Yellow Spot is part of the Spot series of Single Pot Still Irish Whiskeys produced at the Midleton distillery. For now there’s Green Spot (NAS) and Yellow Spot 12 Year Old. A Blue Spot and Red Spot might follow in the future.
The series is inspired by the original Yellow Spot which was last bottled in the early 1960s. The colours were derived from Mitchell & Son’s practice of marking their casks of maturing whiskey with a mark or daub of coloured paint to determine the age potential of the whiskey.
Yellow Spot has been matured in three types of casks: American ex-bourbon barrels, Spanish sherry butts and Spanish Malaga casks.
Yellow Spot 12 yo (46%, Mitchell & Son +/- 2015)
Nose: pretty much ticks all typical Irish boxes. Some grassy notes and hay at first, but it develops a nice sweetness. Honey, cinnamon pastry, apricots and yellow fruit candy. Hints of citrus green tea. Unripe banana and coconut.
Mouth: grainy attack but rather smooth, with the same combination of sweet fruits and greener, grassy notes. Honey-coated apple, a bit of crème brûlée and burnt toast. Green tea again, with a light grape skin dryness. Vanilla, lemon and a light hint of beer.
Finish: medium long, sweet, with coconut and pineapple.
A really nice Irish whiskey. Maybe the price is a bit high for the complexity on offer, but still it’s classy and certainly easy to like. Around € 70 from Master of Malt or TWE for instance.