Copeland 25.1 Single Malt Irish Whiskey Review

Located 18 miles east of Belfast in the small town of Donaghadee lies Copeland Distillery.

Founder Gareth Irvine had an unconventional move into whiskey production coming from a sales background. While studying Business at the Ulster University in Coleraine he set up a business as part of his final year producing fruit infused gin. Even though he had no actual product he managed to crowd fund £30k and in 2016 Copeland Distillery was born.

Fast forward to 2019 and the new distillery opened its doors beside the historic harbour of Donaghadee in the grounds of the old cinema house and Ards Bottling Company. Confidence obviously wasn’t lacking as Gareth signed a 125 year lease on the property.

The distillery makes gin, ginfusions, vodka, rum and of course whiskey, both single malt and pot still. 

I visited the distillery with a few friends in June 2024 and it’s a beautiful little set up with two whiskey stills and and gin still. Currently output is just 3 barrels of whiskey a week. 

Copeland available in the US in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Texas

Chocolate malt – normally used in brewing beer like stout or porter it is specially roasted to give a dark colour and provide a rich coffee, toffee and chocolate flavour profile.

Copeland 25.1 Double Distilled Single Malt 5 Year Old £125

Mash bill: 10% chocolate malt, 90% malt

X3 200ltr bourbon casks matured for 4 years 9 months then moved to virgin oak (char level 4) for 5 months – 5 years and 2 months of maturation

Oloroso quarter cask 5 years 5 months

Nose: Jammy Seville orange marmalade, custard cream biscuits, marzipan, cola cubes, milk chocolate, ginger and cinnamon. Saw dust with a hint of spearmint and even a touch of saltiness. Water brings chocolate lime sweets, malt and golden syrup.

Palate: A lovely texture to this and the alcohol is very well integrated. A sweet, jammy arrival – marmalade, crème brulee, salted caramel, mocha and then warming baking spices of clove and cinnamon with some virgin oak spice grip too. Dates. Menthol. Water brings anise and chili heat from the virgin oak plus panettone bread.

Finish: Medium in length with woody spices, a little salt, caramel and bitter dark chocolate.

Score: 8 out of 10

Overall: This is just superb. Forget the age statement because it doesn’t even become relevant. This drinks like a much older whiskey, its rich, it’s complex, it’s decadent. It shows what is capable of accomplishing when heart and soul are put into a dram. Yes it’s expensive but it’s also rare….only around 1k bottles between cask strength and regular strength. 

If you’d like to support my site and continued whiskey exploration there’s a ‘buy me a coffee’ link on the homepage menu bar. Thanks for reading!