Beautiful Fruit 8 Year Old is our new arrival, appropriately an Irish whiskey right in time for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s also very much in the ‘does what it says on the tin range’ from Atom Labs. Here’s Ben Ellefsen to explain all.

Beautiful Fruit – the clue is in the name.

The middle of 2021 saw the launch of the first in this range (as yet without an umbrella brand): Filthy Smoke. We’d been kicking around the idea of whiskies overtly named after their flavour profiles for many years, but this one was prioritised on the basis that boy, do people like Islay whisky. We like the simplicity of the message in this range. We also like the 50cl pack, meaning it’s able to hit a much more sensible price point for trialling, and gifting.

I spoke in the most recent MoM bottlings blog post about the whole ‘nectarine/stone fruit’ thing when it comes to Irish single malt, but there’s no doubt at all that it can also apply in spades to Irish grain, especially with the judicious use of a combination of first-fill bourbon, and light sherry influence.

So please allow us to introduce a new addition to the range: Beautiful Fruit 8 Year Old.

Beautiful Fruit

Beautiful Fruit by name…

Beautiful Fruit 8 Year Old.

There’s an additional layer at play here on the fruit theme, though. It’s not as simple as throwing a load of sherry at it and getting the well-worn dried-fruit, orange and spice profile. This is a simpler, cleaner more ‘beautiful’ fruit flavour. at least that’s how it felt to us, and it’s the reason that this grain is so named.

A sub-£30 price point makes mixing a real possibility with this one, and it works superbly in many a cocktail. On that note, why, here’s a blog I wrote about Irish whiskey and nectarines that was very nearly 12 years ago.

You can expect more additions to this range in the fullness of time (and indeed there’s another one following extremely soon – watch this space) – but for now, happy sipping, and mixing!

Beautiful Fruit 8 Year Old is available from Master of Malt now.