96 points
Teeling Vintage Reserve Collection 24 year old, 46%
Wow—the nose is spellbinding. An exuberant mix of heavy fruit and deep sweetness: crème brûlée, vanilla pod, fruit syrups, sticky jam tarts, and apricot stone. Silken mouthfeel, with orange flan and brown sugar, growing increasingly tangy, with peppery spice rippling over the tongue and hints of smoke at the end. Oak char and marzipan fruits on the finish. The bar has been set high for Irish whiskey this year. (5,000 bottles)
Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2017)
If bees could make single malt, they would make this. Deeply honeyed, with caramel, vanilla essence, mango, papaya, and waxy-green leaf aromas on the nose. This nectar is indulgent, with a silky mouthfeel, while the taste buds are immersed in molten pools of honey, rich dried fruits, sugary sweet candies, melon, poached pear, vanilla, toffee, and oak spices, with a sticky sweet finish of dried fruit that’s buzzing with peppery spice. (120 bottles for the U.S.)
Distilled in 1983, the nose emanates lemon peel, blooming gorse, gooseberry, mint imperials, butter biscuits, sanded oak, florist shop, salted caramel, and violins lying in red velvet cases. Nimble and juicy on the palate, it’s an odyssey through lemon, lychee, and tangy peels, with the acidity of gooseberry riffing off caramels before honeydew, vanilla, and buttery fresh banana mingle in its final throes while it evanesces from the palate.€7,000
Peated whiskey is an ancient Irish style, but it’s harder to make than
you think. Teeling’s master distiller Alex Chasko ascertained that only malt as
heavily peated as Ardbeg’s would enable the peaty flavors to withstand the large
fraction eliminated by triple distillation. That decision delivers a superb subtle
smokiness, which when put together with bourbon and sauternes casks creates a
moreish whiskey alive with orchard fruit, panna cotta, and sweet floral notes, plus
tangy marmalade and peppery spice. As distillers in Ireland dig deeper into peaty
whiskey, you can bet on this bottle of smoke to make your day.
Triple-distilled in Dublin, Teeling’s debut single pot still expression is distinctive in its unusual 50:50 mashbill of malted to unmalted barley, adding an element of virgin American oak to deliver a charismatic quality and texture. The nose is reminiscent of cinnamon breakfast cereal, with delicate touches of melon and white grape, but it’s the vibrancy of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper at this perfect proof that most impresses, taking a decisive lead over the soft stone and orchard fruit and glossy caramel flavors.
A wonderful balance of red wine and malt notes on this Australian shiraz finish: black currant, cooked apple, blackberry, After Eight mints, black tea, chocolate praline, cherry compote, and dark toffee. Malty, with soft fruits and strawberry jam flavors, then cinnamon, blackberry, dark toffee, clove, pepper, and oak char, with the brighter red summer fruits kept in reserve until the final stages. (9,000 bottles)€140
This comes at you full on, though it’s more about the wood than the single pot still. First impressions are savory and spicy with roasted sweet chestnuts, marron glacé, malt, a little mash tun funk, blackened spices, clove, licorice, pecan, warm leather, and treacle. Bramble, black currant, and forest honey, chewing through flavors of clove, pepper, Brazil nut, cola, and savory oak, with a hint of mint chocolate to finish. (6,600 bottles for the U.S.)