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THE DEVIL'S KEEP, BY THE CRAFT IRISH WHISKEY CO., IS CROWNED BEST SINGLE MALT IN IRELAND

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Published
04/12/2022 by

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. has been crowned World's Best Irish Single Malt across all categories at The World Whiskies Awards with its inaugural release, The Devil's Keep.

The industry's finest gathered together at the Honourable Artillery Company in London on Thursday, 24 March to celebrate the 2022 Whisky Magazine Awards. Returning to London as an in-person event, the global awards ceremony saw the announcement of the World Whiskies Awards and the Icons of Whisky global winners, as well as four new inductees to Whisky Magazine's renowned Hall of Fame. The Whisky Magazine Awards seek to honour the very best in the industry, across its people, places and products.

The Devil's Keep beat off stiff competition from five other Irish Single Malt whiskeys across five different categories including Teeling Whiskey 30 Years Old Single Malt in the 21 years and over category, Knappogue Castle 12 Years Old in the Single Malt 12 years and under, Teeling Whiskey Brabazon Series 4 in the Single Malt 13-20 year category, Clonakilty Distillery O'Hara's Cask Finish Special Limited Edition in the Small Batch Single Malt category and The Irishman 17 Years Old in the Single Cask Single Malt 13-20 years category.

Jay Bradley, Founder and CEO of The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., is a true student of whiskey and spent years researching the chemistry of what separates good from great in the category. Resting in the cask, the liquid is a living, breathing organism which peaks and troughs repeatedly through the year. A standout whiskey, he found, isn't determined by an arbitrary measurement of age. It's arrived at only by quality cooperage and precise organoleptic observation. With The Devil's Keep, Bradley would carefully pull samples each day as the expression matured in a finish of fine Hungarian Oak. Ultimately, he opted to bottle it at 29.9 years–just shy of a coveted 30 year age statement–because from a taste perspective he knew the time was right.

Commenting after being crowned winner of Best Single Malt across all categories in Ireland, Jay Bradley, Founder and CEO of The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. said: "I am ecstatic and equally humbled that The Devil's Keep was crowned World's Best Irish Single Malt, beating some fantastic competition including two stellar whiskeys from the Teeling stable. For the first whiskey we ever entered to go on to be crowned best single malt in all of Ireland in year one–that's unheard of and an amazing achievement. After years of research devoted to building more flavour into our whiskeys, The Devil's Keep is the culmination. And this accolade reinforces to me that what we are doing is working and that the critics and experts are enjoying what we are creating. We have so much more to do and winning this award makes me hungrier than ever to keep this momentum going and to bottle more phenomenal whiskeys."

This is the ninth award for The Devil's Keep 2020 Inaugural Edition, a rare triple distilled, Single Malt whiskey and one of the finest whiskeys that Ireland has ever created. The launch of The Devil's Keep in November 2020 saw just 333 bottles released. It was the most expensive inaugural first release in history, selling at auction for USD $60,000 (almost £46,000 and €51,000 Euros), and the oldest triple distilled Irish whiskey in existence, only to be topped by The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.'s second release in February 2021 of the 30-year-old The Emerald Isle Collection.

Amongst its other accolades is a Gold award from the world-renowned International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) 2021 and a Gold from the Global Luxury Spirit Masters 2021.

The 2022 Second Edition release of The Devil's Keep is due very soon but The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. only releases a whiskey when it has reached perfection in the barrel, so the number of bottles and date of release is still to be determined. As with all of the company's rare releases, this second edition will be available to loyal clients before being released to the general public.

For something truly special, Bottle number 88 of the 2020 Inaugural Edition of The Devil's Keep will be auctioned at Bonhams on 20 May 2022.

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