Pangur Irish Poitín from Killowen Distillery

Now we come to one of those spirits that you’ve read, or heard, about but you’ve probably never seen, or tasted before - Poitín.

But the first thing that we need to do is pronounce it correctly. Break it into its two syllables. The first is - PUCH - like much and the second is - EEN - like been. When you put them together you get PUCH-EEN. Now you will meet Irish people from different parts of the island who pronounce it slightly differently, but that’s how I pronounce it and it’s way better to use my pronunciation than saying - POOH-TINE or PO-CHIN.

Poitín is Ireland’s ancient spirit and is considered “the father of Irish whiskey.” The word itself - Poitín - translates to “small pot” with “pota” being the Irish language word for pot and adding “ín” creates a diminutive.

For hundreds, if not thousands, of years, every house in Ireland made its own Poitín from whatever was grown on the land, long before whiskey as we know it came into being.

Poitín is often likened to moonshine due to it being made illicitly for hundreds of years and Irish people of certain generations, me included, have stories to tell of where their parents would hide their secretly acquired Poitín.

Others describe Poitín as un-aged whiskey which makes it a little easier to understand from a consumer's perspective while not necessarily being 100% accurate.

The formal ban on unregistered distilling from 1661, which outlawed Poitín, lasted in various forms, until 1997. Today, under the Irish Poitín Geographical Indication (GI) and its technical file, Ireland's ancient spirit is legally protected and defined.

Killowen Pangur Poitín made by the King of Poitín making in my opinion, Brendan Carty, is a fantastic and delicious modern revival of Irish poitín.

Pangur Bán (pron. bawn) is the White Cat that you see on the bottle and he’s the master of his art, or the happy hunter. An ancient fable - we love a good fable or story in Ireland - tells us that Pangur was the cat of a monk who liked to write and who admired Pangur’s mastery of his art. Bán translates to white in English so this is a tip of the hat to mastery of an art - the art being making great Irish white spirit.

This is a collaborative expression—with 50% of the blend made at Killowen with Killowen’s famed mixed mashbill and the other 50% a peated Single Malt from Great Northern Distillery (GND)

The Killowen’s mixed mashbill contains - 69.2% Malted Barley, 23% Unmalted Barley, 3.8% Marris Otter Malt(ed Barley), 2% Oat, and 2% Wheat and this is distilled in the flame-fed Pot Still’s at Killowen and that adds some smokiness via Milliard Reaction.

The GND component is a double-distilled Single Malt -100 % Malted Barley - that contains a peated component which raises the phenol levels to 20ppm.

Both of these are then vatted together and then rested on-site at Killowen in ex-Bourbon casks for 10 weeks which is the maximum resting allowed for Poitím under the GI Technical File. The lovely yellow-green hue that you see hints at this resting period.

Think of Poitín as viscous Vodka meets Mezcal meets Agricole Rum meets Cachaça (from Brazil)

In addition to its viscous mouthfeel it has a fascinating flavor spectrum that runs from floral through fruit with noticeable vegetal characters. In addition to a grassy and herbal element there's also a malty biscuity hint and a whisper of smoke which is rounded out by hints of vanilla bean and peppery spice.

Sláinte