The whiskey wash logo
The World's Most-Visited
Whiskey Website
The World's Most-Visited
Whiskey Website

Trending Stories

Search
Irish

Sexton Single Malt Irish Whiskey Review

A whiskey housed in a bottle inspired by the Giant's Causeway - but does what's inside live up to the striking design? Here's our honest tasting verdict.

OVERALL RATING

6
$33
  • Genevieve is a South African whisky enthusiast with a PhD in Philosophy and founder of Kenton on Whisky, a coastal tasting venture.
Like Conversation

Tasting Notes

About:

One of the most striking features of this whisky is the fact that it comes in a distinctive, dark hexagonal bottle. Both the colour and the shape of the bottle are apparently inspired by the Giant’s Causeway, a natural wonder and UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its unique hexagonal basalt columns. The Giant’s Causeway is located on the north coast of Ireland, just a few miles northeast of the town of Bushmills, home to the Old Bushmills Distillery. A word of warning though – as striking as the design of the bottle is, it’s also notoriously difficult to pour from without spilling. I’ve found a bottle pourer to be helpful in this regard.

The Sexton, first released in 2017, was created by Alex Thomas, who first joined the team at the Old Bushmills Distillery in 2004. In 2021 Thomas was appointed master blender at Bushmills. The Sexton brand is owned by Proximo Spirits, an American drinks company, which took over Bushmills in 2014. While the whiskey that goes into The Sexton is distilled in the copper stills at Bushmills, it’s a completely separate brand.

A Sexton is someone who looks after a church and carries out minor duties related to this (such as ringing the bell for services and digging graves). The label features a skull wearing a top hat, presumably a nod to this historical role of sextons. The word “sexton” derives from the Medieval Latin word sacristanus, which means “custodian of sacred objects”. As a distiller and master blender, Thomas embraces this role in a metaphorical way, viewing herself as the caretaker of the whiskey during its maturation process before it gets bottled up.

The Sexton is an Irish single malt whiskey, so it’s made from 100% Irish malted barley. It’s triple distilled, aged in ex-oloroso sherry casks, and officially bottled at 40% ABV. Officially a no-age-statement release, it’s nevertheless said to be aged for four years.

Apparently, there’s a new release of The Sexton to keep an eye out for – one that bears an eleven-year-old age statement! It could be genuinely interesting to see what a few more years have done for this whiskey. Released for retail at Dublin and Cork airports in January 2025, you may by now have spotted a bottle elsewhere, as they intended to expand their release of this whiskey to other global travel retail markets during the course of the year.
Appearance:
Burnt amber
Nose:
The overall impression given is actually of something a little fresh and floral. There’s a sweet and citrusy note that reminds me of lemon meringue, and then a touch of toffee in the background. Some nutty, almond notes. Coffee-flavoured candy. And the hint of something slightly tart – like fresh cranberries – which almost makes my nose prickle.
Palate:
Marzipan. An aromatic woody note, reminiscent, perhaps, of freshly polished furniture. An initial candy sweetness turns into drying, dark chocolate bitterness.
Finish:
There’s a slightly spicy finish.
Comments:
I’d say that this is a decent enough whiskey. Personally, I much prefer the nose of this whiskey to the palate. It seemed like there was just a little more going on on the nose, and I suppose I’m just not the biggest fan of that aromatic woody note. It’s not that it’s actually offensive, I just prefer other flavours in my whiskey.

The price of The Sexton has also climbed steadily in the last couple of years (to be fair, so have the prices of most other whiskies). I can now find a bottle for around $42, which in my area is roughly the same price as a bottle of Old Pulteney 12 or Bowmore 12. To my mind this is ever so slightly on the pricy side for this whiskey – I’d rather go for one of those others.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Genevieve Jacot-Guillarmod

Genevieve is a whisky enthusiast from South Africa with a PhD in Philosophy, so she enjoys both drinking and thinking about whisky. She loves tasting new whiskies whenever she gets the chance - so much so that a few years ago she set up a small whisky tasting business, "Kenton on Whisky", in the tiny coastal town where she lives (this also serves as an excellent excuse to grow her selection of whiskies beyond reasonable limits).

All Posts

Latest On The Whiskey Wash

The whiskey wash logo