Proper Twelve whiskey: review and history, features, how to drink

The first batch of Irish whiskey Proper Twelve was born in 2018, and was immediately sold out in no time. The increased interest in the new brand is explained, first of all, by the scandalous fame of its founder, mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, and only after that, by the high quality and excellent taste of the original whiskey.

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Briefly about the history of the brand and the creator

The Irish fighter, born in 1988 in the Dublin suburb of Crumlin, began his career by winning the regional MMA championship. McGregor was 17 at the time.

Already by the age of 20, he became a professional fighter and won several serious victories in the ring.

In 2015, Conor won the UFC title twice and soon made it to the list of the richest people in Ireland. It was then that work began on the production of its own brand of alcohol.

The decision to create a new drink did not come to the athlete spontaneously: McGregor’s grandfather was a true connoisseur of whiskey and passed on to his grandson a lot of useful information about the varieties, manufacturing methods and brands of his favorite product. The fighter himself explained that it took him about 3 years to develop the original recipe.

The first version of “McGregor” whiskey was introduced to the world in 2017. The drink was named “Notorious” after the nickname given by fans at the beginning of his sports career. However, it turned out that products under that name already exist: the owner of one of the breweries filed a complaint against McGregor for using a registered brand of alcohol.

Not at all upset, Conor paid the fine and in 2018 pleased fans with a new drink – Proper Twelve.

The whiskey was released at one of the oldest Irish distilleries in the village of Bushmills, County Antrim, with the participation of a former Guinness brewery employee, David Elder. The master distiller created about a hundred blends to sample, from which McGregor chose one of the best. It was he who received the title of “correct” whiskey.

The second part of the name was taken from the postal code of the Dublin area where McGregor grew up.

In the future, McGregor plans to build his own distillery, expand the line with more mature varieties of whiskey and drinks aged in wine barrels, and, of course, push out the main competitor, the Jameson brand.

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Production features

Proper Twelve Whiskey is a blend of sweet grain and classic single malt whisky. They make a blend according to traditional Irish technology with some additions:

  1. Selected barley is soaked, germinated, carefully dried in the fresh air, crushed and mashed with spring water.

  2. The mixture is allowed to ferment for two days and a wort containing about 8% alcohol is obtained. For its processing, the method of triple distillation in copper stills is used.

  3. The drink is aged for at least 3 years in bourbon barrels, which are selected with great care. Due to aging in such a container, the product acquires the aroma of vanilla, honey and burnt wood.

  4. Single malt whiskey is combined with grain alcohol, using the best samples aged in oak barrels for blending.

  5. The drink is poured into branded green bottles with a black label and a logo in the form of a crowned tiger head. On each copy there is a convex inscription “smooth is fast”, which can be translated as “instant softness”.

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How to drink Proper Twelve whiskey

The manufacturer recommends drinking Proper Twelve in its pure form, in combination with ice, a slice of lime or pickled cucumber.

You can use whiskey to make cocktails, including lemon juice, ginger ale, bitters, cola, syrup, cherries, vermouth and other ingredients.

Relevance: 21.03.2019

Tags: Whiskey and bourbon, Whiskey brands

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