Powerscourt Distillery Unveils A New 20 Year Irish Single Malt Whiskey

Powerscourt Distillery out of Ireland recently announced its newest edition to the “Five Elements” series, a limited edition 20-year-old Irish single malt Fercullen.

The 20-year-old limited edition has just 1,500 bottles available and comes after the success of 2020’s release of the first “Five Elements” 18-year-old malt. 

It is a marriage of five different cask styles that are said to have been expertly combined by Noel Sweeney, the brand’s master distiller, to form a complex and distinctive whiskey. Sweeney created the blend and personalized the proportions of each style to balance the expression.

The 16-year-old bourbon barrel matured malt whiskey was finished for four years in a variety of Oloroso sherry, Pedro Ximenez, Marsala and Muscatel casks, before being combined with a 20-year-old Bourbon cask matured Single Malt.

“For our 2021 release of the “Five Elements,” I wanted to further develop the inimitable composite expression standards set in our first release of ‘Five Elements,’” Sweeney said in a prepared statement. “Selecting rare 16-year-old single malt whiskey stocks and carefully decanting into Oloroso Sherry, Pedro Ximenez, Marsala and Muscatel casks – these characteristics were infused over four years. This liquid was then married with 20 years old bourbon barrel matured single malt in the perfect proportions to create a genuinely complex, flavoursome and special whiskey, which is a pleasure to drink.”

All “Five Elements” products include a single distillery source and two types of oak maturation: American White Oak and European Oak. they all have four different finishing casks: Oloroso Sherry, Pedro Ximenez, Marsala and Muscatel, and five styles: Oloroso Sherry, Pedro Ximenez, Marsala, Muscatel and Bourbon casks.

This latest edition of the Five Elements series is bottled at 46% alcohol by volume and is non-chill filtered, and sells for a recommended retail price of €220. Official tasting notes are below.

• Nose: Malt, citrus, boiled sweets, vanilla and honey with a twist of lemon, ripe fruits, plums, raisins, cinnamon, tropical fruits, pineapple, mango, banana, oak and a hint of nuttiness. 
• Taste: Layer upon layer of smooth, sweet malt, orange, fruit cocktail, chocolate, Christmas cake, tropical fruit and red grape skins. 
• Finish: Long-lasting sweetness from ripe fruits and cream with a velvet texture almost mouth-watering to finish. The long-lasting sweetness from ripe fruits and cream produces a velvety texture and mouth-watering finish