Green Spot Château Léoville Barton Single Pot Still

Exquisite. I never knew Irish whisky could soar to such heights.

A step up from the regular Green Spot. Rich, sweet, very smooth despite its 46% ABV. Worthy.

N: Heavy and ripe orchard fruit dripping with dew. Honey, caramel, toffee and overripe red fruit swirl together. Vanilla and red wine. Splash of oak. Milk chocolate. Dash of mint and spice. P: Red wine, chocolate, coffee, plum, dates. Vanilla and cinnamon spice. The fruit on the nose is there, but much more subdued - in the background, generally, but a juicy, ripe peach note occasionally pops off. Big, oily mouthfeel that leaves a hot baking spice taste/feel hugging your tongue. This has some of the bitterness of the Yellow and Red, but that I don't recall from the other Greens (or the Blue, for that matter). That bitter leads into the finish, which has some grassy, herbal notes plus baking spice and a bit of mint/menthol. That all sits on top of a still very big and rich malt roundness - caramel, vanilla, and toffee. Red fruit or red wine mingles with pot still spice and lingers for a long time. Final note is a different bitterness - this feels like that French oak tannin and dry red wine. It reminds me quite a bit of The Glenlivet 14 Year, which is aged/finished (not sure exactly which) in French Limousine oak. The nature of the wood notes is similar, although this is more nuanced, subtler, better. Excellent. This feels a bit more substantive and interesting than the Chateau Montelena version. It slots nicely into the Spot range between the Greens and the Yellow. This presents, basically, a more grown-up version of Green Spot, which is very welcome at times, but it's also just not worth the cost at other times. I still think the brightness, accessibility, quality, and excellent value of regular Green Spot makes it the overall winner of the Spot lineup, but I would say this is a not-far-behind 2nd place. It's easy to consider repeating this bottle. Special thanks to @Whiskey_Hound for pushing me off the fence on this one back in March. I bought this two weeks after your review. Savored it slowly until tonight.