Dingle Single Malt Batch No. 4

Nose - grilled peach, apricot, fig, toffee, vanilla, orange, sultana, milk chocolate, hazelnut, mint, strawberry, sweet floral notes, straw, cinnamon, nutmeg, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - apricot, fig, peach, mint, cherry, butterscotch, sultana, sweet floral notes, cinnamon, ginger, orange, lemon oil, chocolate, ash, chili pepper, spicy oak, pineapple, mango, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with sweet stone fruit, baking spice, strong citrus, and spicy chili pepper flavors. I’ve been interested in trying Dingle for a long time now. It’s a very small distillery, producing only about four casks a day. Some of their past releases were hyped and became close to unattainable. This fourth batch is the first I’ve seen in the stores near here. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten the same love some of the older releases did. The nose is very fruit-forward and juicy. Stone fruit, strawberry, sultana, and fig dominate, no doubt due to the sherry and port cask influences. The palate is rather sour and spicy. The fruits are still very much in the mix, but more citrus, pepper, and an interesting ashy note present. This is giving me strong American Single Malt vibes. Specifically, this drinks like a spicier, more sour Balcones Lineage. And I like the Lineage slightly more. The dominant citrus and background ash produce an almost metallic note that dampens an otherwise positive experience. I opened the bottle a few days ago, so maybe some of this will work itself out in the next couple months. I’ll check back in later, but for now this is good but not great. And at $90 a bottle, that’s pretty disappointing.

Dingle’s artisan distillery is situated in the picturesque township for which it is named in southwest Ireland. Located on the Dingle Peninsula and its mesmerizing coastline, the area is abounding in natural beauty making it a popular tourist destination. We passed the distillery on our way to Ceann Sibéal (Dingle Golf Links) last September with a plan to stop there on our return. Unfortunately, a humble facility, described by their website as a “tin shed,” left us somewhat uninspired. This, coupled with bad timing, prompted a pass on an opportunity, which I now regret after tasting this superb creation. The distillery filled their first whiskey casks in December of 2012, and later bottled at the required 3 years and a day. This taste was their Small Batch No.4 Release, provided at a lofty 46.5% ABV. The single malt was triple distilled in “distinctively designed” stills incorporating a boil ball that promotes spirit refluxing. The company asserts this results in a spirit with “remarkable smoothness and purity.” This was found to be 100% true. The whiskey was matured in a multitude of cask types to include ex-bourbon, ex-sherry (Oloroso & PX), and ex-port. Appearing sherry-tinted amber, the whiskey noses slightly muted with hints of Oloroso. An extraordinarily smooth palate is rich in flavor and viscosity. Vanilla and malt are accompanied with sweet sherry components of dried fruits and nuts, then transitions into a delightful dry port finish. The collaboration of winey elements work tremendously well together resulting in a well crafted, high quality potable that I would rate at 4.5 stars.

Light amber colored pour brings a nose full of tropical fruit notes - orange is particularly prevalent to me, but also some hints of peach and pear. Otherwise, a floral bouquet that is lively, along with a non-zero burst of ethanol...this would be easily identified as an Irish if nosing blind, as it is soft at the core, but has some tendrils of boldness on the edges. Flavor is quite different from many other Irish pours...the citrus is present, and there's a general sweetness that coats the palate quickly, but it is a bit brash at points, which is probably why this is a somewhat polarizing pour from what I can gather. Peppery notes, some cinnamon, apricot nectar, and some bourbon-like wood and vanilla are all available, though not always at the same time. Of the bourbon, sherry and port cask aging, the bourbon and sherry are more prevalent than the port, at least to my middle-aged palate. I really enjoy this whiskey...and I'm quite content with the somewhat steep price, but 100% get why this is not the pour for everyone...its a 'bring down from the shelf every few months' type whiskey...as opposed to, say, Redbreast 12...

The nose starts with a mild sour and bitter mix of light sulfur, sour red berries, Concord grapes and plantains then roasted hazelnuts and chocolate covered strawberries followed by a creamy vanilla pudding that transitions to candied ginger, cloves and Angel food cake with medium ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting creamy with sweet citrus that quickly veers towards a mild sour and bitter spice that slowly fades to cherry pie, sour apple and dehydrated figs that transitions to pickled ginger, cloves and ashy oak with medium ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with campfire ashes, chocolate covered espresso beans, orange zest, sour cherries and toasted marshmallow. Overall, this is an interesting one with the red berries, grapes and creamy sweetness, but it leans too heavily on those sour and bitter notes for me to really enjoy it. I hear good things about Dingle and would like to try some of their other offerings, but this one was sadly a disappointment for me. A huge thank you to @ctbeck11 for the generous sample.

What does a man do with an hour to kill before his flight? Work, catch up on paperwork or drink...definately the later. So after a brief detour to my mums I'm back at my favorite whiskey bar in the world Last Word. 6 whiskies: Dingle batch 4, Method and Madness Single Malt; Springbank 21, HP 14 Loyalty of the Wolf; GoT Talisker and Laga....now that is an eclectic line up to make me salivate! Ah Dingle, Dingle little star how I wonder.. why the hell you weren't around when I lived in the emerald isles. It's a dram I shouldn't really like - light and on the face of it simple...but it's not really simple and all components come together really well. Great balance. It's definitely a dram that builds as you swirl in your mouth and go hmmm. Think batch 2 pot still was better but still very solid for a young dram.

I love love love this whisky. Originally bought after doing a tasting at the distillery in Dingle, Kerry. Bottle opened after a year, when Issy's parents were visiting from Germany! The tasting at the distillery was great - trying whisky from each of the sherry, port and bourbon casks each, before tasting the final product was a really big help in being able to pick out the flavours. This carried back to drinking the bottle with friends. This is a very smooth whisky - triple distilled and it tells. On the nose, creamy, toffee. Palate - alcohol, flows into the vanilla, dried fruit and malt, with a lovely burn after and lingering finish of biscuit.