Irish Distillers are marking 135 years of whiskey bonding among the Mitchell family, one of Ireland’s last remaining wine merchants, by crafting a celebratory vibrant Spot release, Gold Spot Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.

The limited-edition expression pays tribute to the colourful history of the Mitchell’s whiskey bonding business which commenced in 1887 when the bonders sent empty wine and fortified wine casks to the local Jameson Distillery, in Bow Street, to be filled with new single pot still spirit for maturation in its underground cellars.

Once filled, the fortified wine casks would be marked with a daub or “spot” of coloured paint, to determine the age potential with Blue Spot, Green Spot, Yellow Spot and Red Spot, respectively indicating the 7, 10, 12 and 15 years of the celebrated expression within the Spot range. 

The colour gold symbolises quality, prestige, specialness and celebration and so the Mitchells chose Gold Spot to signify their enduring relationship with whiskey bonding over seven generations and 135 years. This special release commemorates the past and nods to the future of whiskey innovation by embodying the unmistakable qualities of single pot still Irish whiskey. 

Matured for a minimum of nine years, Gold Spot Single Pot builds on the foundation of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, typical of the Spot whiskey style, and is married together with a unique proportion of hand selected Bordeaux wine casks and port pipes. The inclusion of port casks – sourced from Irish Distillers’ long-established partners in Portugal’s Douro Valley– is a first for a modern iteration of Spot whiskey. 

Working in collaboration with the Mitchells, the team at Midleton Distillery was inspired by archive documents dating back to the late 1800s showing significant quantities of port casks imported into Ireland which, once emptied, would have been used to mature whiskey.

Unveiled at Whiskey Live Dublin, the non-chill filtered Gold Spot is bottled at 51.4% ABV or 102.8 Proof – a reference to historical methods of measuring alcohol content as noted in the Mitchell’s archive. The whiskey will be available online from www.spotwhiskey.com from 12 p.m. Irish Time and at Whiskey Live Dublin on the 10^th of June and from Mitchell & Son stores and all established retailers from Tuesday, 14^th of June at the RRP of €120. 

It will be available to buy in Ireland, France, the UK and Global Travel Retail, and the USA from mid-July.