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Whiskey Explorer: Clontarf Reserve

Key Data

  1. The owner is the company that owns the whiskey brand. This may or may not be the same company that actually makes the whiskey.

  2. Only three distilleries produce whiskey at the moment: Cooley, Midleton (operated by Irish Distillers) and Bushmills. To be called Irish whiskey, the spirit must have been distilled on the island of Ireland and thus must be the product of one or more of these distilleries. A very old whiskey might have been made at a distillery that has since closed, of course.

  3. Alcohol By Volume (%). The percentage alcohol figures are those that apply in Ireland and the UK. A whiskey might be bottled at a different strength for sale in another jurisdiction. For example, whiskey must have a minimum strength of 43% to be sold in South Africa.

NameClontarf Reserve
Owner1Castle Brands
Distillery2Bushmills / Midleton
TypeBlend
AgeNo age statement
PeatedNo
ABV340%

Notes

After distillation, the raw spirit is charcoal filtered (or "mellowed through Atlantic Irish oak charcoal", as the brand website puts it). This is not typical for an Irish whiskey but Jack Daniels in the US famously does something similar. After filtering it is aged in bourbon barrels.

Like Bushmill's own blends, the malt whiskey component is made in Bushmills while the grain spirit comes from Midleton.

The Clontarf brand was launched in 2000 by the Roaring Water Bay Spirits Company in Dublin. The whiskey was originally made by the Cooley Distillery.

In 2003, Roaring Water Bay Spirits merged with the Great Spirits Company, from the US, to form Castle Brands. Great Spirits brought the Knappogue Castle whiskey brand to the merger. Knappogue was being manufactured by the other distillery company, Irish Distillers, and in 2005 Castle Brands moved Clontarf production to Irish Distillers as well. Irish Distillers still owned Bushmills at the time.

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