Copeland 25.1 is a genuinely innovative Irish single malt — using a mash bill of 90% malted barley and 10% chocolate malt, a deeply roasted barley grain that brings rich cocoa, coffee and toast notes. Limited to just 800 individually numbered bottles, it blends bourbon casks finished in virgin American oak with a quarter cask aged in first-fill oloroso sherry.
The chocolate malt is the innovation. Common in stout brewing but extremely rare in whiskey production, the deeply roasted barley adds a dimension of dark, roasted richness that conventional malt cannot provide. The result drinks like a much older whiskey — rich, complex, with a distinctive mustiness that tempers the sweetness.
Copeland 25.1 demonstrates the Northern Irish distillery's creative ambition. The chocolate malt concept, the multi-cask programme, and the limited production create a whiskey of genuine distinction. At 46%, it is honestly presented, and the quality has earned plaudits from critics. One of the most original Irish whiskeys of recent years.
