Gold Spot 9 Year Single Pot Still

After tasting the incredibly delicious and sweet Green Spot whiskey, my perception of what Irish Whiskey is and can be; changed. I thought Irish whiskies were unremarkable, rather boring blends that didn't capture any imagination. Don't get me wrong, there are some very good Irish Whiskies ( Redbreast, for example ) but I thought if you've tasted one, you've tasted them all. Boy was I wrong. And after tasting Green Spot, this set me off to find all of the "spot" whiskies I could find locally. Imagine my surprise to see this gem, sitting in the glass cabinet at my local favorite money pit of a liquor store. I just had to have it. What a delicious nose indeed. First off, you notice the presence of higher proof immediately ( vs Green Spot ). A bit of ethanol tickles your nose but doesn't overtake the other smells rather, they are enhanced. Juicy and sweet apples mix with sugary caramel and baking spices. There's a wee kiss of citrus right about 3/4 through the nose. Oh boy, I am so excited to try this taste. The palate starts rather sweet and tart, candied apples but just for a moment. A burst of caramel, vanilla and baking spice coats your tongue with a surprisingly thick mouthfeel. The feeling ( not the flavor ) is reminiscent of Blanton's Single Barrel. A bit thick and oily but not syrupy. As you get into mid taste, apple comes back on full song with some raisins and dates. The sweetness ends just for a moment as it blends to the finish. Tannic oak sweeps you off your feet and this is the dominant trait of the finish but you will notice a little sugary creme brulee shadow hanging behind the tannins. At this point, open your mouth and breathe through it a little - the sweetness hits you quickly and fades away, like a ghost sighting. My God. This is by far and away one of the best Irish Whiskies I've ever tried. In fact - if you are lucky enough to have a bottle and you've got a friend who judges Irish whiskies on swill like Jameson and Proper 12, feed them some of this stuff. Open their eyes and help them achieve enlightenment. It is that. damn. good.

Admission up front: I saw a number of what seemed like middling reviews before trying, so was expecting to be at least a little underwhelmed. Also, I'm not the biggest Irish whiskey fan. Outside of Redbreast Cask Strength, I haven't been that impressed. But I also think I'm beginning to appreciate the subtle nuances of Irish whiskey, so there's some hope. The nose starts strong like many Irish whiskies do (the palate is usually where the let-down is for me). There's an unexpected big dose of dark caramel - the bourbon barrels seem to be playing an outsized role initially. Let it sit for a few minutes. Then comes tropical fruit, then red fruit. Pineapple, green banana, toasted coconut, assorted berries, covered in vanilla whipped cream. Shortbread cookie. Some clove, maybe nutmeg. Solid nose, but let's see about the palate. The palate actually does not disappoint. I suspect the higher proof helps here. All the flavors on the nose seem to deliver on the palate. There's some nice depth, and the flavors are well balanced. One can pick out a lot here and not be overwhelmed with one or two notes. For quality control, I did a small lineup with a couple other Irish whiskies from the cabinet. This was easily better than Knappogue 12 Marchesi finish. Compared to Redbreast Cask Strength, I thought the nose on this was better. The palate of the RB did have a bigger punch of flavor - owing I'm sure to the higher proof, but this had more depth and interest. Is this as good as Redbreast Cask Strength? I don't know, maybe. Seemed to hold up in the mini-tasting I did. But I was also half-expecting this to be ho-hum, so maybe it was helped by low expectations. The value is a little dubious, considering this seems to retail around $130 in the states, if you can even find it. The last bottle of RBCS I bought for $65, but I think those days are over, as it seems to be $90+ anywhere I see it now. I picked this up for $110, so the value difference isn't quite as big, and ultimately I'm pleased at that price. 4.25 - 4.5 range.

