Micil Earls Island

Micil Earls Island is a single pot still whiskey from Micil Distillery in Galway, Co. Galway, where the founding family traces an unbroken distilling line back six generations to Micil Mac Chearra. Released in 2022 as a run of 4,118 bottles for the European market, it carries the classic pot still mash of malted and unmalted barley, the style Ireland can call entirely its own, made here on the west coast rather than in the traditional pot still heartland of the south.

Maturation pairs Bordeaux wine casks with ex-peated quarter casks, and both speak clearly in the glass, red fruit and light tannin from the wine wood folding into green apple, ginger and the black pepper prickle of unmalted barley. The small peated casks lend a soft waft of turf smoke rather than a blast, a nod to the distillery's Connacht poitín roots, and bottling at 46% preserves the oily, waxy texture.