Green Spot: Chateau Leoville Barton (Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey: 46% ABV)
Visual: Deep, rich, slightly reddened gold. Fast and thick streaks comes from the spirit.
Nose: Brandy cream. Toffee. Noticeable alcohol. Peppermint cream. Shortbread. Pencil shavings. Light sulfur. Water lightens giving gentle toffee and white grapes.
Body: Honey. Fudge. Red berries. Alcohol air. Brandy cream. Toffee. Slightly spicy. Water makes smoother. Slight sulfur. Sherry trifle. Spicy red wine. Green grapes. Cake sponge.
Finish: Red cherries. Fudge. Slight alcohol air. Warming spice. Water makes smoother. Sherry trifle. Spicy red wine.
Conclusion:This is a lovely dram. It takes the already impressive, easy drinking, Green Spot and polishes it up with extra notes from the time in Bordeaux wine casks to give it a depth that makes it the whiskey it always had the potential to be.
With the standard Green Spot I had wondered if a few points extra abv would help it out, or would hurt it. With this being a tidy 6% abv stronger we fine out that the answer is help. Definitely help. Now, oddly, I recommend adding a touch of water to open the whiskey up – but only a small amount so it is probably still above the 40%. Taken like this is has extra grip and flavor but loses the small but noticeable alcohol touch it has neat.
Anyway, as indicated, neat this is slightly – just slightly – alcohol touched. However there are nice red fruit notes and sweet fudge backing. It is slightly sulphurous which was unexpected. Probably something from the wine barrel finish, along with the slight spicy notes. Here it is good but not exceptional.
Water really opens it up, bringing more to both the sweetness and the red wine character, revealing depth in both while soothing the alcohol. Sweeter trifle notes meet spicier wine notes, and if you are light with the water touch it is still slightly thicker than standard Green Spot with cake sponge weight and that sulfur giving a slightly darker, heavier feel while not making this smooth whiskey harder to drink.
Not the super easy sipping Irish, but still easy going and now so rewarding and with room for a lot more play and examination. A very impressive whiskey that balances character with ease of drinking.
Very highly recommended.
Background: Soo, first and most relevant to these notes. Boris Johnson is a piece of shit. In so many ways. So very many ways. Anyway, super relevant. So, I generally enjoyed my experiences with Green Spot – but at the BrizDram meet up a few years ago I got to try one of the unusual barrel aged versions and it blew my mind. So when I got the chance to try this Bordeaux wine cask finished version at Independent Spirit I grabbed it. It comes with a little leaflet detailing the history of Chateau Leoville Barton Wine. Apparently it is super good. I have never tried it. If anyone wants to donate any to me for research purposes I will happily drink it. Before the wine cask finish this was aged in a mix of bourbon and sherry casks. Not sure of age statement – regular green spot is ten year according to some sources – or a mix of seven to ten according to others, and googling says this spent 18 months in the finish barrel – I presume on top of standard aging. Soooo 8 years? 11 year? Ish? No idea. Anyway, went with The Eels: End Times for music while drinking. This was before finding out the election results so the appropriateness is completely coincidental.
