Teeling Blackpitts Peated Single Malt. A Whiskey Fest in Cork next March. Cocktail Competition from Killowen

Teeling Blackpitts Peated Single Malt. A Whiskey Fest in Cork next March.  Cocktail Competition from Killowen. ********* Teeling Blackpitts Peated Single Malt 46% ABV I stood up quickly. Had just smelled smoke. Where was the source? Looked at the sockets. Though it wasn’t that kind of smoke. Opened the windows. Nothing burning out front. Back door. Nil again. Back in. Saw the empty Liberator bottle. The empty glass. The empty jigger. Smoke source! On my armchair table. So, sometimes, the old nose gets the aromas. The Liberator was the Port 'n Peat. No problem getting the aromas with this Teeling Blackpitts, their first peated whiskey. They are dominated by peat though I’d call it turf (which is a whole lot different to BBQ smoke). You really have to probe well with the proboscis to smell anything else under the blanket of peaty smog. The turf continues impressively on the palate, reinforcing the spice, and there’s a sweetness too, presumably from the Sauternes casks. Yet, the maturation somehow has rounded down the smoke effect and the finish is a good balance between the turf and the casks. That Liberator Storehouse Special Port ’n’  Peat (it's deliberately limited) had the properties to edge me along the old smoky road, but this one makes me pause. Not too sure how far I want to travel beyond that smoke threshold. There may be one particular reason for encouragement and I have seen it mentioned in a few places. It seems the triple distillation process that Teeling employed here (and normally employ) ”reduces some of the medicinal character you would get from a traditional Scottish Peated Single Malt…”. And then I had Take Two where, without the initial smoke-shock of the first tasting, myself and Blackpitts got on much better together! Hope for the future then! The Blackpitts is a non chill filtered, peated, single malt whiskey, aged in a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Sauternes wine casks. As you probably know, Sauternes is a highly regarded sweet wine from the Bordeaux region though there is a huge array of prices, ranging from under twenty to many hundred euro per bottle. They don’t say if the casks used here had been filled with the more expensive or the less expensive Sauternes! * I got mine via the Hip Flask Service at Bradleys of Cork. The general retail price per bottle seems to be in the mid to high 50s. ********* Subscribe to www.corkwhiskeyfest.com for ticket & event updates ********* Killowen Pangur Poitín Cocktail Competition

Having declared '2022 - The Year of Poitín' Killowen have decided to run a competition to help promote poitín as a premium spirit for quality cocktails. Pangur Poitín, which you will use for the competition, has been developed with the cocktail makers of today in mind. So, are you a budding mixologist or looking to add to your experienced repertoire of cocktails, and want to win £500 in cash? Then this is the competition for you!

Details for the competition can be found on our website on the following link:   Killowen Pangur Poitín Cocktail Competition Be sure to share this with any budding cocktail makers you know and best of luck to those entering. We can't wait to see what you come up with. *********