GREEN SPOT CHATEAU LEOVILLE BARTON 46 °

 

Ah ! when Ireland meets France, it doesn't only give you clashes on the lawn of the late Lansdowne Road in Dublin, but it can also give you a wonderful whiskey feeling.

 

Take a very honorable Green Spot (three times distilled like all its compatriots on the clover island) which has just spent 10 years in American oak Bourbon barrels and European oak Sherry barrels, and let it rest for 1 or 2 years in an old second growth barrel of Saint Julien (Château Léoville Barton), and you will get a nice surprise.

 

That's what Middleton's assemblers had in mind! That's a great idea.

 

The nose of this distillate first of all stands out with the fruity and floral but also woody notes specific to Green Spot (which differentiates it from other Irish whiskeys). But very quickly, when the nose plunges into the glass, the contribution of the Bordeaux barrel is felt with an addition of red fruits and the very pleasant roundness of dried fruits.

 

Is that a whiskey? Sure?

 

In the mouth, the opposite is true. The first sensations come from the wine barrel and then from the original barrels. First of all, it is tannic, spicy and woody notes (which you wouldn't feel on a Green Spot). Then come flavours closer to those already found on the Green Spot such as fruits (peaches, apples...). Nevertheless, there are also red fruit notes that can only be found in this version.

 

This whiskey has a nice length in the mouth (also specific to the Green Spot) but the contribution of the wine casks also leaves behind spicy notes and a delicious vanilla taste in the mouth.

 

This Green Spot would have enough to change many Scotch whisky lovers' minds!