Echlinville bottles 18yo rum cask-finished Irish whiskey

by Melita Kiely

Irish whiskey producer Echlinville Distillery has released an 18-year-old single malt that has been finished in Port Mourant Demerara rum casks.

Dunville’s VR 18 Year Old Port Mourant Rum Finish Irish whiskey was finished in casks that previously held 41-year-old Demerara rum, created using the “world’s last surviving” double wooden pot still. The whiskey has been bottled at cask strength (57% ABV), and will be available to purchase from the distillery and select retailers for RRP £585 (US$728). The bottle is presented in a collector’s box, complete with a miniature sample of the 41-year-old rum. Jarlath Watson, of the Echlinville Distillery, said: “Dunville’s VR 18 Year Old Port Mourant Rum Finish is the perfect marriage of mature Irish single malt and exquisite Caribbean rum, having been masterfully finished in some of the last remaining casks from famous Port Mourant Estate Distillery. “The 2015 bottling of an exquisite 41-year-old Port Mourant Estate Demerara Rum presented us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to obtain eight of those exceptional casks, with a level of quality and provenance seldom seen in ex-rum barrels. “Layerings of sweet molasses, dark muscovado sugar and vanilla give way to stewed fruits, apple strudel, candied orange, cinnamon and clove, before those rum casks take over with crème brûlée, banana bread and those sugars that combine with the malt’s natural oils to coat the mouth quite sublimely with pure treacle molasses, perfectly defining this magnificent whiskey.”