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Irish Distillers and Mitchell & Son celebrate anniversary with Port-cask matured Spot whiskey
Irish Distillers has launched a limited edition Spot single pot still whiskey to mark the 135th anniversary of the Mitchell family’s whiskey bonding business.
Mitchell & Son is one of Ireland’s last remaining wine merchants, founded in 1805. This limited-edition expression pays tribute to the history of the family’s whiskey bonding business.
The business began was built in 1887 when the bonders sent empty wine and fortified wine casks to the local Jameson Distillery, in Bow Street, to be filled with new single pot still spirit for maturation in its underground cellars.
Once filled, the fortified wine casks would be marked with a daub or ‘spot’ of coloured paint, to determine the ageing potential.
Casks marked with a blue spot could be aged for up to seven years, while green, yellow, and red spots indicated ageing potential of 10, 12 and 15 years respectively.
The Mitchell family has now chosen a gold spot to signify its relationship with whiskey bonding over seven generations and 135 years.
Katherine Condon, distiller at Irish Distillers, described working with the Mitchell family “A privilege and a joy” to be taken on “a journey through the rich history of their business, handed down through seven generations”.
She said: ““Gold Spot truly is a liquid time capsule with the wine-driven casks treading a beautiful balance of tradition and innovation and marking their 135-year history of whiskey bonding in Ireland.
“We cherish these opportunities to collaborate with the Mitchell family and look forward to welcoming even more whiskey fans to taste a piece of whiskey history within the Spot family.”
Matured for a minimum of nine years, the expression builds on the foundation of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, typical of the Spot whiskey style, married with a proportion of hand selected Bordeaux wine casks and port pipes.
The inclusion of port casks is a first for a modern iteration of Spot whiskey.
Jonathan Mitchell, managing director at Mitchell & Son, adds: “As the oldest family run wine and spirits merchants in Ireland, we’re delighted to continue the legacy of the Spot family, and our family’s historic role in Dublin’s whiskey bonding era.
“It has been fascinating to once again collaborate with Katherine Condon and the talented team at Midleton to celebrate the colourful story of our family business, utilising casks that would have been originally introduced to Irish whiskey in the late 1800s. We’re excited to see what the future holds for this wonderful family of whiskeys.”