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Key Facts

GROWER Ned Murphy
FARM Dunbell
EDITION 1.1
HARVESTED 20 SEPTEMBER 2015
DISTILLED WEEK 39 2016
Maturation 3 years 8 months 26 days
ABV 50%
No. of Bottles 6,000
For Market U.S.A.
Bottled August 2020

DUNBELL, CO. KILKENNY

Dunbell (Dún Bile, edge fort) lies east of the River Nore in County Kilkenny. Grower Ned Murphy’s barley ripens in the shadow of Tullaherin’s round tower, site of a 5th century monastery where monks converting the Osraige (deer people) must have favoured the deep loamy soils derived from glacial drift of limestone, sandstone & shale.

Dunbell once had a remarkable group of possibly as many as nine raths, but sadly most of these were levelled by a 19th century farmer seeking to improve his lands. He used the rich organic clay that the ringforts were made from as a form of manure. One of these raths had two inscribed pillar-stones, three or four feet apart, with only their tops visible above the surface of its inner fosse. The Dunbell raths yielded objects of bronze, iron, jet, bone and stone, including Anglo-Saxon style combs and a minute bell. Also found were half a dozen quorns, or ancient hand-mills, for grinding corn, as well as the bones of deer, oxen and pigs. 

The Sound of Dunbell

This track takes us around the fields at Dunbell. It's a windy but bright and sunny spring day under the Tullaherin Round Tower. We begin out in the barley, just under the trees on the south side of the fields. A tractor passes on a road nearby. We keep moving around the perimeter of the field up to the northern corner, where the trees come together in a narrow V formation. The wind funnels through here, and the birds are in full song. Finally we head west and finish up in a calmer corner of the fields, where bees are buzzing in the warm sunshine and lambs can be heard in a neighbouring field.

BARLEY TIMELINES

SOWN 8 April 2015
HARVESTED 20 September 2015
Arrived at Cathedral 21 September 2015
Went to Maltings 23 June 2016
Arrived at Distillery 13 July 2016
Fermentation Started 18 September 2016
Distillation Started 23 September 2016
Distillation Finished 30 September 2016
Filled at Warehouse 5 October 2016
Marriage of Casks 1 July 2020
Sent for Bottling 24 August 2020

TERROIR

FIELDS
SOIL
series Elton Association
type LUVISOL
description FINE LOAMY DRIFT WITH LIMESTONE, ELTON ASSCOIATION (ELTON, DUNBOYNE, HOWARDSTOWN, STRAFFAN, KILRUSH AND RATHOWEN ASSOCIATION).
elevation 235-269 FEET
sunlight AVERAGE 5-5.5 hours

BARLEY, YEAST & WATER

VARIETY IRINA
Yeast Mauri Distiller's Yeast
Production Water Volcanic Aquifer
Fermentation 141 hours

Head Distiller's Observations

Appearance: a deep copper with oils that hold the glass tighter than Mark Newton holds his wallet.

Nose: toffee, green apple; reminds me of autumn. If you had porridge with raisins, cinnamon, dark chocolate, and a nip of Dunbell followed by apple tart and vanilla ice cream, that’s it. You might have to do like goldilocks after it and have a snooze.

Taste: candied apple, warm spices, pepper, orange peel, apricots, cloves, ginger nut biscuits.

Finish: warm and dry spices that linger on the tongue and waters in the mouth.

WOOD

cask no. cask type cask fill cooperage fill date farm
5606 American First-Fill 193.78 litres Heaven Hill Distillery 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
5607 American First-Fill 192.51 litres Heaven Hill Distillery 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
5608 American First-Fill 201.76 litres Heaven Hill Distillery 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
5609 American First-Fill 208.39 litres Heaven Hill Distillery 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
5610 American First-Fill 185.86 litres Heaven Hill Distillery 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
5611 American First-Fill 197.3 litres Heaven Hill Distillery 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
3051 Premium French 229.44 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines De CHATEAU LAFITE 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
3052 Premium French 223.28 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines De CHATEAU LAFITE 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
3053 Premium French 224.56 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines De CHATEAU LAFITE 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
3054 Premium French 227.77 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines De CHATEAU LAFITE 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
4523 Vin Doux Naturel 231.32 litres Vicard Tonnelleries - Sauternes 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
4524 Vin Doux Naturel 226.64 litres Tonnellerie Radoux - Sauternes 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
4526 Vin Doux Naturel 225.9 litres Tonnellerie Radoux - Sauternes 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
2868 U.S. Virgin 199.94 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
2869 U.S. Virgin 202.23 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
2870 U.S. Virgin 203.24 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 5 October 2016 DUNBELL
2871 U.S. Virgin 201.98 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 5 October 2016 DUNBELL

Composition

33% FIRST FILL U.S
22% VIRGIN U.S.
26% PREMIUM FRENCH
19% VIN DOUX NATUREL