Tullemore Dew 12yo Special Reserve

ABV:   40% ABV

Price:  £58

Distillery 1829

A 12yo blended Irish whiskey from duty-free favourite Tullamore Dew, Special Reserve has been assembled from a mixture of bourbon and oloroso sherry casks.

The whiskeys in the Tullamore Dew 12 Year Old Special Reserve have a very high concentration of pot still in addition to grain whiskeys, triple distilled between 12 and 15 years ago from unmalted as well as malted barley. It is a very fine aged whiskey with more complexity coming from the additional aging. All the whiskies in the blend are matured in old Bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks, slowly reaching their perfection. The sherry cask finish gives a sweet nuttiness to the taste.

Tullamore is a town in Ireland, a small town which today has a population of almost 13,000 people.

DEW or D. E. W. are the initials of one of the greatest distillers Ireland has ever had, his name was Daniel Edmund Williams.

This guy has an incredibly interesting story. He began working at the distillery as a stable boy at the age of 15 and went on to become Distillery Manager by the age of 25.

1954 - the distillery ceased production, having, like many of those in Ireland at the time, been hit by declining sales due to a number of factors such as Prohibition, the Anglo-Irish Trade War and high taxes introduced by the Irish Free State.

A range of owners over the years:

John Powers; merged with two others to form Irish Distillers; moved all production to Midleton, County Cork

Irish Distillers sold Tullamore DEW brand and others to William Grant & Sons for €300 million in 2010. (still produced at Midleton) - with significant growth envisaged, opted to construct a new distillery in Tullamore, rather than depend on outsourced production.

2014 - Phase one was completed, which saw production of whiskey return to Tullamore for the first time in sixty years. And first ‘green site’ distillery in Ireland for 100 years

2017 - grain distillery and bottling plant were added. The installation of a grain distillery means that the distillery can now produce all three components (pot still, malt, and grain whiskey) of its Tullamore D.E.W. blended whiskey on-site. Capacity now 3.6 million litres pa

Nose: Fruity and biscuity. There are gristy notes with caramel and toffee sweetness and plenty of peels.

Palate: Good body with notes of sherried peels and spice, granary toast with butter and honey, grains and vanilla cream.

Finish: Quite vegetal and long with notes of caramel and toffee.

Water – beautiful and buttery; spice touch