Killowen - Bonded Experimental Series
I first come across Killowen distillery while watching @thethreedrinkers on Amazon Prime, and was immediately intrigued.
Found in 2017 by master distiller, Brendan Carty, Killowen is seated in the heart of County Down, Northern Ireland amongst the gently sloping hills.
Using time-honored processes, with two handmade pot stills (Christoir - 1000 litre and Broc - 800 litre), Brendan is trying to revive the forgotten time honored styles of native Irish distilling.
I was given the pleasure of reviewing three of their Bonded Experimental Series expressions.
The samples were as follows:
1. Peated Malt Cask 52.5% abv
2. Pinot Noir Cask - Burgundy 52.5% abv
3. Dark Rum - Jamaica 52.5% abv
All samples were 10-year-old blended Irish whiskies, cask strength, distilled in Ireland: 75% Grain Irish whiskey, 5% Malt Irish whiskey. Distilled in N. Ireland: 20% Malt Irish whiskey, with zero chill filtration and zero E150a whiskey colouring.
Killowen is completely transparent and upfront, with their labelling; well within the limits of the law - with all the relevant information printed clearly on the labels.
Peated malt cask - Ireland
Nose: Very interesting on the nose, with touches of citrus lemon drizzled over a honey pear cake, with a light vanilla spice smoke.
Palate: Lovely waxy malt flavor with fire pit smoke aroma with more of those orchard fruits.
Finish: Medium/long finish of peat ever so teasing, little more spice coming through towards the back end.
Pinot Noir - Burgundy
Nose: Cinnamon sprinkled apple pie.
Palate: Due to the Pinot Noir grape variety not so tannic as one may expect from other grape casks, but plenty of those dark rich fruit flavors, slightly more oaky than the previous expression.
Finish: Fruity medium slightly oaky finish.
Jamaican Dark Rum
Nose: Everything you expect, molasses sweetness with tropical fruit notes balanced with a little spiciness.
Palate: Tropical fruits rule with this expressions, banana, coconut flakes with a buttery vanilla oak sweetness.
Finish: Long, buttery, fruity.
Overall, Brendan in onto something special! I loved having the opportunity of tasting these various blended cask expressions, allowing me the chance to see the effects of the various cask types on the finished product side by side.
Perfect Thanksgiving /Christmas gift for a cask maturation/finish tasting. For those of you in the States, Folsom Wines is able to ship within the USA, and stocks a varied selection of Killowen products.
Would like to say a big thank you to both Brendan @brendan.carty.12 and Jenna Elie @whiskyagogirl, for organizing the Instagram Live, although I had technical issues and lost sound, as well as Folsom Wine and Spirits @folsomwinespirits, for supplying me with the samples.
SlĂ inte Mhath!
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