Years back, I thought I’d stumbled upon some kind of hidden booze secret. Just about every Irish Whiskey you know of comes out of Middleton: Jameson, Tullamore Dew, Powers, the “Spot” whiskeys, Middleton Rare, Redbreast, the recent “Method and Madness” series, and this, the Knappogue Castle, are all made (as far as I can tell) under the same roof somewhere in Cork county. “It’s all just Jameson,” I muttered at one point! I doubt I was alone in the conclusion.
Today, I’d say my revelation is technically true. But it would be like looking at one of the absolutely wild diagrams of everything that Disney owns and concluding that History Channel is therefore the same as ESPN2 and National Geographic. But I think we can agree, at the very least, that watching a hummingbird flap its wings in slow motion is a very different flavor of television than listening to a historian pontificate about whether Hitler was visited by aliens during his final days in the bunker.
And so we have Knappogue Castle, perhaps the most unsung entry in Irish Distillers’ / Middleton’s portfolio. After having had it, I would argue it is the most unfairly unsung entry given its distinctiveness among all of the other quality offerings the conglomerate produces.
“Succeeding where so many entry level scotches stumble, the Knappogue Castle 14 offers the kinds of clear, unique, and decisive flavors one typically needs to go up-market to get. ”
Let’s start here: this is an Irish single malt whiskey. This means it’s made entirely with malted barley (and no unmalted barley), which would make it more like a scotch. However, in the tradition of several Irish whiskeys, they’re triple distilling this stuff.
Unlike the Connemara, which I felt was a half-measure just about nobody asked for, the magic of the Knappogue Castle 14 is that it doesn’t split the difference between Scotches and Irish Whiskeys: I think it handily beats nearly everything in both categories at the price point.
First, let’s talk about the shot across the bow to Scotch. The category of Scotch Whisky is filled with so, so many “Glen whatevers” that all seem to have nearly identical flavor notes. You’ll read a lot of talk about “orchard fruit,” including apple, peach, nectarine, tangerine, and pear. It’s hardly ever one of those, distinctively: I usually find it’s hard to really tease out a particularly strong note for a lot of the more well-known 10 to 12 year scotches. They’re a little fruity, sure, but I always feel a little gaslit by the distillers when it comes to what they’re saying is in the bottle versus what I taste.
Much to the contrary, the Knappogue Castle 14 has flavor and aroma to burn. I’d contend that most people will be able to smell the fresh cut green apple on the nose and the very, very clear and distinctive note of sweet cantaloupe on the palate. I’ve tasted a lot of spirits, and this was the first time that both my girlfriend and I looked at one another and said “Cantaloupe! Yes, exactly that! Cantaloupe for sure!”
My point is that the KC14 certainly does taste like things, clearly, uniquely, and decisively. Normally you have to go significantly up-market to get that experience! Color me impressed that the KC14 actually delivers where so many Scotches stumble in the attempt.
Now for the haymaker dealt to Irish Whiskeys: the Knappogue Castle 14 has far more presence than most products at this price. True, you won’t get some of the hallmarks I associate with the great Irish whiskeys that utilize unmalted barley, which is kind of a minty mochi aroma and an alluring, flinty, copper-like note on the palate.
Instead, the KC14 gives you waves and waves of chewy, rich grain to enjoy. Whereas a textbook Irish Whiskey like Jameson or Bushmills is affable and light, Knappogue Castle isn’t afraid to start kicking ass and taking names. It isn’t polarizing, like a peaty scotch might be: it just has backbone and presence that honestly makes it a little hard to drink passively.
Here’s what I mean by that: even if you’re otherwise occupied in a show, sporting event, video game, or good conversation, I’m pretty confident there’s something here that will seize your attention in a good way. Even in writing the previous sentence, with a nip of the KC14 by my side, I just uttered “Oh! Banana!” A while before that, it was, “Mmmm: Honey!”
Because (tragically) nobody knows nor seems to give a shit about the Knappogue Castle 14, it has a price tag of about $50 to $55. If it were an age-stated Scotch from a well-known brand, I think you’d be looking at least at a $70 to $80 price point, so there’s certainly value here—especially when I think it’s only a $10 differential over the 12 year to get another two years of aging, making it what seemed to me to be the better bargain.
You heard it here first: this stuff is really, really good. If you like Irish Whiskey, or if you like Scotch, or if you just like good spirits in general, this is absolutely worth your money. For years, I suspected it was just another also-ran entry in the whiskey category. Now that I’ve had it, it’s a joy to state I was dead wrong.
