Whiskey aged in stout barrels

First published in The Irish Times, Saturday, 11th June, 2016

Irish craft brewers are fond of ageing their beers, usually stout, in casks previously used to age whiskey. The resulting beers can be very good, sometimes gaining a percent or two in alcohol, as well as flavour, from the wood. But what happens if the barrel is returned to the distiller and used to further age whiskey?

First out of the blocks on this were Jameson and Cork craft brewer Franciscan Well. ‘It all started in 2013 it started when Shane Long of Franciscan Brewery asked us for a dozen used whiskey barrels to make a special Christmas brew’, says David Quinn, head of Whiskey Science at Jameson . ‘We tasted the results and thought it was fantastic. He did a second batch in 2014, and we got a call asking us to take the barrels back, as he didn’t have the space to keep them. More on a whim, we decided to refill them with mature Jameson and left them for 4-5 months. We had a taste and were blown away. It came across as discernably Jameson, spicy, fragrant and fruity, but with other characters through the interaction with stout – coffee, cocoa and chocolate and hints of hop. They were all there at a level of intensity that complemented instead of dominating. The taste had a different complexion; a texture, a creamy mouthfeel a coating sensation we found fascinating’.

Jameson ran a pilot scheme in Dublin and Cork, and as with the stout, the shelves were cleared in a couple of weeks. In 2015, they started to lay down enough barrels to launch Caskmates abroad. Apparently it has gone down very well in the U.S. So much so that Jameson linked up with craft brewers in London and Brooklyn, supplying them with whiskey barrels to create their own limited edition beer, and then releasing a local unique Caskmates.

Jameson are no longer alone; back in March, Galway Bay Brewery launched 200 Fathoms, an Imperial stout aged in whiskey casks borrowed from Dublin’s Teeling Whiskey. Now the favour has been returned with a single cask release from Teelings of 200 Fathoms whiskey, aged in the stout casks. Another distiller has plans in the pipeline. Glendalough Whiskey gave a couple of barrels to Five Lamps brewery for their barrel-aged porter. The barrels were returned and filled with 10 year-old single malt. 400 bottles will be produced, available later this year in Dublin Travel Retail. I tasted it on a visit to the distillery; it was rich and full of chocolate. Lastly O’Haras have been working with Tullamore Dew for their (delicious) Leann Folláin stout, aged in whiskey casks. It seems only a matter of time before the favour is returned. For the moment, Tullamore DEW offer a whiskey aged in cider casks.

Muldoon Irish Whiskey Liqueur
25%
€30.99

Whiskey infused with hazelnuts and toffee. Delicious sweet caramel and toasted nuts.

Stockists Celtic Whiskey; World Wide Wines and other specialist off-licences.

Jameson Caskmates Irish Whiskey
40%
€38

Scented fruity and mildly spicy; long and sweet with coffee, chocolate and subtle hops. Superb whiskey.

Stockists: widely available.

Teeling Whiskey Single Cask 200 Fathoms Irish Whiskey
46%
€85

Stockists: Exclusively from Teelings Distillery, Dublin 8.