The Clontarf 1014 Irish Whiskey Trinity pack is one of the most attractive & innovative designs I’ve come across in the whiskey world.
Clontarf Trinity c/othewhiskeynut
The three separate expressions that make up the complete Trinity come in individually designed bottles that fit into one another to give the impression of one complete bottle.
Neat! Or should that be Neat Neat Neat?
Clontarf Irish Whiskey – or 1014 to commemorate the Battle of Clontarf – is one of the brands developed by Castle Brands Inc. They are an NDP (Non Distillery Producer). Like many others – at home and abroad – they source their whiskey from an Irish distillery and add their own signature to the expression.
I’ve come across Clontarf before. Mainly in Aldi – at least in Ireland – but this Trinity pack I picked up in Mullingar’s Old Stand off licence. I did notice they have made a reappearance at the Loop Dublin Airport too when I last flew out.
So what is actually inside the attractive packaging?
There are 3 expressions.
Clontarf Trinity miniatures c/othewhiskeynut
The Clontarf Classic Blend.
The Clontarf Reserve and
The Clontarf Single Malt.
All are presented at 40%. Probably chill filtered with added caramel.
I’ve had the Classic Blend before. It’s the entry level blend. I found it a rather robust straight forward bourbon cask matured malt & grain blend with a decent nose, taste & a healthy bite to it. No nonsense stuff with a bit of character. It is what it is and I found it rather appealing for that.
The Reserve comes over a bit softer & smooth. More subtle and cultured yet lacking the attractive bite of it’s sibling. There is no age statement on any of the Trinity bottles – although I have come across a 10 Year Old Signature Reserve before. It had much the same taste experience.
Clontarf 10 yo Signature Reserve c/othewhiskeynut
The flagship of the Clontarf Trinity is the Single Malt. At least that’s what you’d expect.
What I found was a soft, even muted nose. A very approachable mellow malt with a smooth delivery together with a gently warming finish. There’s nothing wrong with it. I just found it lacking in character.
Rather oddly for this trio of whiskeys – my favourite would have to be the full tasting full on robust entry level Classic Blend. The vibrancy & honest character of this blend appealed to me over and above it’s more balanced & smoother siblings.
Who would have thought that an invitation to taste – sample and rate some of the best whiskeys that Ireland has to offer for the Irish Whiskey Awards 2015 ceremony to be held on October 15th in Dublin could end up being such an arduous task?
As Faith No More sang – We Care A Lot.
I maybe should have taken a leaf out of former President Clinton’s advice when it came to hard drugs – “I didn’t inhale”. Well I sniffed whiskey and swallowed. Pretty dam good it was too – but after about a 30 sample score for the day – it had the potential to be messy – which thankfully it wasn’t.
I would however recommend – both for my future health as well as anyone else who cares to indulge in these events – the correct use of the spittoon.
Sniff – Slurp – Swirl – Spit – Score.
For an informative and entertaining blog on attending whiskey events click here.
The particular event I attended was hosted by the Celtic Whiskey Shop who advised on the scoring method to be used.
Sniff the whiskey – score out of 25 for aroma..
Slurp the whiskey – swirl round the mouth for taste – score out of 25.
Spit the whiskey out into the spittoon – score out of 25 for the finish.
Finally give another score out of 25 for overall impressions and balance.
Giving a total score out of 100 for each whiskey tasted.
I’m a bit apprehensive about scoring my whiskeys as such. I find tasting such a subjective and personal experience rather than the objective and clinical approach that judging should be. It takes a lot of the whiskey tasting fun out of the equation – but nonetheless I was here to judge so that is what I did – and it soon became fun too!
For the sake of uniformity all judges were given a NEAT glass each with which to sample the whiskeys. Now I’ve not encountered this glass before – I tend to use a smaller version of the classic tulip shaped Glencairn glass – whereas the NEAT has a more flat thistle shape to it – handy for printing a logo on the bottom? – NEAT claim it enhances the aromas as well as delivering a controlled sample across the tongue – I’d agree with the latter but uncertain on the former.
NEAT glass c/o thewhiskeynut
I should also say that all the whiskeys were sampled blind. They were presented in identical clear bottles with only the colour variation to differentiate them before tasting and an alphabetical/numerical code to match the score sheet.
My first category to try was the Irish Single Grains. As there were only 3 competitors in this field it probably isn’t difficult to guess which expressions they are. My scores reflected my previous encounters with these lovely smooth whiskeys and only a point separated the top two – but are my tastebuds up to guessing which particular expressions they were? All will be revealed on awards night!
My downfall occurred during the very large Irish Blended Whiskey under 60 euro with 17 entrants. I started here as it’s probably the most likely category I’ll buy regularly.
Judging the blends c/o thewhiskeynut
To begin with I eschewed the spittoon wishing to sample as many fine whiskeys as possible. It quickly became apparent that not all the blends were actually fine – some were – some weren’t – and I’d end up exceedingly drunk if I swallowed the whole taster. So never before have I thrown away so much whiskey. I should have brought along an empty bottle to decant the remains into – but I didn’t – and by the time I thought of it I was mildly intoxicated and couldn’t be bothered.
Anyway I soldiered on. My scores ranged from a poorly 64 up to a nice 83 with most being in the 70’s bracket which I would call grand – in the Irish meaning way. I can’t wait to find out who I gave my top mark to!
A hearty lunch was called for to soak up the alcohol together with a large glass of water. I ventured forth into Dublin city centre which was basking in the brilliant sunshine that had eluded Ireland all summer. Pity I was sequestered in a hotel basement tasting whiskey – hence the title of this blog!
Suitably refreshed I returned for more categories. The 3 entrant slate for the Irish Whiskey Barrel Aged Beer lot started the afternoon proceedings gently followed by Irish Single Casks again with 3 offerings and then the Irish Blends over 60 euro.
There were also a few more judges about and discussion soon started comparing our experiences. I was reassured when 2 other judges also chose the same top scorer as myself for the Single Casks and in an interesting turnaround – my top scores were another judge’s bottom scores across 3 separate categories! At least there was consistency in our differing tastes and remarkably – our ratio of top to bottom scoring was also consistent! Perhaps there is something in an objective approach to scoring whiskey! I do think it has to be blind though as seeing the expression comes loaded with a whole set of previous assumptions and experiences of the brand.
Time was marching on however and aware I had a train to catch I resisted the large Irish Single Pot Stills category to go for another small field in the Irish Cask Strength Whiskeys.
Now I know I’ve expressed difficulty with cask strength before – how much or how little water to put in – but I had been encouraged by others that the entrants were very palatable and showed off their colours when tasted neat and I must state -neat, neat, neat is how I like my whiskey – cue another video.
Indeed loud music was how I was feeling with so much fine whiskey consummed – but after a dash for the train all I had on offer was my trusty ipod and some repetitive dance tracks to accompany my journey west. I felt devastated finding out there was no trolley service to quench my whiskey buzz. By the time I got home it was like the famous scene from Ice Cold In Alex – except it was the tea I was after!
It’s the tea I’m after! c/o thewhiskeynut
So there you go. A day out judging Irish Whiskey. I’ll have to wait for the big event on the 15th October to find out not only which expressions I tasted – but which ones came out top in their class. Not only will it be a great showcase for the best in Irish distilling – but a test of my judging abilities.
WestmeathWhiskeyWorld 