Lough Ree Distillery launch The Bridge -St Mel’s No 1 Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Lough Ree Distillery are delighted to bring our latest limited edition whiskey release to the market. This one has been a long time in the works and is the result of a collaboration with St. Mel’s Independent Brewing Company in Longford. We’re releasing it to mark World Whisky Day and also St Mel’s Independent Brewing Company’s 7th birthday, both of which fall on Saturday 15th May 2021.
This process started with Lough Ree Distillery sourcing a cask from Spain which St Mel’s filled with their delicious malty brown ale, which they then cask aged for 10 months. The batch of cask aged brown ale sold out very quickly when in was launched as a limited edition in February, but St Mel’s classic Brown Ale is distributed widely across Ireland.
As soon as the cask was emptied of ale, it was brought to Lanesborough and filled with 6-year-old, triple distilled Single Malt Irish Whiskey, which had been previously matured in a first fill Bourbon Cask. Lough Ree Distillery finished this whiskey in the cask for 15 weeks, prior to it being disgorged and cut to 43% ABV for bottling, without chill filtering or added colour.
Michael Clancy, Co-Founder of Lough Ree Distillery stated “This is our first venture into beer cask aged whiskey and we’re very happy to have collaborated with our cousin Eoin Tynan and his business partner, Liam Hanlon in St Mel’s, one of Ireland’s finest craft breweries. The chocolate, caramel and malt flavours in St Mel’s Brown Ale really compliment the triple distilled malt, making for a sweet and very moreish whiskey. I’m just sorry we don’t have more of this particular release available right now, as we’ve had a huge amount of interest in it already.”
Liam Hanlon, Head Brewer of St Mel’s Independent Brewing Company commented “We got rave reviews from our customers about the beer that came out of this cask, and the whiskey lives up to the same standard- in fact, it makes a perfect chaser for a bottle of St Mel’s Brown ale. This whiskey release, coinciding with our 7th Birthday, is the start of several cask collaborations we have ongoing with our friends at Lough Ree Distillery, so stay tuned for more releases over the coming year.”
This is a limited edition bottling of only 344 bottles, for sale via Lough Ree Distillery website www.lrd.ie with retail price of €60.
TASTING NOTES:
- Nose : Sweet dairy chocolate notes present initially with exotic fruit and cantaloupe melon. A dryness which evokes aroma of brazil nut complements the sweet malt base, teasing what is to follow.
- Taste : Exceptionally soft and sweet, with honey and brown sugar dominating. The delicious malt flavour combines with cantaloupe and a touch of mandarin orange before drying delicately on the side of the mouth.
- Finish : Pleasantly dry with long lingering malt and sweet oak spice.
For more details, contact: Michael Clancy michael.clancy@lrd.ie 087-8264301 @LoughReeDistill
