Green Spot
The Irish whiskey tradition is every bit as proud – and sometimes convoluted – as their Scottish neighbors to the east. Distilled at the New Middleton Distillery for Irish Distillers, an arm of the Pernod Recard, and distributed by Mitchell & Son of Dublin, keeping track of the Green Spot from barley to bottle can be an adventure in and of itself. Regardless, Green Spot is a bonded whisky and one of the few remaining pot still whiskies left in Ireland, deriving its name from the practice of marking casks of different ages with a spot of colored paint to tell them apart. At one time a 10 year old whiskey, the current iteration is made up of whiskies aged 7-10 years. The whiskey has been steadily popular over the past century and more. An older sibling, the Yellow Spot, is aged in Malaga wine casks.
OOLA Three Shores
OOLA was founded in 2010 by owner and master distiller Kirby Kallas-Lewis in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. They remain small but have won several awards for their various gins and vodkas. They also produce whiskey and their Whiskey Discourse series is designed to combine different whiskies to see how they interact under different influences. Other entries experiment with smoke and cask finishes. OOLA Three Shores is included in our All-Canada World Whisky Day by reason that it is made up of one part OOLA Waitsburg Bourbon, one part unknown scotch from the Highland region, and one part Canadian rye. So part of it’s still Canadian! They are sourced separately but aged together for at least a year in American Oak.
Loch Lomond 12 Year
Named after the iconic Scottish loch it sits next to, Loch Lomond arose over two hundred years ago in 1814. Sadly closed in the mists of history, the distillery was resurrected again in 1964 before going quiet again twenty years later. Ever resilient, though, production began again in 1993 and has continued ever since under the helm of Master Distiller John Peterson and Master Blender Michael Henry. Loch Lomond is unique in that it regularly produces single malt, single grain and blended whiskies due to having three sets of stills. The distillery also has their own cooperage on site, one of four distilleries in Scotland to do so. About 10,000 barrels are repaired or re-charred there each year. A recent push has seen their offerings expand into new markets, especially their single malts like this 12 year offering.