u/CausewayWhiskey

I’m back with some Killowen and a collaboration with Beer Hut Brewing from Kilkenny. No long introduction here other than it’s always an exciting time when you have Killowen in your glass.

Below are the details and the notes.

Killowen ‘Beer Hut Funky Ale’ Finish Single Pot Still 52.35% abv

Cask KD211, 4 years old, 338 bottles. Distilled July 2019, bottled Jan 2024

Ebb & Flows Sour beer - fermented for 12 months in oak barrels. 7 month finish for the whiskey.

Mash bill: 8 bags of malted barley, 4 and a half of malted barley, 1 malted maris otter barley, a quarter of oats and a quarter of wheat.

Nose: First off is a real doughy note followed by plenty of citrus - lemon, lime zest, melon and ripe peach. There’s an underlying smokiness too (maybe cask char?). White pepper, slightly floral and with a salted butter note and ground almonds.

Palate: Barley sugar sweetness upfront followed by pineapple cubes, dried mango and fruit salad sweets. A good mouthfeel but definitely not the densest Killowen I’ve tried. Now we get the pot still spice of clove, ginger and freshly ground black pepper. Almost a mezcal-esque agave and grapefruit note too.

Finish: A medium length with a prickly heat that veers from sweet tropical fruit to tart citrus.

Score: 7 out of 10

Overall: Another very interesting and very good Killowen. One thing I love about this distillery is the enthusiasm to experiment not only with mash bills but also with the maturation and this one works pretty well. It’s akin to being the liquid version of Haribo Sourz. As usual this sold out pretty quick and I was fortunate to get a sample but after reviewing I’d have happily quaffed a full bottle.

Scoring Bands
10 - Out of this world good!
9 - Superlative stuff, buy it now
8 - An excellent drop worthy of regular purchase
7 - Good stuff, one you'd happily share with mates
6 - Solid, worth investigating
5 - Average
4 - Okay but with flaws evident
3 - Drinkable but not terribly enjoyable
2 - Proper Twelve
1 - Pass the mouth wash

You can check out my previous reviews at https://www.causewaycoastwhiskeyreviews.com/

And I've a few reviews up on YouTube now too https://www.youtube.com/@causewaywhiskey

Redbreast – was seen as the quintessential single pot still Irish Whiskey & for a long time was my true love of the Irish whiskey world. To be fair that Irish whiskey world was pretty small when I first got into whiskey. Bushmills had their blends and their 10, 12, 16 and 21 year old expressions.

In the ‘blends’ corner was Paddys, Powers & Tullamore DEW. John Teeling and Cooley gave us Locke’s, Tyrconnell, Connemara and Greenore. But you’d have to search for those.

Even the Jameson lineup was much slimmer – outside of the standard Jameson their was the 12 yr old Special Reserve, the Gold Reserve, the 18 year old and the Rarest Vintage Reserve.

Standing in the single pot still corner was Redbreast 12 year old. Once I tried this at a tasting in Coleraine hosted by then Master Blender Billy Leighton himself, I knew I was drinking something unique and in Irish whiskey terms, special.

Fast forward to today and the Irish whiskey world has exploded with brands, distilleries and whiskey expressions, including the Redbreast lineup. Looking at the Redbreast website there are now 12 unique expressions including this bottle which is the 4th release from the Iberian Series which started with the Lustau expression, then the PX release which was shortly followed by the Tawny Port release and has recently had a 5th release added with the Moscatel finish release.

With so many other distilleries in Ireland doing their own interpretation of what pot still whiskey should be I have found myself less connected from the Redbreast brand, with certainly the 12 year old core release no longer being my go to recommendation for the pot still style of whiskey.

That being said as I left Ireland to relocate to Florida in 2024 I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of picking up the Cuatro Barriles Redbreast release as it was, and potentially still is, a travel retail exclusive to the Dublin and Cork airports.

So are four barrels worth of flavour a winning combination?

Redbreast Cuatro Barriles 46% abv $99 £77.50 €94.00

Matured in a combination of American oak ex-bourbon, Spanish ex-sherry butts, Portuguese ex-tawny port hogsheads and ex European virgin oak casks

Mashbill: 60% malted barley / 40% unmalted barley.

Nose: It starts off a little perfumy but quickly moves to citrus zest – a mix of orange, lemon and lime peels plus vanilla cream and tinned pineapple rings. Then some marzipan and panettone. Fresh blueberries, pear drop sweets and coffee cake. Finally there’s toasted oak and baking spices.

Palate: A nice pot still spice grips your palate on first sip and delivers a medium mouthfeel. That tinned pineapple is there again alongside vanilla custard, Mr Kipling bakewell slices (plum & raspberry jam, almond sponge and fondant icing), stem ginger, milk chocolate, new leather and a mild pepperiness.

