Ireland is alive with innovative whiskeys, such as this union of single pot still whiskey and the berry flavors of Bo Barrett’s French oak zinfandel casks. A final 12 months of aging in these used Calistoga, California wine barrels produces juicy aromas of bramble, red apple, and cherry, with cake mix, almond, and firm spices. This elevates the enjoyment over regular Green Spot with a swath of ripe red apple, damson, zested orange, and lemon enveloping the pot still spices before a distinctive dry, spicy finish. Number 16 in the 2018 Top 20 

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2018)

Roll out the red carpet, because Green Spot is coming to town. Baked apple, spiced sultanas, lush green lawns, and ripe green fruits greet the nose. It’s oily, smothering, and luxuriantly juicy, with a depth of character that tips over the back of the tongue like nectar. That mélange of light vanilla, butterscotch, and creamy rice pudding sprinkled with nutmeg is heavenly. If this doesn’t persuade you to fall in love with Irish pot still whiskey, then nothing will.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2014)

From Calistoga, California to County Cork, this zinfandel-finished whiskey has bramble, damson jam, red apple, and glacé cherry, with cake mix, flaked almonds, and a steel-tipped edge of spice. Red apple, lemon peel, pithy orange, and crunchy red apple, teasing spice, with just a suggestion of mint mingled into the dry, spicy finish. First Saint-Julien, then Napa; where will Green Spot take our taste buds next?

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2018)

Mitchell & Son’s classic whiskey finished for 1 to 2 years in wine casks formerly used by the Barton family in the St-Julien appellation. Spiced apple, redcurrant, blushing pink young raspberries, with a deeper earthiness, like a hedgerow run wild. An autumnal character: apple, rhubarb, ginger, piquant fruits, more vanilla, then a finish of sweetened apple and peppercorns. A definite imprint from the higher-strength pot still. It feels like the wine has shaped, sculpted, and finessed the whisky beautifully. À votre santé!

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2015)