Teeling Small Batch

Product Information

Teeling’s grain whisky comes from the Great Northern Distillery, owned by John Teeling (Thanks, Phil). It was mentioned in the tasting that John owns shares in the Teeling distillery as well. The grain whisky are aged in ex-Cabernet Sauvignon barrels from California; these casks aren’t re-toasted or re-charred. On a side note, it was nice of them to say that they receive the wine casks with still 6L of wine in it. Ex-wine casks often have some wine left in them during transit to prevent the cask from going bad. In the mouth: Not as hot as on the nose. Light confectionery notes like mocha, toffee and honey are more upfront here, but they’re taken over by slightly more intense tastes of fruits like star fruit, lime peel, mandarin oranges, canned peaches, grapes and grape skin. At the end are flashes of KitKat raisin chocolate and a raisin ice cream. Conclusions: |At Teeling Whiskey we believe in driving the evolution of Irish Whiskey through the creation of new and unique expressions. As part of this innovative mission we have developed a series called the Sommelier Selection, an evolution of the Small Batch Collaboration series aimed at capturing the flavours from some of the world’s most renowned wine regions. The first two releases saw us explore the influence that French Margaux and Sauternes wine casks had on our Small Batch blend while the latest two releases saw how Italian Amarone and Recioto casks work with our Teeling Small Batch blend. The fifth and latest release in this series, sees us turn our attention towards Portugal and how its famous wines can work alongside our Small Batch. Malt, honey, banana nut muffin, caramel, dried fruit and light notes of spice, dark sweets and vanilla taffy glide across the palate in a simple supple manner. Like the nose there’s a very traditional feel to it, but it’s amped up a notch and paired with some darker notes.

Third in the line-up is Teeling’s Single Malt. Two types of yeast are used here. One is a white wine yeast from South Africa, and the other is a distiller’s yeast. The fermentation results in a 10% ABV wash. The whisky are aged separately for 9 to 23 years in ex-cabernet sauvignon, ex-Madeira, ex-white Burgundy, ex-port or ex-sherry casks. They are blended afterwards, which really varies batches. (I’m pretty sure the distillates for the single malt are still from Cooley, as the Teeling distillery was only established in 2015.) This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. Taste: Quite a few spices (cloves, nutmeg, pepper) and slightly drying with a hint of cough syrup, but also oranges and whiffs of mint. In the mouth: Just like on the nose, this is a wild and incoherent mix of fruit notes arising from various ex-wine cask influences. There are light tastes of red bananas, gooseberries, mocha, chocolate raisins, ripe plums, bergamot, basil, flower petals, apples, Tinta Negra Madeira, cascara tea and chamomile tea. A light flash of sulfur comes and goes. Conclusions: |Brian was a spectacular (and handsome) guide! He taught me so much about whiskey, would recommend to anyone. CharHall

SMALL BATCH,

A nice balance exists in this whiskey which rests on a medium body. However it does come across a touch hot and dry. Nose: Hints of apple peel and pear skin, a tinge of lemon zest and galia melon, and also milk chocolate and a whiff of brown sugar. This needs some time to open up. At the time of the virtual tasting, the flavors were quite muddled. The heat getting in the way didn’t help, either. Even after opening up, the flavors were still incoherent. As expected of Central American rum, which are mainly column distilled and made in efficient ways, it doesn’t lend many flavors. This is a forgettable and inoffensive whisky that beginners will enjoy. Score: 4/10

Taste: Yep, this is fruity. Definitely some of that older Irish whiskey DNA in there. Nectarines and apricots, but also a pinch of honey and vanilla. The mouthfeel is pretty creamy. Good stuff. Nose: A hint of glue to start but nothing too bad. The nose is fairly narrow but plenty of fudge and caramel. Also a touch wood shavings, with finally just a tinge of fresh strawberries, marshmallows and Maraschino cherries. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.

Fourth and last of the night was Teeling Single Pot Still. These are fermented for 5 to 7 days in Oregon pine mash tuns. The mashbill is 50% malted and 50% unmalted barley, uses the same yeast as the single malt, and is triple distilled. The whisky is separately aged in ex-bourbon or new American oak or ex-sherry casks. Then they are blended at a recipe of 50% ex-bourbon, 25% new American oak and 25% ex-sherry casks. In the mouth: Very different from the nose. The grainy texture is not as evident, but notes in this are more expressive. From the get go, I get medium and lasting tastes of Taiwanese pineapple cakes, coconut cream, honey and toffee. A light taste of blended sweet corn with cream comes and goes. Conclusions: These differences are not carved in stone; the Irish Whiskey Act of 1980 outlines only the broad parameters necessary to label a product “Irish” whiskey. Basically, it requires that whiskey be composed of grains (such as barley, wheat, corn, and rye), be distilled to no more than 94.8 percent alcohol, and be aged at least three years in wooden barrels. These guidelines leave producers a lot of leeway to define their styles.

