I've heard say it's the stuff of legend, so I was quiet excited at the prospect of my first taste of this hard to get Irish whiskey. Only 500 cases are made each year, all for the home market. But without those 6,000 bottles appearing mostly on the shelves of Mitchell's shop, at 21 Kildare Street, Dublin, every year, there would be an awful lot of disappointed whiskey drinkers, and I'd be one of them, as once you've tasted this dram you have to have at least one bottle always in your stash.

A "pot still" whiskey is made in copper stills using malted and unmalted barely. Green Spot is made from seven and eight year old Midleton pot still, with 25% of the spirit having matured in sherry casks, which gives the whiskey a smooth and oily character.

The nose is dense and the pot still appears older than its eight years. Hints of marzipan and chocolate are apparent. Add a finger or two of water and the bouquet opens with new sensations of sherry casks, that retain an antique smell of wine cellars but refreshed by the sweet aromas of grass and flowers, like spring air.

In the tasting the first thing to hit my palate was a warm, creamy glow of oak and spices, sweet, rich and full bodied, but very smooth and creamy. The finish was long and warming, bursting with flavours and pot still maltiness. This is definitely a dram to savour as every mouthful is as surprising as the last. Mitchell's Green Spot is unquestionably one of the world's great whiskeys and I urge anyone who enjoys a tipple to try this one, if you can get hold of a bottle, that is.