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I’ve seen many bottles; I’ve tasted more than my share. But then I poured a dram of Red Spot, and I sat back, realizing this wasn’t simply another “spot” whiskey, it’s a reclamation of something rare: heritage, orchard sweetness, wine-soaked oak, and old school Irish spirit. This is the whiskey that both reminds you of what you thought you knew and what you never knew you craved.
Photo by The OurWhisky Foundation 🥃 on Pexels
Origins: A Paint Dot, a Wine Merchant, a “Lost” Icon Returns
Red Spot hails from Midleton Distillery, the same venerable place responsible for classic Irish pot still styles. But its story begins with Mitchell & Son, Dublin wine and spirits merchants who, in the late 1800s developed a practice: marking casks with coloured dots to denote age. Red Spot was the red-dot cask, aged longest. Blue, Green, Yellow Spots, each dot had its meaning.
Production of Red Spot ceased for decades. It wasn’t until recently (2018) that Red Spot was relaunched: same general whiskey style, but modernized rigor, archival recipes, and new maturity and finishing strategies.
So from Day One, you get tension: old vs new, tradition vs innovation. That’s the hook.
What Makes Red Spot Different—and Better
What separates Red Spot from the flood of Irish single pot still whiskeys isn’t just age or pedigree; it’s the complexity of cask interplay, texture, and the sense that every drop is chosen. Here’s what I found compelling:
- Triple Age / Triple Cask Type
Red Spot spends “at least 15 years” maturing. And it’s not just in one kind of barrel. It splits time across ex-bourbon barrels, Spanish Oloroso sherry butts, and Marsala wine casks (from Sicily).
That means layered influence: vanilla and oak from bourbon, deep dried fruit from sherry, fortified wine sweetness (and sometimes nutty, oxidized notes) from Marsala finishing. The interaction among these gives you tension, balance, and surprise. - Pot Still DNA
This is single pot still Irish whiskey: malted & unmalted barley, copper pot still distillation, giving you that characteristic oily spice, creamy grain, and almost savory undercurrent. It’s not just sweetness or fruit; there’s backbone. - Age with Restraint
15 years is a serious age, but it’s not absurd. Red Spot doesn’t try to signal its status purely via years on label; it uses the years to let flavor from casks enrich, without letting wood dominate. There is oak, sure, but it’s seasoning, not overbearing. When you nose baked fruit, mango, black cherries, apple, then spices, nutmeg, leather, & toasted oak, it feels composed. - Non-chill-filtered, Full Character
For many whiskey lovers, the devil is in the mouthfeel and subtle oils and glycerols that non-chill filtering preserves. Red Spot (or at least some versions) holds onto those textures, giving it a fleshier, more indulgent presence.
Tasting Red Spot: The Layers Unfurled
If you’re an experienced dram-seeker, here’s how a pour of Red Spot reveals itself over time:
- Nose: First whiff, pot still spices, cooked fruit (apple pie, dark cherries), baked mango, even. A hint of leather, hazelnut, maybe that musty wine cellar vibe. Toasted American oak in support.
- Palate: Rich fruit sweetness from the Marsala casks, sherry fruitcake, prunes, raisins. Pepper—red pepper, maybe cracked black pepper, works through the sweetness. Under that, barley grain, oak tannins, and wood spice. It’s velvety but substantial. Not one note dominates; it’s a conversation.
- Finish: Long, warming. Fruit lingers, spices endure, oak grows more present. At times, a dry edge, oak tannin, maybe some leather or dark chocolate echoes. You end a dram with that satisfying ache, a blend of warmth, bitterness, and sweetness.
Why It Matters: For Connoisseurs, Collectors, and Everyone in Between
- Cultural & Historical Weight: Red Spot isn’t just whiskey; it’s a link to Irish whiskey’s lost past. The old Spot system of marking barrels, the wine merchant roots, the mid-20th century silence—bringing Red Spot back is a revival, not mere novelty.
- Complexity without Pretension: Many whiskeys try to dazzle by being bold; Red Spot does so by being layered. You can sip it neat and still discover things 30 minutes in. Great for contemplative sipping. Great to compare with similarly aged whiskies. Great for sharing with someone who thinks they know Irish whiskey. And then showing them they only just scratched the surface.
- Value Proposition (if you can find it): 15 years, triple cask maturity, pot still pedigree—it’s not cheap. But among the modern Irish pot still whiskeys, especially ones that aren’t just “finish-this” gimmicks, Red Spot delivers more returns for what you pay. If you find it, grab it.
Final Thought
Let’s say you’re sitting in a dim pub in Cork, or overlooking Galway Bay at dusk—whichever you prefer. There’s a bottle of Red Spot set before you. You pour. Its fragrance lifts. You raise that glass, you sip, you understand.
Red Spot isn’t just about going through the motions; it’s about stopping at everything along the way: the orchard tree, the wine cask, the oak stave, the pot still flame, the time ticking in the barrel. For the whiskey enthusiast, Red Spot is a wild invitation: to taste time itself.
If you want, I can turn this into a feature article: with suggested responses from industry critics, scores, provenance, or even pairing suggestions (food, cigar, etc.).
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