The Dark Silkie Cask Strength B1/20
Last year, on the 19th of April in fact, I found myself on a long weekend trip to Teelin in West Donegal for a bit of celebration....my mates were finally going to get rid of me! As you may have noticed in my recent social media posts I now reside in Florida and this weekend was a slightly early send off. Eleven of us made journey's of varying lengths, one of the group coming all the way from Wales via Knock Airport!
About halfway through my leg of the journey from Buncrana to Teelin, a stop was made in the lovely Biddy's O'Barnes pub situated in the Barnesmore Gap in the foothills of the Bluestack Mountains. It's a barren but stunningly beautiful part of the world and the thought of a warm open fire and a creamy pint of Guinness was a stirring way to start of the weekends proceedings.
Thankfully the Guinness was a delight, banter was had and then it was time to hit the road once more. We had about an hours drive to go skirting past Donegal Town then onwards to the very picturesque fishing town of Killybegs (I thoroughly recommend you stop off here for fish and chips or whatever your fresh seafood of choice is, you will not be disappointed). From here we carried on to the sea cliffs at Sliabh Liag.
Sliabh Liag means 'mountain of stone pillars' in Irish and the mountain stands an impressive 601 m or 1972 ft high, nearly three times the height of the Cliffs of Moher where most tourists venture when searching out Ireland's sea cliffs, making the sea cliffs found at Sliabh Liah the highest accessible sea cliffs in Europe.
After a short but calve destroying hike from the car park we got to the Bunglas viewing point where you take in the majesty of the cliffs and just the sheer beauty of Donegal's wild landscapes. In fact the weather was so good on the day of our visit that looking south across Donegal Bay towards Sligo, Benbulbin itself was visible. After a bit more exploring and a cheeky tin we made our way back to the car park. From here we set up our Ooni pizza oven by the banks of the River Glen to have a few well earned Guinness and hand made pizzas in the rare Irish sun.
Our final port of call was The Rusty Mackerel in Teelin where we'd all be staying for the next couple of nights. It was pre-arranged that we'd do a small whiskey tasting after dinner and three bottles were acquired for the nights craic ahead. On offer was Eagle Rare 10 year old representing Vanillatown, Ardbeg Uigedail representing the Land of Shortbread and for Ireland there was a bottle lying in my possession that just felt right to bring, The Dark Silkie Cask Strength Batch 1.
Sure when you're in the foothills of Sliabh Liag itself, what better Irish whiskey could you choose to drink. Even more pertinent was that the following day we were all going to visit Sliabh Liag Distillers to see around the new distillery in Ardara.
The distillery in Ardara is a beautiful setup and the scene is indeed helped by another unusually sunny April's day. The west face of the building is glass fronted giving us a first peek at the shiny copper machinations inside.
Once in the visitor centre we are first run through a tasting of their An Daluman gins before moving on to the core Silkie range as well as the, as then, recently released Red Silkie which has been finished in a combination of Rioja and Ribero de Duero red wine casks for around 6 months. As expected from the casks this gave the Silkie blend plenty of tannic influence and spice. Hopefully I'll grab a bottle at some point to review properly. A highlight was getting to try some of their own peated new make which was uniformly approved of by all the lads.
After the tasting we were given a brief tour of the production floor and the warehousing before heading off to Nancy's Bar in Ardara for food and a few scoops.
The Dark Silkie blend is made with 15% double distilled single malt matured in bourbon casks, 15% triple distilled peated single malt (55ppm) matured in sherry casks and 70% grain whiskey matured in virgin oak casks. Rather than being bottled at the regular 46% abv this cask strength expression comes out at at spicy 64.5% abv.
My bottle was bottle 143 from batch B1/20 which had an outturn of 210 bottles, was natural colour and non-chill filtered and cost €90/£75/$98.
Nose: A bit tight initially but very creamy. Cream soda, burnt sugar, ripe melon and nectarines. Cooked apple, cinnamon and ground ginger. If there is smoke here it comes across as cask char. Time brings black tea and the peat becomes a little more assertive. Water brings out the peat more along with a floral grain aspect and black lapsang tea.
Palate: On first sip that 64.5% abv makes itself very apparent! 2nd sip brings a wave of sweet peat with sweet sherry notes of sugar syrup, raisins and sticky toffee pudding. Then the virgin oak weighs in with cinnamon, clove rock and fresh ginger. A light ashiness is apparent too. Water again dials up the peat which helps cut through the sweetness as long with more virgin oak spice.
Finish: Medium with warming spices, oak and spun sugar sweetness.
Score: 6 out of 10
Overall: Even at full strength this is dangerously drinkable. Adding water just means that you can play about with it to find the right strength for your palate. I like the standard Dark Silkie and the cask strength release is well worth investigating but it is quite pricey though and there is a lot of great whiskey available at this price point, so it doesn't quite make a 7, perhaps if it was closer to £60 it would have made the grade
Of course this is a batch product some there may be peaks and troughs in quality but that’s all part of the fun.
If you find yourself journeying to Donegal, especially as far west as Sliabh Liag, then definitely make the effort to visit the Ardara Distillery. It’s a beautiful set up and the welcome is indeed incredibly warm….it also helps that the spirit they are making is also very good.
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