Triple Distilled Peated Single Malt First Fill Bourbon Barrel
200 litres | First-Fill Bourbon Barrel | 63% ABV. | Great Northern Distillery
New make spirit in first fill bourbon casks are ordered regularly from Great Northern distillery. If in stock with ourselves, you’ll be allocated cask upon receipt of customer order On some occasions, the casks might be on a back order and your cask will be allocated as soon as we receive delivery. Any questions please ask.
About First Fill Bourbon Casks
First-fill ex-Bourbon barrels are the most commonly used casks for Irish whiskey maturation. They give highly consistent and predictable maturation characteristics without overpowering the natural flavour of the spirit too much. Once bottled you can expect fresh and fruity flavour characteristics with notes of vanilla and gentle spice. These casks are well-suited to all whiskey styles and the 200 litre size makes them easy to store and transport. First-fill Bourbon Barrels are also one of the most economical cask types with a good cost versus quality ratio.
Ireland might not have had many peated whiskeys for a number of decades but with the main fuel source in Ireland going back centuries being turf it only seems natural that a number of Irish Whiskeys would have been peated in style. Already, there have been a number of peated single malts released from the Great Northern distillery including our very own is Celtic Cask Fiche A Cuig. Despite its youth, it's an excellent whiskey. In our opinion, young peated whiskey is better at masking its youth over unpeated equivalents. The malt used is 55ppm Phenol, but this gets reduced by the Triple Distillation to around 20ppm in the final spirit.
Triple Distilled Peated Single Malt Production
Great Northern Distillery source Irish barley which is malted in Ireland with the barley being dried by turf/peat smoke. The PPM level is 55 at this stage. The grains are wet milled, breaking open the grains to form a grist. Mashing is when this grist is mixed with hot water in the lauter tun which then turns the starch into a sugary liquid called wort. The wort is then converted into a beer-like liquid once yeast is added. The yeast converts the sugar into alcohol and it's now called wash. The wash is then triple distilled in Great Northern’s giant copper pot stills. The spirit is put into cask at 63% ABV and on this occasion will be casked in a first fill American Bourbon barrel.
Tasting note of a 3 year-old triple distilled single pot still from Great Northern that was matured in a first fill bourbon cask.
Aromas: Peat smoke, seaside campfires, old rope, old canvas tents, vanilla, bandaids and menthol.
Palate: Sweet, fruity and smoky. More fruit on the palate than the nose suggests. Flavours of smoke, lemon cookies, pineapple. Very much like some of the more subtle Islay single malts in Scotland. Surprisingly drinkable at this young age.
Finish: Sweet, fruity and smoky with good length.
See product details