World Whiskey Reviews #35-36: Double Green (Green Spot Château Léoville Barton Bordeaux Finish & Green Spot Chateau Montelena Zinfandel Finish)
Distillery: Midleton Distillery
Bottler: Mitchell & Son of Dublin
Region: Cork, Ireland
World Whiskey Review #35: Green Spot Château Léoville Barton Bordeaux Finish
ABV: 46%
Age: NAS.
Cask Type: Initial maturation in American ex-bourbon and Sherry casks, finished in Château Léoville Barton Bordeaux wine casks
Color: 1.2, Chestnut/Oloroso Sherry.
Nose Very light. There’s a bit of malt sweetness with a hint of steel. Not a whole lot going on here.
Palate: You get a lot of the malted barley from the get go. There are pops of the Bordeaux wine here and there which goes along very well with the malt. Towards the end, it gets fruitier with the distinct note of strawberry rhubarb joining in. The flavors are incredibly clean with the little bits of fruit being slightly tart which balances well with the malt.
Finish: Medium in length. It’s slightly oily and finishes heavily on that note of strawberry rhubarb.
Conclusion: This was quite different and I have to say a real improvement on regular Green Spot. I found the regular Green Spot to be fairly straightforward and dominated by this metallic note. While there’s a little bit of that in the nose here, it’s completely absent through the rest of this whisky. The red wine finish is clearly noticeable with pops of, well, red wine here and there throughout. There’s a fantastic note of strawberry rhubarb that helps balance things out very well. Delicious. Would I buy a bottle? Probably.
Final Score: 81.
World Whiskey Review #35, Irish Whiskey Review #7, Whisky Network Review #315
World Whiskey Review #36: Green Spot Chateau Montelena Zinfandel Finish
ABV: 46%
Age: NAS.
Cask Type: Initial maturation in American ex-bourbon and Sherry casks, finished in Chateau Montelena (Napa Valley) Zinfandel wine casks
Color: 0.3, Pale Gold.
Nose Very light. A tiny hint of steel pops in but for the most part its dominated by crisp green grapes with the wine coming through nicely.
Palate: On the sweeter side of things, it’s fairly oily and thick. The sweetness and mouthfeel remind me heavily of a simple syrup. There’s a note of poached pears with some more of the green grapes come through as well.
Finish: Short, ends on a slightly dry note. The simple syrup and grapes are here again.
Conclusion: Much like it’s sibling whisky, this is quite different than the regular Green Spot. It’s rather tasty but unfortunately a bit too one-dimensional for me. While the grapes notes throughout are lovely bursts of flavor and the bit of poached pear is quite lovely as well, the simple syrup note is too strong and leaves for a slightly unbalanced whisky. Still, as an after dinner dessert whiskey, this would be quite nice. Would I buy a bottle? Maybe.
Final Score: 79.
World Whiskey Review #36, Irish Whiskey Review #8, Whisky Network Review #316
Final Thoughts: Wine cask finished whisky is always an interest of mine and I have to say, I think Green Spot has gotten these two mostly right. They’re both quite an upgrade on the regular Green Spot and both of them have been done in a manner where you can taste the wine cask influence. I hope they’ll continue to experiment and look forward to their results.
Scoring Legend:
- 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
- 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
- 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
- 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
- 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
- 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
- 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
- Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.
Scotch & Sheen 
