blends I'd love to see an 18yo Powers. And another single cask blend like the Celtic whiskey shop had a few years back.

[DavidH]

They have been maturing stuff in port and madeira casks. The port turned up in the RVR, didn't it? I don't believe I've had anything with the madeira in it though some have tried a cask sample of it. Something with those. And their version of a four wood should be different to Cooley's since they don't do finishes.

I would also like:
- a 10yo Crested Ten (ie I want Crested Ten to survive, and be what it sounds like and once was)
- a Jameson SPS (because a Powers SPS turned out so well. Would it end up like Redbreast or Green Spot though?)

[IainB]

They have been maturing stuff in port and madeira casks. The port turned up in the RVR, didn't it? I don't believe I've had anything with the madeira in it though some have tried a cask sample of it. Something with those. And their version of a four wood should be different to Cooley's since they don't do finishes.

I would also like:
- a 10yo Crested Ten (ie I want Crested Ten to survive, and be what it sounds like and once was)
- a Jameson SPS (because a Powers SPS turned out so well. Would it end up like Redbreast or Green Spot though?)

I like your suggestion on the Crested Ten.

I suppose the Jameson SPS would really depend on the make up. If it was a 12 yr old you could end up with five 12yo SPS from the same distillery if they also do a yellow spot. There comes a point when you're just doing variations for variations sake.Think of SPS from Midleton as equivalent to single malt - would you expect 5 different 12yr olds from one distillery? (Except maybe Bruichladdich. Whom I find kind of annoying.)

[DavidH]

I suppose the Jameson SPS would really depend on the make up. If it was a 12 yr old you could end up with five 12yo SPS from the same distillery if they also do a yellow spot. There comes a point when you're just doing variations for variations sake.Think of SPS from Midleton as equivalent to single malt - would you expect 5 different 12yr olds from one distillery? (Except maybe Bruichladdich. Whom I find kind of annoying.)

The Jameson "stack" is also rather packed now. I was wondering if they did introduce a Jameson SPS, would they perhaps drop one of the others. They wouldn't lose the NAS, obviously. I don't want them to drop the Gold, and the 18yo is pretty classy. I could live without the RVR but they would only replace that with something else I couldn't afford. So that leaves the Jameson 12yo for the chop. Which is OK by me, but then everything is 12 years old, like you say.

I'm sure they could make them all taste different, with their different SPS formulae and casks. But they will also have a whole new distillery line coming on stream soon with which they can experiment.

[IainB]

I can't see the 12 ever going. Remember this has been their first premium blend in one form or another for many many years. Lots of people still regard it as the best there is and some still even call it Jameson 1780.

[DavidH]

No, I don't think it likely either. I forgot to mention the Jameson Select. Since it's so recent, and aimed at a different market segment, I think they'll be keeping that for a while too.

[varizoltan]

last year when we were at Bow street for the launch of Redbreast 12 cask strength, i was so disappointed.

we had the Green Spot, RB12, RB15, Powers 12 SPS, and we were asked what we think is missing from that line.

well,a blind can see a Jameson SPS is missing from that line, if we are talking whiskeys from IDL, and various brands, so there was really Jameson missing

so that day I was expecting a new Jameson 15 Years old SPS and not the cask strength RB12

I have said that to Liam after the tasting,

I hope Jameson 15 SPS will be on the market soon

the reason why in my view is, there is a good few 12 years old available, and a 15 year old will fit in the line perfectly

my second thing i would like from IDL, since they have over 900000 casks maturing, and surely some 20+ years old, and very good profit every year, they should donate a 20 yo, bourbon single cask (free of charge of course) for the good standing society members, which surely not gonna broke IDL


the third and final wish, a 15 years old single bourbon cask SPS, bottled for myself, at cask strength, and i will pay for it @ €40/L pure alcohol +relevant taxes vat etc

so IDL, please ask for my mobile from your colleagues (a few have it), or just pm me to finalise the deal

thanks

[IainB]

Well I think to have IDL giving us our own cask would be what everyone would have on their wish list but I was thinking more of commercial releases rather that stuff I'd like if there were no restrictions. Again I'm not that hung up on the brand names they use for SPS as I think of them all as Midleton anyway. Maybe another 15yo at Cask Strangth would be a good fit for the Jameson name, especially as there is no 15yo in the Jameson range.

And I agree a 20+ SPS at a reasonable price would be good too - but I was thinking a Redbreast type bourbon/sherry mix rather than bourbon only type which I'm not sure would be that different from the 19yo single casks or the Midleton Barry Crockett.

[JohnM]

The Crested Ten was never 10 yrs, as far as I know. It did contain some whiskey over 10 yrs, though. The

[IainB]

They have been maturing stuff in port and madeira casks.

Now that I think of it I did try a sample of Madeira matured SPS and I think that would make an excellent single cask release! I'd say you're more likely to see that under the Midleton name if that ever appears.

I think if you look at the labelling there's a clear intention to keep Jameson as a brand and blend distinct from Midleton as a single pot still distillery, equivalent to a single malt. If you look at the SPS bottlings they all clearly say Midleton whereas they used to have all sorts of Dublin addresses on them.

In the past IDL had a 2 Brand focus with Jameson up front and Bushmills as number 2. I think they're going the same way but with Midleton / SPS as the second front.

[IainB]

The Crested Ten was never 10 yrs, as far as I know. It did contain some whiskey over 10 yrs, though. The

I think you're right but half the barmen in this country think it's a 10yo.

