Athrú Knocknarea 14-year-old Irish Single Malt Whiskey Oloroso Sherry Finish / 48% / 0.7l

Lough Gill Distillery was founded in 2019 by David Raethorne, a partner at Causeway Capital Group.

Based in County Sligo in western Ireland, an area that has been associated with whiskey production since the early 15th century, the distillery’s three stills can produce around 1 million litres of distillate per year. In the summer of 2022, the distillery was purchased by the Sazerac Company of New Orleans, appointing Helen Mulholland, formerly of Bushmills, as Master Distiller. In order to keep Lough Gill afloat, she partnered with Billy Walker (current owner of the GlenAllachie Distillery) to create the Athrú (“Transformation”) brand, based on whiskey from undisclosed Irish distilleries. The Knocknarena presented here, after 11 years of maturation in bourbon casks, was finished for a further three years in Oloroso sherry casks. The run consisted of 6,600 bottles.

Nose: multi-berry jam, toffee, caramel, vanilla, Christmas gingerbread, roasted peanuts, dried herbs, a bit of sherry, oak and a fleeting trace of sulfur.

Palate : slightly oily, brown sugar, vanilla, mocha, chocolate biscuits, blackberries, cherries, grape jelly, notes of allspice, nuts and oak.

Finish : medium long, with notes of caramel, milk chocolate, honey, red berries, mango, oak and a fleeting trace of sulfur.