Single Pot still is a whiskey made from Malted and Un-Malted barley that can also have up to 5% other grain, made in one distillery, in Ireland. Single Malt is only made from Malted Barley from any distillery in the world. So Irish whiskey can be a recipe rather than solo product, think a trio rather than a soloist. To make an NI analogy think the 3 Priests rather than Rev Willie McCrea. Nothing wrong with soloists but the more contributors then the more varied the performance can be. In the case of this new Pot still from Kilbeggan you get the spicy kick, the Un-malted, smoothed over by the addition of creamy oats, imagine Lord McCrea of Magherafelt joining forces with Taylor Swift and the late Keith Flint from the Prodigy. Don’t laugh, could work and at least be interesting.

This small batch release from Kilbeggan, best bet is to nip to the postcard beautiful distillery to pick up a bottle, is definitely interesting. It is totally made on site, previously having been partly distilled in Cooley before coming down the road to be finished. My favourite thing about this bottling is that one of the, tiny, stills it is run through dates from the very early 1800’s and originally was used in the very nearby Tullamore distillery, making it the oldest working Still in the world.

A halfun of this is a bit young and there is a disjointed profile on it, you could say it is a bit all over the place but it isn’t bad. Don’t add anything to this, water or ice, let it dance and you might find it fun and enjoyable, or odd and quirky but absolutely worth having a drink of.  This is one that people will like or loath, I doubt there are many who will love it though. This micro distillery has the backing of Jim Beam and the Japanese giant Suntory so there are, potentially, no end of possibilities in the future.

Nose- Milk Chocolate, Fresh Ginger, Toasted pancake 1.5/3

Palate- Toasted pine nuts, Fresh fruit, touch of Mint 2/3

Finish- Vanilla butter cream, White pepper, Golden syrup 2/3

Value for money 1/1

Total = 6.5/10 Take a day trip to the distillery and do the tour, you won’t be disappointed, pick up a bottle and say high to the friendly, engaging staff.