New Review: Knappogue Castle 12 Single Malt

[Capn Jimbo]

Another Single Malt... from Ireland?


Although whiskey has long been known to the Irish, there has been little continuity in either methods or production. At first the production of whiskey was an ongoing competition between small and illegal production of "poitin" or moonshine, with larger, government licensed operations.

According to Dave Broom it was not until 1823 that true, open and large scale production began. Whiskey from Jameson's, he states, became the "gold standard". Sadly, the Scottish intervened by buying important grain plants, only to shut them down - all in a successful effort to stunt Irish whiskey.

Believe it or not, Irish whiskey did not full recover until around 2005, with three different groups - Bushmills, Cooley and Irish Distillers (Jameson) - all well funded, and finally producing a wide variety of Irish whiskeys.

Most of these are characterized by (a) triple distillation using mostly pot stills and (b) the use of both unpeated malted and unmalted barley. Actually, triple distillation is an understatement, as some products experience four pot stills and/or sometimes in combination with column stills.

The result: the "hearts" may be repeatedly extracted and purified for great smoothness, and easy drinking.

But overall, few real single malts. Knappougue Castle is one of a limited number of exceptions, really quite famous (see their 1951 as covered by the U-man, below).

Knappogue Castle 12 Single Malt is chill filtered, uses no caramel whatsoever, and is aged in used Bourbon oak casks. Stay tuned for the review...

[Uisge]

This is one of my favorite Irish whiskies, having been introduced to the 1992 vintage in 2001, which was sourced from Cooley (in fact, the 1992, 1993 and 1994 are all from Cooley. Starting with the 1995 vintage, and then the age statement versions, Bushmills is the supplier).

I have not tried the more recent "12 Year Old" version, if only due to the $45 price tag for it out here.

I currently have on hand an opened bottle of the 1992 and a limited bottling that is aged 15 years and is a vatting of the Cooley releases.

Personal story: I spent the most money on a pour of the rare 1951 Knappogue when I was rather flush with cash and in Las Vegas to see the reunion of The Police at the MGM Grand in '07.

2 shots of the drink list from the 9 Fine Irishmen at NYNY:



That's right, $80 for a pour of Irish whiskey...add to that the $80 tip I gave to my server for the excellent service rendered (after the extremely poor service from the lightweight who seated me in a cul de sac on the patio, instead of near the fencing toward the Strip where I was moved to and could enjoy a breeze...it was 110 degrees Fahrenheit at 10pm!), for a sum of $160.00.

It was SO worth it, as that dram was a big whiskey, not the light and floral stuff one would expect.

There is a neat story about the actual Knappogue Castle on Castle Brands website here. Or one can learn more about this castle, and maybe even stay there for an evening if one is in County Clare, and see its walled garden, or rent it out to have a wedding!

Hey, if it was good enough for visitors like Ronald Wilson Reagan and Charles de Gaulle it can't be bad, right?