Dingle Single Malt Batch 5 Deconstruction Tasting

Dingle. The dram that was getting all of Ireland into a fluster over the last few years. I say all of Ireland but really I mean the flipping contingent because it would seem that precious few of those first releases, especially at cask strength, ever got opened but rather made their way onto Facebook pages and Auction sites for vastly inflated prices.

 I for one I have to say, have yet to be overly impressed with what has come out of Dingle as can been seen here and here. One though that sticks in my mind was an Amontillado Sherry matured malt that was absolutely fantastic even at a young age but I've yet to try anything from them that has come close.

However, the times they are a changing. Michael Walsh has moved from Dingle to Boann Distillery as Head Distiller and his replacement is a man of some pedigree, He being Graham Coull whose previous employers were Glen Moray.

I've had the pleasure to spend a little time chatting with Graham and his lovely wife Fay at Dublin's Whiskey Live in November 2019 and hopefully I'll be able to meet up with them in their new home of Dingle soon. I'm also very interested to see the direction that Graham will steer Dingle as undoubtedly it is a distillery of great promise.

Recently Dingle released Batch 5 of their Single Malt. In conjunction with ThreeDrams they sent out a deconstruction package of the Batch 5 which included the Bourbon, Madeira and Pedro Ximenez elements of the Batch 5 as well as the finished item. On top of that they conducted a live stream tasting with Graham taking us through the components with Fay ably watching the live chat and firing questions at Graham from the participants.

Dingle Single Malt Batch 5 - Bourbon Component 46.5%

Colour: Pale Chardonnay

Nose: Very fresh and zesty - lime juice, lemon zest, biscuity malt, granny smith apples, boiled sweets, white pepper and sea spray.

Palate: Candies apples and pears, lime juice, really malty and quite spirit driven. White pepper and light chilli heat.

Dingle Single Malt Batch 5 - Madeira Component 46.5%

Colour: Olive Oil

Nose: Really herbal - sage and rosemary, hazelnuts and then the sweetness comes through. Honey, creme brulee, milk chocolate and more lime.

Palate: Sweet arrival -white grapes, fruit salad sweets, fresh ginger, coffee grounds, pepper heat and menthol

Dingle Single Malt Batch 5 - Pedro Ximenez Component 46.5%

Colour: Copper gold

Nose: Very sweet - parma violets, caramel, muscovado sugar, sweet raisins, red berries - strawberries and raspberries, toasted oak and leather

Palate: Sweet raisins, toffee, coffee revels, dates, ginger, allspice, vanilla and stewed apples.

Dingle Single Malt Batch 5 - 46.5%

Colour: Pale Gold

Nose: Salty sweet - salted caramel, kendal mint cake, green herbs, boiled sweets, fresh apples, raisins and coconut.

Palate: Pretty sweet actually - raisins up front with toffee, stem ginger syrup, mint, stewed apples and biscuit crumble with a light coffee note, nutmeg and allspice.

Overall:

I have to say I love deconstruction tastings that allow you to try the components as well as the final product. This is definitely the best Dingle Single Malt yet. It's well balanced and the final product does justice to the components. Would I be happy to pay £60-65 pounds for this? Actually yes.

I can't wait to see where Graham takes Dingle especially as He is now talking about age statements and double digit at that. I think Dingle will only go from strength to strength.

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