Come to think of it there has to be room for a 10yo somewhere in the IDL portfolio - either a SPS like the greenspot 10 I'm drinking right now or one of the blends. Maybe a 10yo Paddy. I'd buy that. Poor auld paddy is very neglected.

[DavidH]

The Crested Ten was never 10 yrs, as far as I know. It did contain some whiskey over 10 yrs, though. The

I got that from an article in the Irish Times at the time of its launch in 1963:

"The chairman... said that Jameson Crested Ten is being vatted from whiskies with a minimum age of ten years, some much older"

It would be a silly name for a new whiskey that wasn't ten years old.

[IainB]

Interesting. Still though it's definitely not ten years old now so you're right - it would be good to make it so.

The other thing I'd love to see from Midleton is a single grain. It seems to me you can get almost every other type of whiskey made in Ireland on it's own - Malt from Bushmills, Cooley and Kilbeggan, Grain from Cooley, Pot Still from Midleton but no Midleton Grain, which let's face it, is probably the type that is consumed most by volume when you count that sales of Jameson, Tullamore Dew and Bushmills blends.

Oh and maybe some Midleton Malt for completeness.

[JohnM]

That's good to know. I was at a tasting given by Barry Walsh a number of years ago. He was talking about Crested 10 and said they couldn't call it a 10 yr old, but the name pointed to the fact that there were older whiskies in the blend. Maybe he was speculating. Or maybe I'm misremembering. Someone suggested they call the Jameson Gold, I think, be called Crested 20...

[DavidH]

That's good to know. I was at a tasting given by Barry Walsh a number of years ago. He was talking about Crested 10 and said they couldn't call it a 10 yr old, but the name pointed to the fact that there were older whiskies in the blend. Maybe he was speculating. Or maybe I'm misremembering.

No, I'm sure you are right. I can imagine the meeting where they said "we need to reduce the age on this, but what about the name?" and they came up with a new rationalisation.

Someone suggested they call the Jameson Gold, I think, be called Crested 20...

[IainB]

There's more to the name of Crested 10 than meets the eye. Crested Hen is both a type of chicken and a waltz in folk music (of Breton origin I think).

I'm not sure what the link is between Jameson and Chickens / Breton folk tunes but who knows how marketing departments worked back then.

[Fionnán]

I agree with Iain about the names--- if brands coded more clearly for cuts or barrels or something more substantial, i might get more excited about the prospect of such and such a name getting an sps release. I'm actually glad they dont though as i think the versatility of mixing across styles and barrels etc is Midleton's greatest strength as a distillery and there'd be no sense trading that in for something more arbitrary. personally, i'd like to see port and madeira cask sps whiskeys released on their own, or at least as finishes on, say, a bourbon barrel. (this returns to Iain's other point in another thread about the need for other dimensions to spice up a bourbon barrel sps.) I would, however, lay a bet that it can only be a metter of time before they release an SPS under the jameson label. Its the smart move in terms of marketing. They're pushing SPS as a connoisseur's choice for irish whiskey in general and its only a matter of time before they trade in on the brand cache of Jameson. If anything, this would expose jemmie drinkers to the concept, from which they might go on to explore other options. I could be wrong, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

[Fionnán]

on the subject of Midleton malt, didnt some of this leak out as "erin go bragh" in the states years back? I had some once in a bar in san francisco and i remember thinking it fairly unimpressive

[IainB]

on the subject of Midleton malt, didnt some of this leak out as "erin go bragh" in the states years back? I had some once in a bar in san francisco and i remember thinking it fairly unimpressive

It did indeed. It was nothing to set the world alight but it was only a 6yr old and wasn't, I think, an official bottling. It might be interesting to try at 10 yrs old, maybe compared to a Bushmills of the same age.

The discussion is expanding my wish list, if nothing else.

On the SPS I started with Redbreast 15 CS, Redbreast 21, Power JL18 and a single sherry cask. To that you could definitely add a Madeira cask and maybe a 10yo SPS?

Also an 18yo Regular Powers, a single grain, a single malt, an older Crested 10 (I like the idea of a Crested 20).

And a cask for Zoltan. For free.

[JohnM]

I've tried the port casked Midleton pps and it's brilliant. I would love to have bottle after bottle of it.

When down at Midleton, they also said they'd rule nothing out, when it came to releases. So while it's not likely, there's a chance, I suppose, they could produce a malt.

[Fionnán]

When down at Midleton, they also said they'd rule nothing out, when it came to releases. So while it's not likely, there's a chance, I suppose, they could produce a malt.

So there's a chance you might get your free cask yet, Zoltan

hell, I'd also like a cask. A madeira sps cask specifically, preferably engraved with: To Fionnán O'Connor, with admiration, Barry Crockett and the gang

i'd be happy to come down to the distillery for a brief tour to pick it up if they dont want to ship it to me

[IainB]

Looks like it's all good for Hungary:

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/ ... 61405.html

Free casks and beating us at tennis. (I have no interest in tennis so I've no idea how I stumbled across this.)

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Ok so a Midleton wish list....

Redbreast 18yo (first things first, the 21yo Ltd Ed can wait)
Jameson SPS
Powers 15yo
Paddy 10yo (retro style - there had to be a reason why it was such a firm favourite)
Midleton Single Cask (10-11yo port Pipe instead of bourbon cask)

... we can only dream

[Fionnán]

oh, and if i could only have one thing (aside from the above mentioned cask), i would want a cask strength Powers Johns Lane. Yes, above all else, this is what i want.

[varizoltan]

And a cask for Zoltan. For free.

thanks Iain! you are my best friend, you will get a bottle from that!