Spirit
Poitín
Poitín is Ireland's traditional pot-still spirit, a clear, unaged and famously potent country distillate historically made outside the law from grain, potatoes, sugar-beet or whey; once the archetypal illicit hooch of rural Ireland, it is now a legal, EU-protected spirit released between about 40 and 90 percent alcohol, oily and grainy with a fierce warmth that is the raw, white-spirit ancestor of Irish whiskey.
BalancedSpirit-forward
At a glance
Signature
Grainy & Cereal
Earthy
Strength
Spirit-forward
by taste profile
Clear, unaged and potent, poitín leads with an oily, grainy cereal body and a faint malty sweetness, over green, grassy and earthy potato notes and a hard, hot rush of raw pot-still spirit. Without oak there is no vanilla, colour or spice to soften it, so the character is naked and rustic — the crudest examples harsh and solvent-edged, the better modern ones clean, creamy and cereal-sweet. The texture is oily and full with a fierce alcoholic burn that climbs with the strength, from a firm 40 percent to a near-flammable 90, and the finish is warm, grainy and dry, the raw white-spirit forebear of Irish whiskey.
Taste balance
BitternessSmooth
SmoothBitter
StrengthStrong
LightStrong