Finish: Medium in length – toasted oak, clove, apple strudel and pepper.

Score: 6 out of 10

Overall: Not a massive improvement over the regular 12 year old release. The extra abv does help the mouthfeel and delivery but it feels a little confused, perhaps because of all the barrel influences don’t necessarily play well together.

The 12 year old cask strength is available for not much more money and I’d definitely buy it over this. I don’t think I’d replace this bottle when it’s gone.

Scoring Bands
10 - Out of this world good!
9 - Superlative stuff, buy it now
8 - An excellent drop worthy of regular purchase
7 - Good stuff, one you'd happily share with mates
6 - Solid, worth investigating
5 - Average
4 - Okay but with flaws evident
3 - Drinkable but not terribly enjoyable
2 - Proper Twelve
1 - Pass the mouth wash

You can check out my previous reviews at https://www.causewaycoastwhiskeyreviews.com/

And I've a few reviews up on YouTube now too https://www.youtube.com/@causewaywhiskey

My take on the Polaris 4.1 from Two Stacks using one of the Vintage Mash Bills from Boann Distillery....and my first whiskey post on Reddit!

You can watch my YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/SCJe8vN8nvo

Website: Causeway Whiskey

Founded in 2020 by Shane McCarthy, Liam Brogan and Donal McLynn, Two Stacks was born to reignite the tradition of the Irish bonder. As such they source spirit from different distilleries across the island of Ireland to create bespoke whiskies.

In 2022 they opened there own bonding and blending facility just outside Newry and it’s safe to say the brand has being going from strength to strength with quite a bit of innovation shown, not least the Dram In A Can, which is their best selling product. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, which means that the Two Stacks lads got the brief right first time around as many of their competitors now offer a similar product.

With a solid core range featuring the Signature Cut blend and it’s cask strength big brother, the Blenders Cut, the Fruit Drop’s range which explores varying brandy finishes and the Double Barrel range of grain, malt and pot still whiskies.

Then we have their limited edition releases, The Pillars of Creation, an annual release that takes spirits from across Ireland such as Dingle, Echlinville and Killowen distilleries. This year’s release features whiskies from Blackwater Distillery in Waterford and Lough Gill Distillery in Sligo and is currently available on their website.

Today’s bottle is from the Polaris range which had explored malts and pot stills being finished in the likes of Ice Wine casks & Tokaji casks, the third release used a peated single malt. The fourth releases see the use of the Vintage Mash Bill series distilled in conjunction with Boann Distillery and Fionnan O’Connor, Irish whiskey enthusiast, historian and general fountain of knowledge on all things Irish whiskey.

Polaris 4.1 uses mash bill no 5 from the 10 that Boann distilled. It comes from 1892 and, although it legally cannot be called a pot still whiskey due to the current technical file, is a pot still whiskey with a high oat content.

Release 4.2 uses mash bill 6 which explores the historic use of wheat in Irish whiskey and this too can be bought from the Two Stacks webstore in the Dram In A Can format.

Two Stacks Polaris 4.1 57% abv £95/$127/€110.50

Vintage Mash Bill – 30% Malted Barley / 40 % Unmalted Barley / 30% Oats

Fully matured in an Oloroso hogshead (250 ltr), Cask TS19

Distilled Jan 2021, bottled Apr 2025. Bottle no 182 of 252.

Nose: Initially woody & musty. Cracked walnuts, wet oak shavings, dunnage and rancio. Bitter dark chocolate, orange zest and gun oil. Underneath the active cask is an oaty creaminess, stewed orchard fruit and even a little mango.

Water brings out a hemp note now, balsamic vinegar as well as compressed strawberries and raspberries.

Palate: A thick, oily arrival with some youthful alcohol heat. 2nd sip brings dark chocolate, raisins, orange peel, almonds and brazil nuts. Flat cola, ginger, clove and even a little rubber. Stewed apples and wood sap. Old leather.

With water it loses a little structure but develops a herbal cough tincture element and more wood spice. Gives away its youth a little.

Finish: Short to medium in length with rancio notes, a dry nuttiness, raisin sweetness and some baking spice.

Score: 7 out of 10

Overall: A little sherry dominant but from my experience of old style Irish whiskey before the great consolidation of the 60’s and 70’s, this is very reflective of that old style.

This is not a smooth, sweet Irish dessert dram. It’s very much on the savoury side and can be a little challenging if you’re expecting a sherried Bushmills or Redbreast style experience.

Best enjoyed at full strength but I can imagine this developing superbly with just a few more years of maturation. It’s also a great advert for the pot still style of whiskey and it’s easy to see why these old Irish whiskies were so valued the world over.