The Shed distillery, active since the winter solstice of 2014, produces… Wait, what? Yes, you read right, “from the winter solstice” – and it’s not our brilliant periphrases for December 21st, but it’s a brilliant periphrases from the distillery’s own site! It’s a curious project by a crazy gentleman, PJ Rigney, who besides having a good self-esteem (you only have to read a little bit the info on the site to realize it) decided at some point to open a distillery in the province of Connacht, in the west of Ireland. As we were saying, the site is full of strange informations, but while it conveys a sense of bizarre and kind of naive craftsmanship, it doesn’t hide the informations: for example, they talk about “medieval pot stills”, while then they specify that there are five pot stills (two used only to produce their Gunpowder gin) and three column stills (for the Sausage Tree vodka), made by Arnold Holstein. However we want to evaluate the communication of the distillery – and we evaluate it positively, in the end, because it inspires a lot of sympathy – let’s concentrate on the liquid. It seems to be a sort of hyper-Irish whiskey, a stereotype of Irish, indeed: triple distillation, mixed unmalted and malted barley, with the addition of Barra Irish oats, with low yield and lots of heart. Today we taste the Drumshanbo Single Pot Still, aged for 5 years in a mixture of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry barrels.
N: very cozy and delicate, fresh and creamy. We find soft hints of coconut cream, white chocolate and vanilla; there is a lot of citrus fruit, we would say pink grapefruit if we were to go out of balance, and a floral freshness completes the profile (white flowers, but without reaching jasmine). Icing sugar, a little apple pie. Very pleasant.
P: just as welcoming, just as delicate, maybe even more so than the nose – the texture is a bit light. Very consistent, it must be said, the palate tends to develop more two hints: apple and cereal. Then vanilla, in quantity, a little more coconut and icing sugar. Certainly a summer whiskey, pleasant and drinkable.
F: more apple and cereal, then a little bit of buttercream very long.
Very nice experience, we have to admit: we really enjoyed it. This is a relatively simple whiskey, let’s face it, and one that doesn’t stand out unquestionably from Ireland’s dense malt scene – but overall it’s a whiskey that’s basically flawless and has a drinking pleasure that you can’t help but recognize. Very enjoyable, summery and very, very drinkable. Recommended. 84/100. Thanks to Mixercocktails, which distributes the products of the Shed distillery in Italy and which has provided us with a bottle for the tasting.
Sottofondo musicale consigliato: Leto & Karnash – OMana.
