The Poitín Review: Bán Poitín, Baoilleach Mulroy Bay, Baoilleach The Cratur and Micil Heritage




It's the first review of 2025 and it's a slight curveball as it's not a whiskey review. Instead I'm looking at whiskey's forerunner, Poitín. Poitín really is having a purple patch right now, it even has it's own festival in Ireland, 'Poitín Now', organised by poitín enthusiast Fran Leavey and held in Dublin's Bar 1661, that is now in it's third year. The once banned hooch certainly had a bad rep when I was growing up in Ireland due to it’s illicit nature. Quality control was supposedly not great and I can’t tell you how many times people would be warned not to drink someone’s shed special for fear of going blind or worse. Funnily enough I’ve yet to meet anyone that ever went blind from drinking the stuff. Urban myth can be a powerful force I guess.

Another trope that maybe harmed poitín was that it was also seen as Ireland's answer to moonshine, even though they are markedly different beasts especially in relation to the cereal they are made from, there's no corn syrup specials in todays review.

I think one thing that has always amazed me as I've made my journey through whiskey is how much flavour is contained within an un-aged spirit and yet to most people who maybe aren't as enthused in the world of spirits as I am, or you dear reader, they view un-aged spirit as 'fire water' that will burn not only your nostrils and throat but also lead to the type of hangover that a full pack of ibuprofen won't even cure. The fact that cheap un-aged spirits like white rum and many vodkas do indeed taste like gasoline on their own doesn't help matters.

Now while I do lean heavily into whiskey I really do enjoy trying new make spirits as it can give you a window into a distilleries ethos and what that whiskey can become in the future. In fact if three of these spirits had been left in a cask for the required three years they would indeed become whiskey.

Bán Poitín is the outlier of the four poitíns we are trying today in that it's made from a made from a mashbill of malted barley, potatoes and sugar beets. This has changed recently to becoming a blend of raw and malted barley spirit mixed with Comber potatoes and Irish grain. It's also bottled at 44.5% abv in it's new iteration compared to 48% abv with the bottling I had. 

Of the four bottles on review this is the only one sold in a 700ml bottle with the rest coming in at 500ml bottles. It continues to be distilled by Echlinville Distillery and is part of their continued partnership with poitín guru and owner of Dublin's poitin centric Bar 1661, Dave Mulligan. Currently it is priced at £47/€55/$58 a bottle.

Tucked in the northwest corner of Ireland near Carrickgart, Co Donegal lies one of Ireland's smallest distilleries, Baoilleach. Owned and operated by Michael O'Boyle, this tiny distillery is making pretty big waves in Irish whiskey circles. The quality of it's releases so far both in terms of poitín and his 'Mountain Dew' (whiskey spirit that has been aged but not sufficiently to be called whiskey yet), have led to much interest into Baoilleach's first offical whiskey release.

I have two of the Baoilleach's poitín's to taste today, the Mulroy Bay 4 grain release and the Poitín Now festival release, The Cratur. The 4 grain release has a mash bill of malted and raw barley, oats and rye. Sadly there is no indication of the exact ratio. It's bottled at a healthy 60.9% abv and cost £40/€48/$49.

The Cratur uses 100% peated barley from Donegal, some of the turf used came from the distillery site, some from Glenveagh and is a nod back to the 'Olde Inishowen' style of poitín of back in the early 1800's. This is bottled at 60.4% abv and cost £42/€50/$51.50 per bottle.

Sadly, Michael is no longer making poitín, but fear not because he is instead focusing on whiskey!

Nestled on the West coast of Ireland, near the Connemara National Park is the vibrant city of Galway, a personal favourite of mine and well worth a visit. Typing this, I suddenly find myself craving a pint of the black stuff in Neachtain's on the corner of Quay St and Cross St.





Sorry for digressing but here we'll find Micil Distillery. I've covered their history before so click the link to find out their back story. As well as laying down their own whiskey stocks they have been busy making poitín too which harks back to their family roots. Using a mash bill of malted barley and oats which has been peated using turf from their family land in Inverin this is bottled at 46% abv and costs £46/€55/$56.50 for a 500ml bottle.
As these are un-aged spirits I won't be giving scores, rather just my notes and opinions, kinda like the good aul days of Causeway Whiskey!
Let's taste!



Ban Poitín 1661 48% abv

Nose: Sour cream and a mix of lemon and lime citrus. Fresh brown bread and a hint of rye. Some damp soil notes too along with cereal husks.

Palate: A decent oily texture. Initially there’s a little lemon sharpness and earthiness. Fennel & oregano. Cinnamon, cracked black pepper and bready notes followed by a surge of syrupy sweetness.

Finish: A balance of sharp and sweet with warming cinnamon lozenges.



Baoilleach Mulroy Bay 60.9% abv

Nose: Very creamy – salted butter, lemon curd, a well used ash tray, vanilla, toasted rye and malted barley. Water brings out more citrus zest and it becomes a little brighter.

Palate: A thick, mouth coating texture. Some barley sugar sweetness up front before the rye spice kicks in – clove and black pepper. Bready notes follow alongside a powerful turf punch. Water sweetens things up further and tames the spices a little without adversely affecting mouthfeel.

Finish: A decent length with rye and pepper spice lingering along with peat smokiness.




Baoilleach ‘The Cratur’ 60.4% abv

Nose: A sugary sweet nose – barley and icing sugar, crème anglaise, malt loaf plus aromatic aniseed. Black tea leaves and sweet peat. Water brings citrus notes and a turf fire.

Palate: The mouthfeel is huge – thick, creamy and unctuous. Sweet peat and bonfire smoke immediately grasp the palate. Demerara sugar, vanilla custard and ginger. Cayenne pepper heat and tart citrus balance things out. Minerality plus black licorice. Water brings out an almost burnt toffee note.

Finish: good length and it’s warming, spicy and sweet with lingering earthy smokiness.



Micil Heritage Poitin 46%

Nose: Very fresh – green apples and slightly unripe pear. A little white wine vinegar sharpness. Fresh double cream. Some stewed rhubarb too. Pine cones and a green herbal note. A wisp of smoke to finish.

Palate: Vanilla cream, malted barley, honey, almonds, green apples and a gentle smoke. A mild pepperiness and coffee grounds.

Finish: short to medium – warm smoke, pepper and orchard fruit.

 

Overall: For those that think that something fresh of the stills has no flavour you really need to think again. Aging of spirits is really a relatively new thing in the whisky world, really until the 1900’s most whisky was sold straight from the still and was pretty much unaged in any meaningful way except the interaction it had with the barrel it had contact with in the merchants premises.

These are all high quality drinks. Of the four though the Ban Poitín, while still good, is probably my least favourite. That’s probably due to its mash bill, and while reflective of what many people were probably throwing together after the good old English decided to tax grain it just doesn’t really stand up to the others that are all distilled from an all grain mash bill.

The two drops from the Baoilleach Distillery really were excellent but ‘The Cratur’ was an absolute beast, probably up there with Killowen’s Bulcan as one of the nicest poitíns I’ve tried. If you can find somewhere that stocks either the Cratur or the Bulcan immediately buy them.

The Micil Heritage was also lovely and probably a good entry way into poitín. Plenty of cereal and fruit plus a little warming peat that reminds you of sitting in front of your granny’s turf fire.

I’ve a few more samples to get through so hopefully will get notes on them soon. Thanks again to Dave Cummings aka @The Mash Upper for the generous samples.

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