Origin: Dublin (Ireland)
Type: Single Grain Irish Whiskey
Strength: 46%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Red Wine
Chillfiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: Teeling Whiskey Company
Average price: € 45.00
Official website: teelingwhiskey.com
Vote: 83/100
I complete the tour of the Dublin distillery’s base whiskies with the latest member of the Unconventional Collection, a bottling that really does credit to this collection.
While grain whiskey is nothing new for the Irish distillate, as it’s needed to create the blends for which it is known worldwide, it’s less common to find a single grain bottling, which if for Scotch is a long established tradition, for Irish whiskey is still uncommon.
The recipe includes 95% corn and 5% malted barley, a composition that is already atypical in itself, but with the distillate matured entirely in French oak casks that have contained Californian cabernet, Teeling puts its unconventional signature on tradition.
Ageing is around five years, with the distillate coming from Cooley, which in fact produces a similarly crafted single grain, the Greenore 8yo.
Tasting notes
The nose is pleasantly fresh, with a light spiciness (cinnamon and nutmeg) over sweet tones of sugar paste, caramelised apple, kiwi, vanilla and peach in syrup. Almonds, polished wood and a light note of leather intervene to prevent it from becoming cloying, with a light background of freshly cut grass. Intriguing.
The opening on the palate is warm and decisive, with a good charge of black pepper and ginger on cinnamon and nutmeg, which introduces a fairly light and dark body of blueberry, baked apple, prune, macadamia nut, coconut and caramel. Leather again, more pronounced than on the nose, and freshly cut wood in length.
Not very long finish of wood, nuts, cinnamon, caramel and a vague toastes feel.
An interesting variation on the grain theme. As a non-lover of the genre I was fascinated by the aroma, but less so by the taste which seemed to me not very gritty, reflected in the not very incisive finish. Chapeau for having followed a different path, even if the final result is not fully achieved.
Reviews of Teeling whiskey in the blog
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