let’s begin
I truly mean it; this Irish whiskey tasting was incredible and immersive, Jack Teeling opened up our flavour receptors with a plethora of superb whiskies from throughout their range, top to bottom.
This is part three in a three part series looking at Teeling Whiskey in depth, you can read part one here and part two here.
Our Irish whiskey tasting started with the Teeling Trinity; Teeling Single Grain, Teeling Small Batch and Teeling Single Malt to get us in the mood but to also show just how lovely the core range is before we got into the ‘special stuff’ of their limited editions.
If you want to sample the range in miniature before buying all the full size bottles or want to buy a Teeling Trinity tasting experience check out their gift pack here: http://amzn.to/24lJBWT
All of the Teeling Trinity are bottled at 46% ABV to offset the cloudiness that unchill-filtered whiskies experience when ice is added. Upping the ABV offsets this to a degree.
Teeling Single Grain
I was already a fan of this whiskey and use it in GreatDrams whiskey tastings a fair amount due to being a really flavourful example of what single grain can be having been finished in Californian red wine casks.
This whiskey exudes a buttery character, creamy mouth feel, tannins from the red wine cask come through in a good way with notes of cereal and the raw grain that went into the distillate.
Available to buy here: http://amzn.to/1N1WRvy
Teeling Small Batch
Again this is a go to Irish whiskey for me both at home and for tastings for its impressive rum-like character, having been part-matured in ex-rum casks to give it a sweet and peppery spicy notes both on the nose and palate with a creamy mouth feel.
Available to buy here: http://amzn.to/24lJw5D
Teeling Single Malt
An incredibly complex whiskey this one with whiskies aged up to 23 Years Old that have been matured in five different wine casks ahead of being married together; Madeira, white Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon, port and of course sherry.
The result is something extraordinary and contradictory at the same time; lemon bonbons are present, as are fresh, fruity apples, nutmeg notes with citrus fighting for attention.
You could sit with this one for hours.
Available to buy here: http://amzn.to/24lJlqT
With that our Teeling Trinity tasting was complete and we moved on to another flight in our Teeling Irish whiskey tasting.
A 15 Year Old release to mark the distillery’s opening in 2015, this whiskey has spent its entire life maturing in rum barrels… and you can tell! It is essentially the Teeling Small Batch but with a bit more beef.
Fresh, juicy apples on the nose, hints of butter and tonnes of rum notes coming through. Very sweet, deep and oaky.
An impressive whiskey and an example of rum maturation done very well.
Available to buy here: http://amzn.to/24lKoHf
What a stunner. A true sherry bomb and we all loved it!
Sherry dominated with burnt sugar, herbal notes, maybe some spice and definitely a load of nutty notes.
A great example of an Irish whiskey matured in sherry casks.
Needless to say both myself and my father-in-law left the distillery with one of these each!
Available only at the distillery as a bottle your own for €250.
This is their second fill your own available at the distillery for €100 at the time of visiting, and was lovely. Creamy mouth feel as with a lot of their range coupled with lots of vanilla, buttery and fruity notes. Nice and sweet despite the punchy cask strength ABV.
Rum notes throughout, oaky hints, lovely.
Oh man were we lucky to try this, and what a finale.
Lots of tropical fruit, luxurious flavours and mouth feel, citrus notes and marmalade. Divine.
Available to buy here: http://amzn.to/24lLOS4
Very sweet and enjoyable for an 82% ABV whiskey!
With that the Irish whiskey tasting concluded, we bottled our own whiskies in the shop and bought a couple more bottles along the way.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Jack and Stephen Teeling and their awesome staff for being such wonderful and generous hosts; for me the distillery is not only a benchmark in thoughtful and well planned design for a modern, visitor-friendly distillery but you get a feeling about the place that the opportunity for building the Irish single malt category for many years to come has kicked off here. I look forward to toasting their continued and long term success.
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