Teaninich 10 Year Old

Teaninich distillery is located slightly north of Inverness and was founded in 1817 by Hugh Monro on his estate of Teaninich Castle. In 1830 he sold the estate to his younger brother John who as an officer spent most of his time in India and who decided to lease the distillery to the infamous Robert Pattison in 1850. In 1869 the lease on the distillery was passed on to John McGilchrist Ross who relinquished the tenancy in 1895 to Munro & Cameron. In 1904 Robert Innes Cameron became the sole owner of Teaninich until his death in 1932 when the estate was sold to Distillers Company Limited (DCL). This marked the start of a fairly uneventful period of a few decades in Teaninich's history, except for a period between 1939 and 1946 during which the distillery was closed due to barley shortages. Little changed at the old distillery complex until 1970 when DCL built a large, modern factory with six new stills next to the old traditional buildings. For a few years both the four old stills (who were referred to as 'the B side') and six new stills (‘the A side’) were both operational. In 1984 the B side was mothballed, and the A side followed the next year, temporarily ending production entirely. The A side resumed production in 1991 under UDV, the successors of DCL. The B side was never restarted again and was demolished in 1999. In 2000 a mash filter press was installed in the distillery, which is unique in Scottish malt whisky production; all other Scottish whisky distilleries use mash tuns. Most of the malt produced at Teaninich distillery goes into the Johnnie Walker blends. The 10-year old bottling in the flora and fauna series is the only continuously available official bottling and was first released in 1992.

The nose is mild, very floral and almost perfumy. There is a strong element of chamomile, followed by vanilla and lemon notes. All in all this is a very floral nose, dominated by rich, almost buttery flavours.

The palate is medium-bodied and a bit dry. There are distinct flavours of malted barley, followed by vanilla and some grassy notes.

The finish is of medium length and dry. Notes of lemon and honey round this off, followed by some faint grassy notes.

Teaninich is an unusual single malt, with a surprisingly fragrant nose and a rather malty palate. I love it and deplore the fact that this is not bottled as a single malt more frequently.

Teaninich is advertised as a light, fresh whisky, but all I get from it are raw chemicals. Even after repeated attempts and dilution with a splash of water the whisky doesn't open up to me.

The taste is dominated by raw alcohol and heavy oil, almost diesel-like in its characteristic. Either it's a hastily produced concoction with little to no refinement, or it's flavours are too elusive for my palate.