100 years to the day, we will host a special tasting to commemorate this momentous event in Irish history.
On Monday morning, 24th April 1916, rebel forces occupied the GPO, hoisted Republican flags and read aloud a Proclamation of the Republic. For six long days the sights and sounds of cannon, bullet, and flame choked the air as Dublin city came to a virtual standstill.
1916 Dublin was the epicentre of the famous Irish Pot Still whiskey world: chiefly the "Golden Triangle" area that encompassed John Jameson's Bow Street distillery, John Power's John's Lane distillery, George Roe's Thomas Street distillery and William Jameson's Marrowbone Lane distillery.
How did the Rebellion affect the distilleries? What was the whiskey like in 1916? What were the stories that linked whiskey with rebel?
We will sample the latest Irish Whiskey Society bottling - the aptly named "Marrowbone Lane" 1916 Centenary bottling. Marrobone Lane was the location of the William Jameson distillery and this bottling seeks to recreate the older style of Pot Still whiskey that at this time was beloved the world over.
We will treat ourselves to the limited edition Green Spot 10 Year Old. In the old days, Mitchell's wine merchants would send their empty wine barrels to Jameson for filling and, once matured, would sell them as labelled with their own Spot whiskey brands. Unlike the more widely known Green Spot, this rare 10 year old version was limited to just 1,000 bottles from a number of carefully selected casks. It was released as a celebration bottle to commemorate 200 years of trading at Mitchell & Son's wine merchants, originally on Kildare Street in Dublin which was very close to the battles that took place on and around St. Stephens Green in 1916.
We will also sample an extremely rare Irish whiskey: a Jameson "Three Star" Pure Pot Still 7 year old whiskey that, just like in 1916, was distilled and matured in the famous John Jameson distillery in Bow Street, Dublin, another distillery that found itself in the thick of the action that took place around the Four Courts and North King Street between the Irish Volunteers and British forces.
We will be lucky enough to also taste a centenary bottling kindly donated by our friends at Hyde whiskey (grain) plus a few more choice Single Pot Stills, or Pure Pot Still's as they were known in previous times.
On the night we'll talk said whiskey history and will taste the following:
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IWS "Marrowbone Lane" 1916 Centenary Bottling
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Jameson "Three Star" Old Pot Still (Bow Street)
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10 Year Old Limited Edition Green Spot
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Paddy Centenary Pure Pot Still
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Power's "John's Lane"
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Redbreast 12 Year Old
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Hyde 1916