I feel as if Mitchell’s Spot series are the Marvel movies of the whiskey world. Just when you think you’ve seen one superhero movie, which was pretty good, they come out with a bunch more that are also pretty good. But at some point, enough is enough …I’m then super hero’ed out and want something totally different. I find all they’re doing is more of the same…just a different superpower. I feel as if I’m there with these Spot series. I’m right at the point of “enough already…all you’re doing is simply increasing the price and adding a new frickin color”. This is the newest Spot. Nine years in bourbon, Sherry, Bordeaux wine, and port pipes. Hefty 51%. I only am having a pour…was actually astonished to find this sitting on the shelf at an upscale Asian fusion restaurant in Kauai. From my understanding, it’s not a regular lineup, but quite limited. Not sure if the bottle count. Pineapples. That’s all I get on the nose. Plenty of pineapples. It’s like I’m in sitting in the middle of a Dole pineapple field. Not that it’s a bad thing. I love pineapples..so, yeah, I’m good. But if you’re not a fan of the yellow temptress of the fruit kingdom, move on. This is a head on full body and mind immersion into pineapples. On a side note—-did you know there’s such thing as a white pineapple? It’s sweeter, less acidic, and you can eat the damn core! Anyway…back to this…palette is a bit less on the pineapple, more on bread and bakery goods. Some fruit…peaches…Sherry and red berries ( from the port pipe?). Nice balance of red fruit, baked goods, with added heft from the ABV. Overall, this is really good. I only had a pour, but if the price is right (

Fruit forward on the nose with sweet ripened orchard fruits intermingled with the clean grassy cereal notes of a well made irish. A touch of heat at the end reminds you this is cask strength. Its a beautiful nose - albeit slighly inferior in complexity to the blue spot. Baking spice, cinnamon and ripe bananas explode on fist sip, its got a bite. This isnt a dessert wine. Theres almost too much going on all at once, which is interesting and confusing at the same time. The finish is moderately long, with the baking spices and plum lingering in the background. Ive now had all the spots with the exception of the wine finished greens. Id rate them roughly as follows: blue>gold>red >yellow and then green without accounting for value. If you add value back in yellow rises above red. Id been lucky enough to find a blue very early in its run but had to wait for almost 3 yrs for a second and third. The gold spot was nearly impossible to find and became a sort of white whale for my mates and me until we finally located one. I can see what the hype was about, but to me the blue edges it out. I love how tighyly coiled and restrained the blue is. They both have similar notes and flavors but gold mashes the keys all at once and holds them down until you drown in them. Blue is like a jazz orchestra that takes a while to get going but when all the notes come into harminy it produces something greater than the sum of the parts. Glad i tried this and id likely get another for msrp.

I kept passing on this, but it was at a friend's shop and I just wanted to grab something and it made sense. 140, a bit much but not bad. Nose - I really like how the irish have this jammy note with the pot still character. This one however up front is all kinds of crazy fruits. Think a waxy citrus lime, but there's a bit more to it. Toasted oak but more like you'd get on a buttered toast than some of these over the top american craft toasted bottles. I start to get hints of a jolly rancher, some kind of hybrid of pink and green without the sour. Now I'm getting more and more strawberry, even some cream. There are 4-5 fruit flavors I can't explain or just don't know. Really fruit froward. Taste - More creamy, oak, and still all those fruits. Rich mouth feel, good upfront flavor. And a nice but simple and dull finish, all be it some nice irish spice. A darn good whisky that I wasn't expecting given some reviews. I think this is just fine. I never had the blue spot, need to try it, but I'm happy with this guy. Would like it for less, but the yellow spot is over 100 and it isn't half as good as this. I'll give this is very strong 2.5. Again 2.0 is average. This is well above that but I save 3.0 for something a bit more special. This is a bit short of that for me.

Nose - Vanilla, caramel, hints of raisin, cinnamon, oak (w/ water) same Taste - Caramel, vanilla, hint of mint, sweet raisins, dark berries, dark chocolate, gentle tingle from proof (w/ water) Not as oily, bit more drying, but otherwise same Finish - Caramel, vanilla, dark chocolate (w/ water) Same Score - 85/100 Final Thoughts - So since this was a sample, I'm not sure if it was mislabeled but initial nose screamed a cask strength port/sherry finished bourbon. All the classical bourbon notes of caramel, vanilla, hint of oak & cinnamon, with a splash of dark raisin sweet that a port or sherry barrel might impart on a bourbon. At first I thought it was just on the nose, but then once it hit the palate, it was just like what it nosed like and there wasn't much of a change there. Finish made it feel like a bourbon too. Anyway, this was the most bourbon-like Irish I've ever had. It's not a bad thing, but just felt very different from most Irish whiskies I've had. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - No NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.