Red Spot 15 Year Single Pot Still

Simply an exceptional Irish whiskey. Wish I had Yellow or even Green Spot lying around for a comparison, but this is rich and fruity and wooden and bright.

Tight nose, followed by a satisfying mouth feel The mid palette is hot cinnamon candy with dark chocolate. The finish ends with a strong notes the last

Earthy on the nose, light honey color. First sip you notice a mid viscosity nothing on the front mid palette is floral, lavender, lemon grass. Great long finish that is satisfying

Nose: Very light. Crisp barley. Mouth: Rich and earthy- there a higher viscosity than the other other 'spots' (green and yellow) that I have tried - which fills the mouth. It's lightly sweet and a bit empty on the mid pallet and the finish. If smooth is what you are looking for, this may be your dram. It is extremely easy drinking and slides across the tongue with a lovely thick silky mouthfeel. That said, it lacks the complexity of a lot of whiskeys in this price range and from the comparison flavor perspective I honestly think I prefer the green spot! Glad I bought (curiosity) but I can't imagine buying another (value). Excellent without being distinctive.

Finally was able to get my hands on this bottle. This tasting is the neck pour. Nose: butterscotch, so much butterscotch, brown sugar, some ethanol preventing me from really diving in, light honey, figs?, some light orange, there's some nuttiness that I can't identify, hazelnut maybe?, no, now I think it's walnuts... I am all over the place with this now. Barley Taste: a little smoke and barrel, front of the palate burn, sweet light fruits, maybe some fig, butterscotch, citrus, raisins Finish: getting some spice on the finish in the middle of my tongue and a mild tingling on my lips making me want to go back for more. Barrel tannins. Finish definitely tingles the middle of my tongue, but now is slightly spreading to the front of my tongue. Maybe some nuttiness - more hazelnut than walnut, wait, is that almond? I apparently need to eat more nuts, this has me all over the place. This isn't oily or drying on the palate, it's just in between the two. I prefer the oily mouth coating and am not a fan of the whiskies that dry your mouth out, so I'm content with this. I think I pick up figs on this, but my knowledge of figs is limited to fig newtons. This tasting was really interesting. I' think it could improve over time as the bottle gets some air in it. There's so much going on with the nose and the palate, and it's probably me being too amateur to pick out everything that's going on, but I'm not getting nearly as much as I had hoped on the palate or finish from a higher end whiskey. I'm also interested in adding a drop or two of water to it to see if that helps the spice die down some, but that'll have to wait for another night. I'd enjoy sharing this with friends and seeing what they think about it. 85/100 - Buying at MSRP