Celebrating the launch of Dingle Single Malt Batch 6

Celebrating the launch of Dingle Single Malt Batch 6

Dingle Distillery 2016

“That's an Irish suntan,” said Dingle Distillery’s Master Distiller Graham Coull as we looked at Sample B from the Bourbon Cask. It looked pale in comparison to Sample C which had enjoyed full maturation in Port cask. “They have the same level of maturity,” Graham continued. “Don't let colour be everything, you don’t need a fake tan to make a whiskey.” And that was well proven as we tasted them together. Many among the online audience gave the thumbs up to the Bourbon, many to the Port.

Of the final three samples, the Bourbon had the least amount of cask influence. But there was much to enjoy and this 46.5% abv had excellent character and Graham hinted that we could see more Bourbon from Dingle in the future

As it happens, the final release in the Single Malt Batch Series is this whiskey that has been matured entirely in Tawny Port Casks. This will be the first such release from Dingle. Bottled at 46.5% and non chill filtered, Batch 6 is a great example of the interaction between Single Malt spirit and Fortified wine. A whiskey with multiple layers of sweetness and a well-balanced depth of flavour. An amazing whiskey indeed .

Dingle Distillery is proud to launch 15,000 bottles of the liquid and with an additional 1,000 Cask Strength bottles available. Batch 6 is priced at €70.00 and available at dingledistillery.ie, irishmalts.com, The Celtic Whiskey Shop and across independent off licences nationwide.

Dingle Deconstruction Tasting was the title of the latest tasting from the Kerry distillery. The virtual live tasting on the Potstilled YouTube Channel was to celebrate the launch of the distillery’s sixth and final release in its Single Malt Batch Series, Dingle Malt Batch 6. The two wise men guiding us through the evening were Graham, and recently appointed International Brand Ambassador Alan Glynn while another whiskey wise man Matt Healy of Potstilled kept it moving along.

While the latest release is from Tawny Port casks, Graham hinted that in the future they will use other ports and that they tend to do full maturation in Port casks rather than just finishes. As you know they have a great relationship with the Porterhouse Brewery and will be trying different things with the barrels that the latest Around the Clock stout was matured in, including a Single Malt.

Graham

“Single malt will always be a part of Dingle and we intend to do something similar with Pot Still.” You can expect different cask finishes and he also disclosed, with a big smile, that the Dingle Peated is "maturing beautifully"! Exciting times then at the Distillery where they are awaiting a conclusion to their planning application for a new and larger distillery. “Hopefully, we’ll get the right decision as it is now the right time for Dingle.”

Alan Glynn had more immediate news: the setting up of a pop-up Dingle shop for Christmas in a Dublin location. They’ll have pop-up Dingle bars with whiskey, gin and vodka and cocktails of course. And local products from the peninsula will feature in those cocktails. It should happen in the next two weeks so keep an eye on the distillery’s social media.

Okay, we’ve dealt with Sample B & C. Let us back-track (deconstruct, maybe!) to sample A. “This is where we started,’ said Graham (himself celebrating two years in Dingle). Sample A, a new make (“where Dingle starts”) was colourless, straight from the still, no oak. It is 100% triple distilled. The nose soon let us know that new make has character. Alan: “Great to see where they start. Add water at this stage, it will open it up.”

I did and I totally agree with him, amazing what a few drops of water can do.

Now this recipe was unchanged from Day1 as Graham said.. wind the clock forward six or seven years and see what we have from the Port cask (Sample B). “We are setting building blocks for the future, for well beyond my tenure.” I think I may have had a drop of this way back in 2014 during an early tour with Joe as our guide!

On YouTube

Back for more water with Sample D, the darkest of the quartet. This is cask strength so Graham advised: "Tread carefully, needs a bit of water. But do try a neat sip first. And, if you recoil, have the water.” And he didn’t say have just a few drops. “Find your own sweet spot” was his advice.

Cask strength can also be a little more closed with the alcohol on top of the flavour. Alan told us that higher alcohol can be more aromatic but you also need flavours so the aim is to get the balance right. Quite a drink and, with the water sorted, quit a mellow finish.

So all good? Not really! The "bad" news is that the 1,000 bottles of this have all been sold. We were very lucky to get our cask strength tasting and happy to be part of the overall experience.