Teeling Single Grain

Colour:

Burnished gold.

Nose:

Herbal, slight note wine, orange peel, sweet - toffee, vanilla and brown sugar.

Palate:

Sweet fruity notes - red grapes, toffee, leading to slight spice, nutmeg and butterscotch.

Finish:

Fruity, creamy and sweet but gives way to more bitter notes over time.

Overall:

Setting the bar high for all Single Grains I try from now on. Great range on the nose and palate. The herbal notes threw me a little but after that I felt like I was drinking a Dalmore with all the toffee, vanilla and brown sugar on the nose. Actually I enjoyed this more than their Single Malt which as it's around £5 cheaper a bottle that's nice to know!

Third and final part of my trinity pack of 5cl Teeling bottles. Rumoured to be aged for 5 years with a mash bill said to be 95% corn, 5% barley.

Colour is clear golden, oily in the glass.

Nose is a surprise and a delight. Fruity, grape, lemon, toffee, lots of vanilla, buttery, baked apple pie crust, pepper and spice, but with some crisp clear lines and vinous notes. It's mainly creamy vanilla, berry fruit and toffee.

Taste is creamy, vanilla, creme caramel, hints of lemon rind, grape, lots of vanilla oak wood.

This is really really nice.

Mouthfeel is slight oiliness and dry.

Finish is lots of vanilla oak, little dry, light spice, light pepper, creme caramel, custard, toffee, slight lemon.

Second time I've been really surprised by a single grain, the last being Nikka Coffey Grain.

When I tried the Teeling Single Malt I was pondering buying a bottle, but no pondering with this one. Will pick up a bottle tomorrow. A fascinating counterpoint to my bourbon whiskies, this Irish corn whisky.

The original Teeling distillery was established by Walter Teeling in 1782 in Dublin. It eventually closed as a result of the decline in Irish whiskey sales. In 1985, John Teeling bought a state-owned industrial potato distillery on the Cooley peninsula. He added a column still and in 1987 launched the Cooley Whisky Distillery and set about re-launching forgotten Irish whiskey brands such as The Tyrconnell. When the Cooley distillery was sold to Beam in 2012, John’s sons Jack and Stephen negotiated with Beam to sell them 16,000 casks of aged Cooley whiskey. With these stocks they set up the new Teeling Distillery in Dublin, where the first run of whiskey flowed in March 2015. Teeling Single Grain is fully matured in Californian Cabernet Sauvignon wine barrels.

The nose is rich and lush and one is immediately engulfed by flavours of honey, apples and vanilla. There is a floral note that distinctly hovers in the background, together with a touch of anise.

The palate is medium-bodied, buttery and just a bit spicy. The vanilla flavours are back, now accompanied by notes of caramel and cinnamon. The wood spice influence is now very distinct, giving the palate extra punch.

The finish is of medium length and dry. Vanilla and caramel flavours last to the very end, together with a good dose of wood spice.

Irish single grain whiskeys are still rare and this is a very nice example of what could be in store for all of us if more bottlings were made available. Overall, I found this a rather enticing and well balanced whiskey that provides the extra kick that a lot of other single grain whiskies lack.

Teeling Single Grain Whiskey is 5 yo, and has been finished in American Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Casks. The reviewed bottle has bottle code L14 010 305, and has been open for 13 days

Nose: a beautiful array of medium and high-pitched flavours present immediately. The quality of the wine flavours is very high. Grain flavours are present and agreeable, but muted

Taste: the nose translates well to the palate, with honey flavours added to the mix. There is a very good balance among the wine, grain, and honey flavours, and a lot of complexity among the wine flavours

Finish: medium length; keeps all the major flavours and very good balance

Balance: I am a big fan of this bottle. Hopefully other batches of Teeling Single Grain Whiskey are equally delicious. At a recent tasting attended by eight persons, this Teeling Single Grain Whiskey was universally liked and among the top favourites of the group

Water added: 1) very much sharpened the wine influence in the nose, 2) diluted and dulled the flavours on the palate, while binding together the wine flavours, and 3) muffled the flavours on the finish. I prefer this without water

It's March 17 at 11:25pm and I'm pretty much ready for bed. But being St. Patrick's Day, I cannot slumber until I write up an Irish whiskey - and a new one at that!

