Hinch Warehouse 3 Collection Peated Single Malt Review

County Down on Northern Ireland’s south east coast is very much leading the charge with the North’s whiskey production with distilleries that are very well thought of throughout Ireland and the Irish whiskey fanbase at large.

Killowen and Copeland distilleries are working whiskey magic with a small, artisan led production. Rademon Estate producing Shortcross whiskey has been quietly going about it’s business of making high quality, interesting drams working with different styles of distillate and wood maturation (no finishing here folks). 

Echlinville has led the charge through their Dunville’s range, show casing excellent cask management techniques especially in the VR range of single malts. Their distillery is a work or art and the location is one of the most picturesque in all of Ireland. In fact, the dual launch of their 7 year old Echlinville single malt and pot still whiskies was probably the best whiskey experience I’ve had in my life.

Flying under the radar a little is Hinch distillery. Located just 5 miles outside the historic town of Ballynahinch I’ve been fortunate to visit the distillery a few times from construction right through to production. It also is a beautiful location and well worth a visit and a tour of the distillery.

Production started in 2020 with their first spirit run happening on November 9th of 2020. While waiting for their own spirit to mature they have released the ‘Time collection’ of 5 & 10 year old blends and non age stated pot still and malt whiskies. They also had a couple of flagship single malts, the 18 year and 19 year Chateau De La Ligne releases that finished Bushmills malt in Bordeaux wine casks from Hinch owners, Terry Cross’s vineyard in France.

What did pique the interest of many an Irish whiskey fan was their Warehouse 3 releases that came out in 2025. I managed to snag the first three releases…a 3 year old peated single malt, a 13 year old single malt matured in ruby port and a 22 year old single malt matured in madeira.

These releases caused a bit of a stir for a number of reasons. They were cask strength single casks. The 22 year old was a Bushmills and the 3 year old was their own triple distilled spirit, quite a ballsy move and a sign of confidence.

Then there were the prices - £40 for the 3 year old, £50 for the 13 year old and £90 for the 22 year old. Prices frankly unheard of in the Irish whiskey scene. Some brands were charging £40 for sourced blends after all. These were like Signatory Vintage prices and honestly a welcome sight as for too long the price of Irish whiskey has been over inflated.

Hinch Warehouse 3 Collection Peated Malt    £39/$52/€45

62.1% abv – NC – NCF – Triple Distilled

Cask 857. Refill ex-bourbon. Filled 27/10/21, bottled 11/12/24. Bottle 167 of 211.

Nose: Grassy – dry hay, barley husks, ginger nut biscuits and fresh carnations. Vanilla, caramel & bubblegum. A vegetal peat plus a lactic crème fraiche note. A metallic note too, like cast iron. A little citrus.

Water gives us toasted bread, malt and sweet peat.

Palate: A little prickly heat on arrival but with a nice chewy mouthfeel. There’s a hint of tcp, lemon zest and lemon sherbet – there’s definitely some effervescence. White pepper, clove oil and that sour lactic note again alongside barley sugar and a gentle peat aspect.

Water: Some caramel now as well as being a little more peat forward plus some black licorice.

Finish: Short with a little alcohol heat, pepper, ground clove and citrus zest.

Score: 6 out of 10

Overall: Simple but very drinkable. This is a well crafted single malt that, while it can’t hide is youthfulness, points at good things ahead as their spirit matures. If anything it reminded me of the Kilkerran Heavily Peated series.

Aside from the quality the main talking point has to be the price. This was ridiculously good value, as have been most of the Warehouse 3 releases and a welcome respite to the frankly very overpriced Irish releases that started with the young Dingles but kind of exploded in the last 5-6 years.

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