Whiskey : Yellow Spot Single Pot Still

Country/Region : Ireland/Midleton 

ABV : 46%

Cask : Ex-bourbon, sherry, malaga wine

Tasting : Neat in a Glencairn @ Home

Nose : Sweet honey and brown sugar fill the glass.  The nose is dominated by sugars though a flowery vanilla perfume and a bit of toasted oak appear now and again.

Palate : Rich sweet honey with a faint nuttiness opens things up.  Sweet corn, candied almonds, and peach flavored maple syrup catch up offering different variations on sugar-sweet.

Finish : Medium length with lingering artificial sweet notes of Equal or Splenda.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Drowning in a vat of candy, lost forever in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory

Something Better : Green Spot (sweet but more savory with the absence of strong wine cask influence)

Something Similar : Glenfarclas 12 Year (similar saccharine notes, more floral notes)

Something Worse : Jameson Irish Whisky (less body, less complex)

Notes : This grade will seem harsh to fans of Yellow Spot, of which I know more than a few.  Yellow Spot suffered the immense weight of personal expectation and my changing taste.

Green Spot was the first whiskey I ever immediately fell in love with.  To be honest, it was probably the first whiskey over $30 that I had ever tried.  For the first time, I understood what good whiskey could be.  Though now I would not classify Green Spot as a seriously complex dram, at the time it was a complete revelation.  I knew I wanted more and I knew I wanted the next level.  So I pined for Green Spot which at the time was not locally available and once I discovered Yellow Spot, I just knew I had to get a bottle of it as well.

Well Green Spot has achieved wide distribution so that it’s present in nearly every liquor and grocery store as well as Costco and Target; but Yellow Spot has just begun to appear in liquor stores and as part of Costco’s St. Patrick’s Day Irish Whiskey display.

When I finally got a chance to try a dram of Yellow Spot I was sorely disappointed.  All those expectations came crashing down.  It was less complex than my memory of the Green.  It seemed to be just one note; an overpowering saccharine sweetness which almost reminds me of corn syrup.  It had a better body than Green Spot, but the sugar candy flavor profile was sickeningly cloying to me.  I can see why some people might enjoy this, it may feel like drinking smooth rich honey.  But whisky opinions are highly subjective and this just does not do it for me.  I know my preferred flavor profile has drifted towards savory and earthy, so it is not just Yellow Spot that did not meet expectations, I too have changed since that first sip of Green Spot.  If Yellow Spot had been available 4 or 5 years ago, I have no doubt my review would be different.  It’s not you Yellow Spot, it’s me.