The Midnight Silkie Irish Whiskey
On the far northeast coast of Ireland lies County Donegal. Called the “forgotten county”, it’s part of the Republic of Ireland but shares only a five-mile-long border with the rest of that nation - the rest is shared with Northern Ireland. It’s a county of cliffs and valleys, less green than the classic Emerald Isle profile, but no less beautiful.
Among the many things that makes this area unique is its whiskey history. Like all Irish distilling, it suffered from consolidation over the decades; unlike others, due to its distance from the bigger cities, it lost its last legal distillery in 1841, a century before Irish Distillers brought all but Bushmills under its aegis at Midleton.
With that loss came a loss of place, a loss of what makes not only Donegal as a site but Donegal as a culture separate from any other place in Ireland. Coincidentally, shortly before trying this whiskey and having Sliabh Liag Distillers founder James Doherty on the Whiskey Ring Podcast, I attended an event with Dave Broom on his new book, A Sense of Place.
A Sense of Place - which was also on James’ shelf behind him as we recorded - focuses exclusively on Scotland, Broom’s homeland. With that said, much of the book could easily be transferred to Ireland. A Sense of Place walks you through 23 distilleries and places in Scotland, examining how the place in every facet - geography, climate, people, culture, history. In this way, Sliabh Liag aims to regain the once lush culture of northern Irish whiskey-making that’s been gone for over a century and a half.
It sounds like a monumental task, and it is. No distillery since 1841 means no “dusty” bottle to find and taste. What records exist are rich in detail, but are nonetheless few in number. Donegal is remote, and in many ways its whiskey heritage reflects this - distance aside, it’s closer in many ways to Scotland. It’s a Gaeltacht region (where Gaelic is recognized as a major, even primary language), there are viking traces there, and perhaps most relevant to this conversation, the people would not traditionally have had access to coal like the rest of Ireland. Trees are not abundant either, meaning peat was and in some places still is the primary heating element in Donegal life.
Sound familiar?
Sliabh Liag sourced the liquid for The Silkie releases from Great Northern Distillery, a kind of MGP for Ireland, but all was done to their specifications (the “recipe” is included below). As is traditional for Irish whiskey, the single malts are triple distilled.
Image courtesy of silkiewhiskey.com.
If you’ve ever wondered why Irish is triple distilled and Scotch is (usually) double, same reason as always: money. Tax after tax was levied on barley - some taxing malted, some unmalted - the size of stills, the number of stills, and more. These various scenarios led to divergent styles, including the single pot still style popular in Ireland and almost unheard of in Scotland.
This where the story also turns more positive. There are now three distilleries operating in Donegal, including Sliabh Liag, which has already begun distillation and maturation at its site by the cliffs. The Silkie whiskies will continue to pay the bills until their own distillate is ready, but they shouldn’t be overlooked for their own ingenuity and flavor.
The Silkie is an Irish mermaid whose variations can be found from the Scandinavian coast all the way to Newfoundland. She’s a tragic figure, one who wishes to be with the people on land until the call of the sea proves too irresistible and she returns to the oceans. Think closer to the original Hans Christian Anderson tale than the Disney version. She is mysterious and enticing, much as the whiskies she now adorns.
The Midnight Silkie is the most peated version of the series, and is both a departure from traditional Irish whiskey and a reminder of a whiskey history you never knew existed. I look forward to what Sliabh Liah eventually puts out from their own stills - but I’m not upset at all with what they’ve got available right now. In fact, it found itself in my 2022 Whiskey Ring Awards.
The Midnight Silkie Irish Whiskey: Specs
Classification: Irish Whiskey
Origin: Great Northern Distillery, to Specifications of Sliabh Liag Distillers
Mashbill: 100% Barley
Proof: 92 (46% ABV)
Age: NAS
Location: Ireland
The Midnight Silkie Irish Whiskey Price: $41.99
The Midnight Silkie Irish Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Pale yellow apple juice. Thick, broad rims, wide legs and drops, splotchy.
Nose: Striking - bright and orchard fresh with peach and nectarine, but also not-so-subtly smoky, like a far-off part of the orchard is ablaze. Apples freshly pressed, classically Irish but, in a word, stronger.
Palate: Rich Irish malt with a delicate smoke on the back palate evoking the lightest peat and dark chocolate, with some chocolate stout. There’s a perfumed element, too, leading into a dry, astringent, and peppery mouthfeel that turns chewable. Remarkably rich at 92º. Incense smoke and a chocolate malted lacquer lays on the whole tongue, especially the back half.
Finish: The chocolate becomes cookie-like, like a homemade Oreo. Just a bit of stout flavor, no fermentation, and a long jowl-filling finish.
Overall: Feels like a rich, non chill-filtered Irish malt elevated with flavorful smoke and orchard-driven complexity. Excellently blended with a clear identity.
Final Rating: 7.4
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary
8 | Excellent | Exceptional
7 | Great | Well above average
6 | Very Good | Better than average
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary
4 | Has promise but needs work
1-3 | Let’s have a conversation
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