Nose: A definite step up from the single grain. It’s fruity, bright, light and with a hint of sauternes. Apple juice, pineapple, apricots and raisins. Really good. The Teelings, having ran Cooley before Beam-Suntory bought it, obviously know the Irish whiskey category very well and so it’s no surprise they know what it takes to compete for shelf space these days. It’s not delivering yet another “same old” whiskey, it’s delivering something that stands apart and gives the consumer a real choice to make when staring at the shelves on the whiskey aisle and for that I thank them. Seriously, thank you Teelings for the Teeling Small Batch Irish; thank you for not releasing yet another chill-filtered 80 proof Irish blend into the market and giving us something new and different to explore! Teeling Small Batch Irish Info I was invited to participate in an online tasting (and virtual distillery tour) by Niamh O’Connor, one of the Teeling brand ambassadors for the Benelux. So on a Thursday evening in July I logged into Zoom to join several other Dutchies (including the wonderful Noortje and the guys from whiskyconsultants.com). Our host was European brand ambassador Chris Hayes. The most recent one was with Teeling, hosted by Robert Caldwell. We had to buy a sample set consisting of 30ml sample bottles of the Teeling Small Batch, Single Grain, Single Malt and Single Pot Still to join the event. We loved this tour and tasting so much it is the only activity we repeated on a trip with our adult children other than the Book of Kells. This time we had the pleasure of having Marc as our tour guide. He was equally as entertaining and informative as Jaime 1mwas last March. Highly recommend!! Jenna W Irish whiskey producers generally use a mix of malted and unmalted barley for their mash bill – unlike the Scots, who use all malted barley – and these unmalted grains may enhance earthy, oily notes in the spirit. They generally dry the grains with ovens, instead of the Scots’ traditional peat fires, so with some exceptions Irish whiskeys don’t have the smoky aromas that characterize many scotch whiskies. Finally, Irish whiskeys are typically distilled three times, which is one more go-around than is usual for most scotch whiskies. Both Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky are grain-based spirits. Many modern Irish whiskeys are lighter or more accessible in style than their Scottish counterparts, thanks to the differences that have developed in distilling techniques. On the nose: There’s a light heat with a rough and grainy, yet welcome, texture. It gives off a lot of typical light and sweet scents. Initially, there’s a lasting aroma of sweet corn mixed with caramel and nuts. At the end is something like wood shavings brushed with honey, pineapples and crushed nuts, and then roasted. Taste: Creamy and fairly fruity (pineapple and apricots again), but certainly also that cough syrup-y note the single grain also displayed. Plenty spicy too with touches of ginger, but mostly balanced out by sweeter caramel notes and brown sugar.

I’ve read that the ABV of washes meant to be distilled for whisky affects the heat and flavors the whisky expresses. Flavorful Springbank’s wash ends at 6%. Teeling Single Malt ends at 10%. This ABV is said to be similar to high-output, modern Scotch single malt distilleries like Glenlivet. The resulting distillate is said to be hotter than most, leading me to wonder if a lower wash would result in a more cohesive blending of flavors during aging. Score: 5/10 The second thing we tasted was the Teeling Single Grain. Its mash bill is 95% corn and 5% malted barley. If you’re not aware, mash bills for grain whisky, bourbon and rye traditionally have a small amount of malted barley to start fermentation. First in the tasting was the Small Batch. It’s said to be aged in ex-bourbon casks for up to 6 years, and then spends an additional 9 to 12 months in Central American rum casks. A blended whisky, it is three parts grain whisky and one single malt. Teeling Small Batch The Teeling Small Batch Irish may not be something I want to drink everyday, but it’s definitely something I’ll be reaching for now and then to break up my usual flavor patterns. Especially if you spend a lot of time drinking heavy cask strength behemoths it’s good to change things up a bit. Take some time and explore lighter, more nuanced whiskeys from time to time to remind your palate and olfactory what subtlety means. It’s a bit of a cliché but the Single Malt easily won out. I’m not sure what they’ve done since that 2014 batch (which apparently included a fair bit of 1991 oloroso matured whisky), but this is really good and nice value for money too.With a whiskey industry that prospered for hundreds of years, Ireland helped establish a taste for whiskey throughout the western world. Legendary producer Bushmills was issued what is now the oldest license to distill spirits in 1608, and within decades Ireland boasted more than 100 distilleries. Chris turned out to be a perfect tour guide and he shared plenty of details about the whiskey we tasted. While a virtual tour isn’t a perfect substitute for the real deal, it will certainly do for as long as we deal with this pesky virus. Hopefully I can make my way over to Dublin once it is safe to do so again. Then I’ll be sure to visit and do a proper write-up. For now, you’ll have to make do with some tasting notes.