Whiskey_Hound
Knappogue Castle 12 Year Château Pichon Baron Cask Finish
Single Malt — Ireland
Reviewed
January 15, 2020 (edited November 6, 2021)
Here we've got the first of the entries in Knappogue Castle's Cask Finish Series. I did the Marsala finish a few weeks ago, which greatly impressed me. This time it'll be French Oak.
Keep in mind that all 3 releases are 12 years old and bottled at 46% ABV. This is one of 1100 bottles, which is 100 less than the Marsala. On to the tasting.
Nose: Ripe strawberry and sweet marshmallow pop out of the glass. Golden raisin with a bit of apricot, cranberry, and plum. Some cola and a healthy dose of vanilla, toffee, and malt. I get an Irish soda bread which I also feel like I got on the Marsala cask, but couldn't place it at the time. And of course, plenty of oak. It's worth noting I get none of the classic Knappogue Castle green apple. Very nice, nonetheless.
Palate: Fruity and tart. Red berry/fruit all day. Cranberry, raspberry, strawberry, red apple, red/purple grape. Raisin as well. Sweet and tangy. Somewhat similar to a sherry cask-finish but distinctly unique. Less velvety and more oily. There is also pear, honey, malt, toffee, vanilla, and a touch of caramel. Almond and walnut. Orange peel. Also some cinnamon and oak spice. Brilliant.
Finish: Raspberry, cranberry tang out of the gate. Followed by some orange citrus, then more neutral sweet notes of caramel and toffee. Finally, cinnamon, baking spice, fine oak carry this to its conclusion for what makes for a medium-long finish.
This is unbelievable stuff. I'm glad I got one just before it disappeared, yet very sad to know that I won't be getting it again. It's probably the best Irish whiskey I've ever had, and is easily one of the best whiskies I've had. It tows the line between dangerously easy and remarkably complex. It takes a great base stock and ages it in what are obviously the highest quality barrels.
5/5. I give it the slight edge over the Marsala finish, though I still need to do a side-by-side comparison. If you do happen to see this one, buy on sight, though it's safe to say that this is all gone. Looking forward to the Barolo cask to wrap up my review of the Cask Finish Series, Phenomenal stuff here.
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@PBMichiganWolverine It's a great find! Looking forward to your review
@PBMichiganWolverine Yeah I'd say on average I've probably drunk less than 25% of what I've bought and even that is probably way overestimating. Last time my sister and partner came round they walked away with a mostly full bottle of Noah's Mill, The grove Single Malt and a host of other stuff I've already forgotten about. My philosophy is unless I really love it and want to drink it a lot it's gone. Then I can open another one 😁
@geologyjane When they come over just do what I do and give them a bottle of your least favorite. Win win :-)
@Rick_M For a long time I typically had one or two dozen bottles open, tops. That included all spirit types - whisky, whiskey, rum, gin, brandy, liqueurs and whatever I was exploring at the time. So actually only 3 or 4 whiskies on the go - generally a sherried specimen, a smoky and a Springbank [there is *always* an open Springbank]. However as I like to taste for review from a bottle rather than a sample whenever possible that messed things up a bit, plus I've hosted a lot of spirit tastings over the last few years for small groups and that has generally left me with 1/4-1/2 a bottle at the end of the day. I didn't consider it an issue (apart from the extra shelf space needed) until recently when the problem of oxidizing bottles became obvious.
@geologyjane I really try not to have more than 5 open bottles. Right now, I have 3: a JW Ghost Brora, Octomore 10, and a Del Maguey Arroqueno. But then again...I’ve never finished a bottle in my life...end up trading samples a lot or when guests come over.
The open bottles problem never goes away, does it guys? I recently finished 2 bottles and I have another 6 or so that are getting close. I think I have about 20 open which is down from 25-30, I’d have to consult my spreadsheet. I’m not rushing it, but I’ll be glad when they’re finished up. It’s so hard not to open anything else in the meantime. Had a buddy over the other day and they were giving me a hard time about not opening a new bottle for them - I told them “not unless you want to finish up all these open ones”! Needless to say they couldn’t do it. 😸
@Rick_M Yeah I only have 6 bottles open at the moment and whilst i'm ok with my drinking schedule it's the tracking, and review process which bit painful just cos I love sampling different stuff!
@cascode @Soba45 - I think it’s wise to consider @PBMichiganWolverine lessons of moderation. It took me 2 years to get my whisky collection of 50 open bottles down to 10. I’ve let it expand to 20, which is split between 2 locations, but no new open bottles until one is finished moving forward.
@cascode Yeah I agree..becomes a bit of a 'posting everything I tasted cos I started and now I have to cos I want to keep track of everything' type thing and enjoyment starts waning. I'll be doing minimal reviews and may just go to star system just so I can remember what I've tasted (as I literally keep tasting the same stuff I don't really like otherwise). I'll save the reviews for the great stuff. i'm also going to stop buying MoM and TWE samples as the prices are now insane due to shipping and customs. I'll still be looking out for Ians ones though. they are damn cheap and swapping for anyone who is keen as I usually get bored and give the bottles away b4 they oxidize anyway so might as well go to people who want to try stuff.
@Soba45 I’m winding things back and won’t be opening anything new for some time. I have a lot of open bottles (over 60) and some have been oxidizing for almost three years. For decades I’ve typically had about 20 open at any one time but since I started posting here four years ago the number has snowballed. I’ll still post reviews for things I taste at events or buy as samples, but new bottles to share are off the agenda for 6-12 months. To be honest I'm looking forward to not drinking as much - posting here becomes a habit, as does tasting for reviews, and that's not desirable.
@PBMichiganWolverine Sounds great thanks! I'm in discussions with @LeeEvolved for a two way swap. He'll be doing a shipping mid Feb so not sure if timing works but to save us a chunk of change I could pay for any samples you have to be send to him instead? Also he's going to risk an inwards shipping (I think) so I'll add extras in for you. @cascode not sure if you are interested or not but if so i'm happy to be the middle man for any samples you want me to ship out to these guys and in return I'll split their samples and onforward to you. If either of you are interested further let me know and I'll circle you into the email trail with Lee E and we'll plan out how we are going to scale up our global distribution network :-)
@Soba45 one more aromatherapy sample then to save for you. Once I compile about 12 aromatherapy samples, I’ll reach out to you—only makes sense when the number gets that much
@PBMichiganWolverine Ah nice I had a sniff around locally but zero luck!
Just bought this...not easy to find, but of all places, found one wine.com...was there to order an Oregon Pinot and saw this
@PBMichiganWolverine Couldn't agree more. In addition to these three, I also recently picked up the Green Spot Montelena Chateau, which is damn good stuff. @Ctrexman Thanks man!
Sounds fantastic ,great review
I always felt Irish seems to go well with a really good wine cask finish. The Green Spot French red wine finishes were really good