Well, at least new to Ontario. New Irish whiskey upstart The Teeling Whiskey Company (ok, not that much of an upstart since the Teeling family has been making whiskey since 1782) have bottled a single grain. This has been fully matured in Californian wine barrels, non-chill-filtered and bottled about a year ago, in March 2014. This is a newly opened bottle for this review.

The colour is a fairly light amber-gold. The nose is both sweet and a little rough: tropical and stone fruits mingle together (peach, mango, pineapple, papaya) overtop industrial alcohol, linseed oil and menthol. Strange bedfellows. Quite herbal. Light butterscotch, with some wine tannins in the far background. Don't add water; it just dilutes everything. Interesting and complex but not altogether successful.

On the palate the combination is similar: tropical fruits with custard, light vanilla and caramel fight for dominance over rough alcohol. A little more gentle than the nose, however. Forget what I said earlier; water improves the palate (though not the nose), smoothing out the rough edges. At the end, the sweetness wins out - becoming a more pleasant dram. Needs more time in oak, methinks, but still enjoyable.

The finish is long but rough, with more peach and apricot, while drying to tobacco ash and coconut. Interestingly, water closes the nose while opening up the palate, turning it into a simple but more-than-drinkable dram. I prefer it to the Greenore 8 Year Old, which may be a fairly close comparison, but I'm not sure I would buy it again. A little rough around the edges, perhaps it needs some time to oxidize in the bottle (I guess we shall see...) Winner of World's Best Single Grain at the 2014 World Whiskies Awards (beating out Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky from South Africa, which I prefer.) Worth a try, you may enjoy it more than I.

I don't know a hell of a lot of about Teeling Irish Whiskey. Actually I don't know a hell of a lot about Irish Whiskey either. And I sure as hell do not know much about grain whiskey let alone single grain whiskey.

So I was very intrigued when I found out that an Irish Single Grain had been making quite a bit of noise of late by winning the World Whisky Awards Best Grain Whiskey.

What's interesting is that most grain whiskies are blended but this one is a single grain - meaning it's from the same distillery. What is even more interesting is that it's spent pretty much all it's life in Californian Cabernet Sauvignon casks (which would explain the reddish hue when you hold it up to the light).

Teeling refuse to tell me how old it is and, frankly, I don't think you need to care. And what I really like is the $65USD price tag on this whiskey which is a pleasant contrast to exorbitant NAS expressions of late. And for that I will give it an extra point (not that it needs it!).

Nose: This one makes you wait. Almost teasing you because you can feel there's something special hidden down there but it's not ready to present itself yet. Twenty minutes later it's resolve weakens and it starts to open up. Very sweet vanilla and black pepper with hints of fresh coconut shavings. Followed by butterscotch on brown cereal and finely chopped almonds. Wait a bit longer for red grapes, apples and creme brulee with a hint of cigar leaf. The aromas are delicately layered on top of one another in near perfect harmony.

Palate: One of the great deliveries of late. Unlike the nose the spirit pounces on your palate in a dizzying tumble of flavors. First the apples and walnuts layered in expertly between soft slices of banana bread drizzled with a winey nectar. Almost sherry like. The grapes are back (both red and green) accompanied by a strong dark cinnamon & licorice dusted with cocoa powder.

Finish: Restrained at first but boisterous after a bit. Pinging the mouth with chocolate and mocha prickles.

This expression has such an exotic flavor I'm not sure how to describe it. It takes you totally by surprise. What ever these guys are doing with those Californian Cabernet Sauvignon casks they're on to something.

This review is from a small 5cl bottling as part of a tasting set. I normally don't blog or write reviews on small bottles but there isn't much on here on so I though I would start it going.

The Teeling Whiskey Co. mission is to challenge the norm by creating alternative Irish whiskeys with greater depth of personality and character than the current mass-market options.

Double distilled from maize and full matured in Californian Cabarnet Sauvignon casks.

Nose: warm and soft. butter, vanilla and ripe fruits. Spicy wafts.

Palate: Spices, warmly soft, creamy, buttery, caramel fudge.

Finish: medium long with creamy spicy tang.

A friend told me this would be an ideal bottle to introduce someone to grain Whisky and I must agree.