Teeling Whiskey Co. - Single Malt - Tweet Tasting - Review

On Monday 8th December 2014 I took part in another fantastic Tweet Tasting, hosted of course by Steve Rush of "TheWhiskyWire.com", in which all involved were presented with the latest release from the Teeling Whiskey Co......their "Single Malt".

December has already been a busy month for the lads at Teeling, with the arrival of the new stills at their Dublin distillery, so it would seem that tonight was the perfect time to have this tasting.

Since releasing their small batch, rum cask finished, blend back in 2012 they've been churning out various fine bottlings including a 21 year old "Silver Reserve" single malt, finished in Sauternes casks and a particularly exceptional "Single Grain" that's matured 

fully in Californian red wine casks.

This latest release continues on their growing tradition of taking fine spirits and pushing the boundaries in terms of maturation and finishing.  

The Teeling "Single Malt" is a no-age statement whiskey but don't let that fool you.  This excellent bottling contains a unique combination of Irish whiskey aged up to 23 years in

five different wine casks – Sherry, Port, Madeira, white Burgundy and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In addition the "Single Malt" has been bottled at 46% ABV and is un-chill filtered.

The obvious question here is can Teeling can pull off the marriage of these five very different cask finishes to produce an end product that really sings from the glass and the answer to this is that they didn't just marry these finishes together perfectly but they've knocked it out of the park.

Onto my notes:

Nose - Lemon oil, sweet malt, all butter fudge and red fruit that comes through in the form of cranberry / raspberry / strawberry jam.  Fragrant, rich and indulgent.  White grape juice, pressed apple juice and a touch of cracked black pepper.  Undiluted blackcurrant juice and stewed oranges.  A little dusty "aged" note arrives over time alongside some polished wood and with more time the nose becomes more sherried with notes of dried fruit, mixed spice, ginger, rich fruit cake and rich cream.

Palate - Initially fruity with aged malt and lovely warm clove spice.  Develops wonderfully into deep orange and more intense red fruit which is almost like raspberry coulis.  Red apple, blackcurrant and mixed berries.  The red wine cask influence is really starting to go into overdrive here.  Delicious.  To hold this in the mouth, and allow the alcohol to ease, creates one intense mouthful of rich fruit juice.

Finish - Fantastic length with a lovely drying feel caused, presumably, from the older whiskey and excellent interaction with the wood.  The finish lingers on with light mixed spice and crunchy red apples.

Overall this is a stunner.  A brilliant marriage of flavours that have been presented in a perfect form.  The spirit has taken on these various flavours with aplomb and it really does show.  Even as I write this the flavours are evolving in the glass and you get the sense that you could spend an entire evening with just two pours of this whiskey and never get bored.  This, alongside Teeling's "Single Grain", is one of the finest Irish whiskies I've ever tasted.  At no point do you get a sense that this has been hurried, or treated with disrespect, and the reward for this care is evident in every mouthful.

On a side note there is the question, that some would ask, as to where did this spirit originate from and if I had to guess I'd go with Bushmills.  

If Teeling going forward, with their new distillery, can replicate this form with their own spirit then they could own Irish whiskey in years to come.  A bold statement I know but why not?

All I have to say is a huge thank you to Steve Rush at TheWhiskyWire.com, where anyone can apply to join in the fun of the tweet tastings, and also a big thank you to the Teeling Whiskey Co. for the excellent sample.  

As with most of my updates I've included a number of relevant web links below.

Until next time,

Sláinte

SI

The Whisky Wire - http://www.thewhiskywire.com

The Whisky Wire Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheWhiskyWire

Teeling Whiskey Co. - http://teelingwhiskey.com

Teeling Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeelingWhiskeyCompany

Teeling Twitter - https://twitter.com/TeelingWhiskey