Dunville's VR Cask 1710 12 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey Review

Dunville’s is a Lazarus brand, brought back to life by Shane Braniff and Jarlath Watson, the founders of the Echlinville Distillery based on the Ards Peninsula just east of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It’s a distillery I know well and I’m very fond of and it is a farm to glass distillery…..they grow their own grain, malt it, distill it, mature it and bottle it in house.

The stills of Echlinville came to life in 2013 and obviously it takes time for raw spirit to become whiskey, so while they waited for their own spirit to mature they launched Dunville’s as a brand for their sourced third party spirits and to showcase their cask management skills.

Dunville’s has a long history in and around Belfast dating all the way back to 1808. The Dunville family built railways, office buildings and in 1869 the Royal Irish Distillery. They also built Belfast’s first theme park in Dunville’s Park which was built for the distillery workers who had the Distillery Football team.  

Sadly the company was liquidated in 1936 even though it remained profitable after the death of the last heir & chairman, Robert Lambert Dunville in 1931.

Under Echlinville’s steward ship the Dunville’s range includes blends such as the 1808, The Three Crown’s range and then single malts such as the VR 10 PX & Palo Cortado expressions and the VR 12 year old PX bottled at 46% abv. On top of that they release quite a few single casks too like the one on review today which is from their ‘dark label’ series of the VR range.

Dunville’s 12 Year Old VR Cask 1710            56.9%abv/113.8 proof

4th release, bottled 2021, 354 bottles. £112/$150/€129

Cooley Double Distilled, NC/NCF, ex-PX finish for roughly 14 months 

Nose: This is not your stereo typical sherry bomb – the Cooley honeysuckle note is present & correct followed by gorse blossom, stewed apples studded with cloves and fresh lemon peel. Draff. Now we get raisins, plum, maple syrup and marzipan. 

Water brings spearmint, orange peel and cocoa.

Palate: Chewy and flavourful – sweet malt, banana bread, vanilla pods & peach cobbler. Caramelized brown sugar and sweet cinnamon. Some clove rock and dried chilli flake heat. Toasted almonds and milk chocolate. 

Water gives us ginger nut biscuits, melon and banana liqueur.

Finish: Medium to long with biscuity malt, light sherried notes, baking spice and garden mint.

Score: 8 out of 10

Overall: This is extremely well judged and balanced. So often PX casks can dominate but the fruity Cooley spirit cuts right through and rather than dominate the PX finish has helped to raise the bar and add layers of complexity. A superb whiskey.

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