Blackcastle Co. Kildare

Located 5 miles north of Carlow in County Kildare, Blackcastle is a lush, fertile place on the eastern banks of the River Greese, just before it joins the Barrow. These alluvial soils have nourished agricultural communities here for millennia, including the 6th century Monastery at Dunmanoge whose ruins still stand today. A richly productive terroir set upon a thick limestone-derived clay of the outstanding Elton Series, which nurtures whiskies of particular textural unctuousness & weight, it is tended by Leonard Ashmore whose family have grown barley here since the 19th century.

Appearance: Copper with a peach hue and oily legs that pause a while on their journey.

Nose: Figs, chilly chocolate, malted biscuits, 3 peel marmalade, cola cube sweets, lavender, crème brûlée, dry clay, butterscotch, fresh loaf, leather.

Taste: White pepper, chilly chocolate, honey, grapefruit, lemon sherbet, bell pepper, ginger, stone fruits, liquorice, coriander, dry, brown sugar.

Finish: Dry with gentle spice that leaves a tingle on the tongue.

Blackcastle – 17th August 2020 A soft day at Blackcastle. This track starts out in the yard with the rain falling gently, and a door banging in the light breeze. We move inside, taking shelter from the rain inside a shed storing this year’s crop for Waterford. Harvested just before the dry spell ended, and ready for collection in the coming days, it sits there waiting as the rain runs down the corrugated roof. Moving back outside, through a narrow alley between two buildings, with the rain falling in the puddles. We head out to the back of the yard and down along the River Greese, arriving at the harvested fields. The rain eases off. The breeze picks up a little as traffic passes on the road nearby, and birds come out of cover.