The Spot series are a line of pot still Irish whiskies produced for Mitchell and Sons, wine merchants and whiskey bonders. Historically, barrels of whiskey were marked with a certain colored spot so they could be easily identified in the warehouses as being of a certain intended age. Being wine merchants, Mitchell and Sons had access to used wine casks and the Green Spot Chateau Montelena is a return to finishing form for the Spot line. The regular Green Spot, cornerstone of the line, was aged for between 7 and 10 years, with further finishing for a year in ex-Zinfandel casks from the famed Chateau Montelena winery in Napa Valley, California.
Distillery: Midleton
Region: Foreign
Age: NAS
Strength: 46%
Price: $62.52
Maturation: ex-bourbon and sherry casks, finished in ex-wine casks from Chateau Montelena
Location: Midleton, Ireland
Nose: Gobstopper, sour, plum, cranberry, pomegranate, cereal, toffee, vanilla, brown sugar, blood orange
Palate: Toffee, plum, cranberry
Finish: Tannin, loganberry, currant
Comments: While a few drops of water might help, misapplication can ruin the delicate balance.
Adam – The Green Spot Chateau Montelena is taking me a while to figure out. At first blush it feels dry and lean, surprisingly lean for a wine finished whiskey. The sweetness and complexity in the nose take a little while to open up. Even with some patience, the overall flavor profile is light. Like spending time in a kitchen after the baking is done and everything put away rather than in the midst of culinary chaos. This is not a knock against it, as it is still a delightful mix of fruit and toffee with a sharp nip of tannins at the end to keep everything in order. The fruit profile grows with a bigger sip in the mouth but with it comes a little burn from the alcohol, which is a little surprise. Thankfully, the more you sip it, the clearer the elements shape up so that the unassumingly sweet whiskey you’d started with is nothing like the fruit, wood and sweet medley you get by the end of your glass.
Kate – This smells like bread pudding. It reminds me of Christmas from the dark stone fruit compote smell. I sometimes think that Irish whiskies can go a little too heavy on the sweetness and vanilla, but the tannins really ground it. I don’t want to dissect it, I just love it.
Bill – The Green Spot Chateau Montelena is like a baked good, like I bit into a cherry turnover. There’s that tart bit right at the front of the palate but it’s immediately overridden by the sugar. There’s a woody quality in the finish, almost like chewing paper. The fruit keeps the tannins from overawing but the opposite also occurs where the tannins keep the fruit in line.
This whisky conducts itself like a symphony. It flows.
Henry – The nose is a perfect amalgamation of florals, spice, and plum layered over the baking spice and toffee elements of the base spirit. A spiced plum, with both the bitter/sour edge of the skin and the sweetness of the flesh. The plum continues through to the palate, where the cereal, fruit, and spice dance through to the remarkably integrated finish. It’s a tad bit hot on the mid-palate, the only blemish on a really special whiskey. This whisky conducts itself like a symphony. It flows.
Ben – All the sweet candy that isn’t chocolate. Like a nose full of pixie sticks. There’s not a hole in this, the whole time.
