In December ’22 I opened the first of my Dunville samples. The Dunville’s PX Cask 12 yo whiskey is a moreish sherry cask finish release that is smooth and enjoyable. The second sample I am trying is the Dunville’s Three Crowns Peated Irish whiskey.
Dunville’s started as a tea and spirits merchant company based in Belfast. However, it soon dropped the tea and became largely successful as an Irish whiskey blender. In 1869 it built its own distillery, the Royal Irish Distilleries.
When the last heir and chairman died in 1931, the company began to flounder, and in 1936 the brand was discontinued when Dunville & Co. was liquidated.
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In 2013, the Echlinville distillery acquired the Dunville’s name and in 2016, relaunch the famous Three Crowns expressions. Echlinville Distillery was the first Northern Irish distillery to be granted a distilling licence in almost 125 years.
Dunville’s Peated Three Crowns is a blended whiskey that was relaunched in 2016 after it was discontinued in the 1930s. The Three Crowns range include a Dunville’s 1808 and a Dunville’s Sherry finish whiskey.
There are not many peated Irish whiskey expressions available. The Three Crowns Peated whiskey is made up of a single grain whiskey, a 10 yo single malt, and a 15 yo Oloroso finished single malt. All these have been married together in a peated cask.
Dunville’s Peated Three Crowns Irish Whiskey Review
COUNTRY: Ireland
ABV: 43,5%
COLOUR:Pale gold
NOSE: The Three Crowns Peated has a lovely nose with notes of wood, stewed fruit sweetness, vanilla, and hints of honey. Light smoke mixed with a rich, buttery sweetness. Delicious.
PALATE: Earthy peat with oak, light smoke, and spices. The stewed fruity sweetness from the nose is more muted with a delicate baked apple sweetness and hints of vanilla. A bit of alcohol heat. The peat is drying with green heathery notes and there are hints of cloves in the background.
Adding a few drops of water brings peppercorns forward and the sweetness disappear. Water also dulls the delicious nose.
FINISH: Long and lingering. The whiskey ends with notes of pepper, orange and faint hints of drying peat.
RATING: VERY GOOD
The peat on the nose was so delicate that I could easily have missed it. It is only when you taste the whiskey that the peaty notes come through. The nose is lovely. Rich, sweet, and inviting. The sweet notes from the nose don’t quite carry over to the palate.
The Dunnville’s Three Crowns Peated Irish whiskey is better without water. Water increases the peppery intensity and washes out the sweetness.
It is available in South Africa and retail for around R1 000. I have also seen it at Master of Malt for around £40.
Sample disclosure: I received this whisky from the Truman & Orange team. The review and tasting notes are my own honest, fair, and independent thoughts about the whiskey.
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