Teeling 15 Year Old 2006 for The Dutchess

Virgin Amburana Brazilian Hardwood? What a mouthful. This is actually a cask type that is mainly used to mature Cachaça. Or rum. It is a type of wood that the Scots are not allowed to touch (because not oak), but the Irish do not have to worry about it. And so the innovative Teeling distillery got to work with it. And the Dutch bottler The Duchess bought this cask after the whiskey reached the age of 15 years. The cask yielded another 216 bottles at cask strength.

Marzipan and carrot cake! That's the first thing I smell when I put this fresh Teeling to the nose. Then follow notes of apple cake, farmer's butter, wine gums and Sirop de Liège. Quite unique. I've never had a Teeling in the glass that smelled like this. Blind I would be completely lost. A strange touch of UHU glue that is partially made up for by tonka beans and raisins. Mocha ice cream. If you can give it the full five minutes in the glass, you will also get some freshly ground coffee beans and stewed chicory. I’m not kidding. It takes some getting used to, but it is tasty.

Oily on the tongue. Once again, the tonka beans and the apple cake appear, although they are now complemented by sweet notes of apricot pastry and honey. But I confess that at the same time it gets quite dry with some bitter notes of chestnuts and candied ginger. Some licorice and something that reminds me of resin. Marzipan rears its head again here. Fascinating!

The finish is long, very long. Baked apples, almond shavings and tonka beans slowly lose ground to cinnamon, nutmeg and a lot of black pepper.

Bizarre, tasty, captivating Teeling! You pay about 150 EUR for this. By the way... this is my 75th Teeling tasting note. That's pretty impressive for such a young distillery, right?