On June 29th of this year a few intrepid explorers headed to the northeast of the Ards peninsula to the small fishing town of Donaghadee. No we were not there for the halibut or prawns but in search of something much more exciting - uisce beatha.
Opened in August 2019 Copeland was a distillery I’d very much wanted to visit but alas what with life, world wide pandemics and other distractions along the way it was something that I’d not managed to get round too.
My time in Ireland was ebbing away and the clock was ticking so plans were made with Tony (@north_coast_drammer), Dramface’s own Hamish and Craig Blair to tick another distillery off the list.
If you ever get a chance to visit Ireland and specifically Northern Ireland, do yourself a favour and spend some time exploring the Ards Peninsula, it is a truly beautiful landscape and has the added bonus of hosting not only Copeland Distillery but also Echlinville which is definitely worth a visit when you are already in the area. Additionally you will find yourself within easy driving distance of the Killowen, Hinch and Rademon Estate distilleries and also the Belfast distilleries of McConnell’s and Titanic.
Copeland itself is a small but beautiful facility and we were lucky to spend the afternoon with founder Gareth Irvine and their head distiller Terry Henry. After the introductions were made we got down to chatting with Gareth and Terry about the distillery set up, the usual production questions about wash making, fermentation, distillation times yadda yadda yadda.
While these are always fun to discuss and nerd out on the real reason why we all visit distilleries is to peer into some casks and sample the contents. Thankfully Gareth and Terry pulled out a generous selection of maturing drams.
First up was a 3 year old double distilled single malt made with chocolate malt coming in at a healthy 64.1% abv and matured in a first fill bourbon cask. This was delicious and made me wonder why more distilleries don’t play about with chocolate malt or crystal malt in their mashbills.
Next up was cask no 82, a double distilled single malt matured in a Pinot noir hogshead. I truthfully exclaimed that red wine finishes and maturation don’t usually float my boat, in fact in a spoiler their own Merchants Quay Barolo Cask blend wasn’t really to my taste, and so please don’t get annoyed with me if I’m a little critical of it. Thankfully there was nothing to worry about. The Copeland distillate was coping remarkably well with the onslaught of red wine and European oak.
Mid way through the sampling we were treated to a cocktail made with their navy proof gin which was actually not only very pleasant in its own right but acted very effectively as a palate cleanser.
The third dram we tried was an absolute belter. Not even one year old but my pick of the samples on the day. An Irish rye that would easy best some of the finest that the good old U S of A could offer. The mash bill was 75% rye and 25% malted barley matured exclusively in virgin American oak.
This mashbill was put out recently as a cask share which sadly I didn’t get to buy into due a costly transatlantic move and I’m genuinely gutted I missed out on it…..maybe some of those who did buy in will have a spare bottle or two to trade when the cask comes of age.
Last but not least was a double distilled peated malt laid down in February 2021 with the sample taken late May 2024 that was matured in a moscatel cask. This was easily on a par with some Islay and Campbeltown releases I’ve tried, high praise for something so young but much like Killowen just a few miles down the road, Copeland are producing excellent whiskey. Hopefully their first release of their own whiskey will come out before 2024 ends. From what I’ve sampled from the distillery already I’m pretty convinced their inaugural release will be well worth picking up. Even Dr Doom himself, @whisky_rover was very complimentary about a sample I sent his way after the distillery visit.
In the meantime Gareth and co continue to pay the bills with their gin, rum, vodka, coffee liqueur and of course their sourced whiskey under the Merchant’s Quay banner, of which we’ll look at two releases today.
The Barolo Cask release takes their Merchant's Quay blend of grain, double distilled malt and triple distilled malt that are matured in four different casks.....virgin oak, re-char bourbon, 1st fill bourbon and oloroso sherry. This whiskey is then given an 8 month finish in Barolo Casks. It’s bottled at 46% and costs £45/$58/€54. I was given a sample of this from Tony (@north_coast_drammer).
The second release I’m looking at is the Merchant’s Quay Cask Strength. Again this took the regular Merchant’s Quay blend but added a 9 month finish in ex-Bordeaux casks that had previously held Copeland’s own rum. This was bottled at a healthy 57.8% abv and cost £58/$73/€70.
Let’s taste.
Copeland Merchant’s Quay Barolo Casks 46%
Nose: Immediately there’s a stewed red berry note as well as rose water and fudge, bright citrus notes of lemon and lime peel. Apple strudel, cinnamon and cedar.
Palate: Quite spicy and dry – the arrival is hot, chilli oil, wood tannins and clove. There’s a dry nuttiness like chopped Brazil nuts and walnuts plus a bready note. Eventually we get some wine influence with red berry compote.
Finish: Short with the wood being a little too dominant for my palate.
Score: 4 out of 10
Copeland Merchant’s Quay Cask Strength 57.8%
Nose: A little closed at full strength – then we get bergamot, watermelon and peach. Honey, nutmeg and cinnamon. Vanilla and caramelised banana’s. A buttery note too. Water brings out ginger nut biscuits and nougat.
Palate: A decent mouth feel – a lot of caramel straight away followed by cream soda, lime jelly and vanilla. Then we get fresh black pepper, ginger and french oak. Cadburys Turkish delight too. Water makes the ginger note more apparent plus adds a handful of hazelnuts.
Finish: short to medium in length with spice, toffee, dark chocolate and a hint of sherry.
Score: 5 out of 10
Overall: I expect these scores not to make me popular in Donaghadee, in fact I’ve probably scuppered my chances of visiting the distillery safely again but them’s the breaks.
I’ve said before that red wine finish or maturations are tricky things to get right with the wine and the European oak easily dominating spirits very quickly and sadly, to my palate at least, I feel this has happened here. The nose is lovely but palate wise I feel the Barolo cask has overtaken proceedings.
The cask strength version of the standard Merchant’s Quay is a powerful beast and allows you to play about with dilution to get things to your own taste. The problem I have is that it’s twice the price of the standard release, which I think is a fine dram. Therefore I’m not sure the cask strength offers enough to be picked over it. The cask strength is still very drinkable and if you enjoy playing with water in your whisky then maybe this is the Copeland for you.
However, the take away from this piece should be that you need to get excited from what will be released soon from Copeland, whiskies made from their own distillates. There will be variety…..and I mean not just the usual cask finishes, but variety in distillate styles with the rye being the one that I will really look forward to in an official release.
It looks like heady days are ahead for Donaghadee.
If you’d like to support my humble site there’s a ‘buy me a coffee’ link on the homepage menu bar. Thanks for reading!
Comments
Post a Comment