Knappogue Castle Unveils Barolo Finished Irish Single Malt

Knappogue Castle has announced a new Barolo-barrel finished whiskey, the third addition to their Cask Finish series. The Marchesi di Barolo expression is the distillery’s 12-year-old single malt Irish whiskey finished in ex-wine barrels, and is limited to 1,200 bottles that each price $80.

Like their other whiskeys, this is a copper-pot-distilled single malt, non-chill filtered, and aged in bourbon barrels for 12 years. It is then finished in casks from the Marchesi di Barolo winery, located in the village of Barolo in the Piedmont region of Italy in the foothills of the Alps. The resulting whiskey is bottled at 92 proof. The distillery has provided some official tasting notes:

“The nose of the new whiskey is fruity with aromas of strawberries, cinnamon buns, banana fritters and caramel toffees. On the palate, expect a great mix of spice and fruit characters, red apples, berry fruit and red cherries. Hints of peppery oak lead to a spicy finish.”

The previous iterations in the Cask Finish series are a Bordeaux-finished whiskey, released last year, and a Marsala-finished expression from this past spring.

“Given the tremendous feedback from the first two installments of our Cask Finish Series, we know Knappogue fans and whiskey enthusiasts alike will be very pleased with this release too,” said Castle Brands chairman Mark Andrews in a prepared statement. “We have felt privileged and honored to partner with the Abonna family, whose Barolo wine casks bring a beautiful mix of spice and fruit notes to our award-winning 12 year old whiskey.”

Knappogue Castle, the whiskey brand, has its origins in the 1960s, when Mark Edwin Andrews (father of the Mark Andrews quoted above) purchased Knappogue Castle, the castle, a 15th-century edifice in County Clare, Ireland. Andrews began collecting and bottling single malt and pure pot still whiskey in an era when blended whiskey made up the biggest share of the market.