Remember the Teelings, who started the Cooley company, sold it and now started their own company again. I already wrote about the excellent Teeling Whiskey 21 Years a couple of months ago.
This one is the base offer, a blended Teeling Whiskey with a high malt content and no age statement. Note that it has been ‘rum married’, i.e. finished in rum barrels after blending (from Flor de Caña, Nicaragua – although the provenance can change over time).
Teeling Whiskey Small Batch (46%, OB 2013)
Nose: lots of apple notes, freshly cut green ones but also baked apple with a dash of white rum. Some spices, a grassy prickle and rhubarb. Orange peel. Nice enough for a blend, although the grainy notes are pretty loud.
Mouth: a very nice, typically Irish fruitiness and creamy vanilla. Apple and grapefruit. Rummy sweetness and honey underneath. Quickly taken over by grains, some alcohol heat and finally dried herbs with some bitter tonic. Pepper and clove. Something of pine wood as well.
Finish: grainy and peppery. Not too long.
I really want to like parts of this Teeling blend. There’s no denying Irish whiskey like this is rather attractive and offers value for money. But in other parts the sharpish grain takes over, masking most of the nice fruits. Around € 40, available from The Whisky Exchange among others.