Words by Colin Hampden-White
Those that love Irish whisky will have a particular fondness for the Spot family of whiskies. In the early 1900’s wine and spirits merchants, Mitchell & Son started to mature spirit from the Jameson distillery on Bow Street with the intention of bottling whiskey. The casks used for maturing the whiskey had a system of coloured spots on them to indicate how long the whiskey had been maturing in each cask. A blue spot indicated 7 years, a green spot 10, a yellow spot 12 and a red spot 15 years and it was with this system of spots they named their whiskies in correspondence with the age of the whisky in each bottle.
The Spot family of whiskies is now managed by Pernod Ricard in conjunction with the Mitchell family. The Green Spot has been on the market for some time, with the Yellow Spot returning in 2012, the Red Spot making a new appearance in 2018 has been off the market since the 1960s, and now having not been seen since 1964, the Blue Spot has finally completed the family.
The men and women recreating Blue Spot have never tasted an old bottle such is its rarity. They have notes and records and with them, they have created a re-imagined Blue Spot. It has been designed with how it would have tasted in the past very much in mind. Using a base of ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks they also used whiskey aged in ex-Madeira casks. This was inspired by the historical stock held by Mitchell & Son and the flavours were very typical of the Spot whiskey style.
These Madeira casks have been maturing and conditioning over 20 years. Coopered in northern Portugal they were then shipped to Madeira for seasoning and once seasoned, they were transported to Midleton, filled with pot still spirit, and left to mature. These casks gave lovely flavours of stewed orchard fruits, nuts and sweet spices.
“It is with absolute pleasure that we reintroduce Blue Spot and bring a piece of Dublin’s rich whiskey history back to life,” said Kevin O’Gorman, Master Distiller at Irish Distillers. “Over the years I have had the honour of collaborating with the Mitchell family, who for generations have celebrated the influence of fine wines on Irish whiskey, as we have reintroduced expressions to the beloved Spot range.”
“I am incredibly proud to celebrate with Jonathan and Robert Mitchell on this historic day as Blue Spot takes its place alongside Green, Yellow and Red Spot, reuniting the whole family once again.”
“It’s been a privilege to shed light on the history of whiskey bonding in Ireland and the role our family had to play in it as we relaunch Blue Spot,” added Jonathan Mitchell, Managing Director at Mitchell & Son. “The inclusion of whiskey aged in Madeira casks adds flavours that would have been originally introduced into Irish whiskey by the Mitchell family. As the full Spot range comes back to life, we find ourselves bursting with pride for the role our family played in the creation of this treasured range of whiskeys.”
Blue Spot will be a batched product, non-chill filtered and cask strength which will vary annually with each release.
You can get your hands on a bottle here for those based in the UK and for those in the USA Blue Spot will be available from February 2021.
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