Masterclass: go on an exceptional Mizunara whiskey journey this March

Wicklow’s Glendalough Distillery is gearing up to release a sequel to its award-winning 13-year-old single malt Mizunara finish – a new seven-year-old single malt whiskey finished in rare Mizunara Japanese oak casks. Mizunara is considered by whiskey fans to be the ultimate in oak cask maturation. Glendalough was the first distillery in Ireland to introduce Mizinara five years ago when it bottled its already world-beating 13-year-old single malt with a Mizunara finish.

To mark the launch of this new release, Irish Times wine correspondent John Wilson will lead a panel of whiskey experts in a special online tasting event at 8pm on Wednesday, March 9th, that will deconstruct this rare Mizunara-finished whiskey for an audience of 30 guests. Including Glendalough co-founder Donal O’Gallachoir, drinks writer Suzanne Redmond and leader of the sensory team at the Celtic Whiskey Shop Al Higgins, they will bring the audience on the journey this whiskey made through its ex-bourbon casks before reaching the Mizunara oak.

You will learn how to nose the whiskey, exploring its layers of aroma and recognise the rich makeup of this extremely fragrant whiskey

What is Mizunara?

Mizunara oak is one of the rarest woods used in whiskey production on the planet. It’s hugely popular among whiskey drinkers for its delicate yet complex flavour profile, but its route to bottle couldn’t be more complicated. Expensive, labour intensive and unpredictable, its use in the production of maturation casks is considered one of the greatest luxuries in oak wood.

Kevin Keenan, one of the founders of Glendalough Distillery, travelled to the Japanese island of Hokkaido to select the casks for this release. He was in search of flavour and the very best materials to work with.

“Mizunara oak is an incredible wood. It releases double the amount of vanillans you’d find in European oak, that beautiful compound that creates the vanilla flavours in whiskey. It creates layers of flavour like coconut, incense and much more complex wood spices. It’s an amazing material.”

The Japanese discovered the magic of Mizunara maturation at the end of the second World War when American and European supply ran scarce, he explains. Turning to their native oak species to keep their fledgling whiskey industry alive, they eventually spun gold from its twisted trunk. But at no small expense.

“Mizunara is a twisting, porous wood that offers up merely enough wood for one cask per tree.” Keenan continues. “It’s packed with moisture which needs to be dried out for at least three years before use and it leaks spirit much more easily than other oak wood.” Add to this the fact that the tree needs 200 years to reach maturity and you begin to suspect that it’s really unsuited to whiskey production - until you taste what it does to the whiskey.

A huge part of the flavour and identity of whiskey emerges from the cask and as a result of the alchemy that occurs when spirit meets wood. It’s this alchemy in Mizunara finishing that John Wilson and his panel of experts will explore on March 9th.

The tasting kit

After sign-up, each of the 30 participants will receive a luxury tasting kit delivered to their home. This will comprise three individual portions of whiskey, the first and second single malts aged in bourbon for three and seven years respectively, before finishing with the third Mizunara finished single malt. This deconstruction will allow you to truly appreciate the elegance and complexity of this release and the effect the oak wood has at each stage of maturation. The pack also contains a professional nosing and tasting glass as well as tasting notes and background material to use during the event.

“You will learn how to nose the whiskey, exploring its layers of aroma and recognise the rich makeup of this extremely fragrant whiskey. After nosing, you’ll experience the taste on your palate and be instructed on the best way to enjoy it,” explains Gary McLoughlin, co-founder of Glendalough. “It’s a really beautiful tasting pack.”

The expert panel will reveal their own tricks of the trade and help you explore this intricate flavour profile. Mizunara offers a wholly unique taste experience and the panel will help you discover it, as well as delivering the vocabulary needed to express it. You will receive a complete whiskey tasting education.

The red thread of fate

Founded in 2011, Glendalough Distillery makes luxury craft spirits in the scenic Wicklow Mountains of Ireland. The distillery has become a leader in craft spirit innovation, releasing world-firsts such as the aforementioned 13-year-old single malt finished in Mizunara, Irish pot still whiskey aged in Wicklow Irish oak, and a range of distinctive Irish gins distilled from hand-foraged botanicals picked daily in the mountains surrounding the distillery.

The Glendalough team's ambition is to more than double the size of the brand within the next three years

Glendalough now operates in 32 markets and will open another 12 in the year ahead, McLoughlin explains. Its growth has been dramatic, he says, but it has stayed true to its craft roots in Wicklow, building a distillery and a brand that has global reach. Its 13-year-old single malt, long a sell-out in retailers, can now only be found in valuable private collections or specialist resellers around the world.

In 2019 the distillery was fully purchased by the international drinks company Mark Anthony Brands International. The Glendalough team’s ambition is to more than double the size of the brand within the next three years with plans for more ground-breaking releases on the horizon.

For now though, they are focused entirely on the remerging link between the mountains of Japan and the hills of Wicklow, the huge distance covered in a moment through the experience of this very special whiskey. On each bottle of this rare liquid you will find a “red thread of fate” tied around the bottle, a Japanese tradition that signifies the connection and a linked journey between two islands at far sides of the world. Bringing together what many consider is the world’s best oak, and the worlds’ best malt (Irish!).

This event has now sold out.