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Fellow Drammers!
We're so thrilled to welcome Teeling's Global Brand Ambassador Robert Caldwell as our guest speaker this Saturday starting at 3pm EST. We've long been fans and friends of this great Irish whiskey distillery, which has made such a huge impact reminding people that Irish whiskey can be as high-end as anything out there, and importantly bringing whiskey back to Dublin! Dublin was once the unquestioned whiskey capital of the world, and the Teeling family's roots in the business date back to 1782. But Dublin had gone completely dormant in whiskey until Teeling was established in 2015 (the first new distillery in Dublin in 125 years, and the first distillery to operate at all in Dublin since 1976!). We were honored to host Teeling's master distiller Alex Chasko back in November 2017, and more recently we had planned an event with them at our Paris chapter plus a distillery tour in March/April, which have been temporarily postponed. So we decided to do this in the meantime, and sourced some incredible bottles for us to taste. Since most of these are long since unavailable, we will again be doing a SET A and a SET B pick and members who sign up will get one or the other (if you already placed an order, let me know which you'd prefer):
- 24yo Teeling Single Malt - Vintage Reserve Collection, 2016 bottling (SET A ONLY) -
This one was bottled in August of 2016 and matured in ex-sauternes and ex-bourbon casks, for many this was the bottle that really announced the arrival of an important new era in Irish whiskey. We had the pleasure of tasting the sister bottling of this released the following year when we had Alex visit with us in 2017, and it was magic, and this one has an equally powerhouse review on WhiskyBase. As with nearly all of their releases, this one comes in at 46% abv. 1 of 5,000 bottles.
- 21yo Teeling Vintage Reserve "Silver Bottling", Batch No. 3 (SET B ONLY) -
As far I can recall, we didn't get a chance to try this one back in 2017. Distilled in 1991 and also a mix of ex-Sauterne and ex-bourbon casks. This is also 1 of 5,000 bottles, but is easily more rare than the 24yo in part because this was bottled much earlier in March 2014 (which, importantly, was 2 years before the distillery was established, more on that below). It also has a strong 89.10 score on WhiskyBase, and it'll be interesting to hear more from Robert about the company's releasing strategy with bottles like this, no doubt to build prestige and excitement in the run up to getting their distillery up and running a year later. 46% abv.
- Teeling The Revival, Vol. 1 - 15yo Whiskey matured in ex-Rum Barrels (SET B ONLY) -
Bottled in October 2015, this was the first in a series of 5 volumes (we'll be trying 3 of them on Saturday), meant of course to emphasize the family's historical connections -- their ancestor Walter Teeling had established a Teeling family distillery in the Liberties area of Dublin in 1782, what was then considered the "golden triangle" because the neighborhood had many of the leading whiskey distilleries in the world at the time. Similarly, the company's logo is a phoenix rising out of a pot still, so, yeah, the concept of "reviving" the Teeling whiskey name is important to them, and reflected in this delicious whiskey. 46% abv, 1 of 10,000 bottles.
- Teeling - The Revival, Vol. III - 14yo Finished in Pineau des Charentes Barrels (SET A ONLY) -
This one was bottled in 2017, one of 10,000 bottles, and now very few exist anywhere. Like the others, it comes in gorgeous packaging -- the bottles are in a bound case that looks like fancy old book volumes when stacked on a shelf, hence volume I, II etc. Like the others, the one received very strong reviews for how balanced it is -- sweet but not too sweet, and not too much wood influence, allowing the spirit of the underlying Irish whiskey to shine through. 46% abv.
- Teeling - The Revival, Vol. IV - 15yo Matured in Muscat Barrels (SET B ONLY) -
This was also released in 2017, and again 46%, 1 of 10,000 bottles, this time matured entirely in ex-muscat barrels (as opposed to finished after spending time in ex-bourbon barrels, like vol. III). So, not surprisingly, the result is bolder, both more full-bodied and also more singular flavor wise, which may be polarizing for some, but overall it has high-scoring reviews.
- A.D. Rattray Single Malt / Single Cask 10yo Release from Cooley Distillery (SET A ONLY) -
I'm thrilled to include this in the lineup, because it is historically important. How, you might ask, is Teeling releasing 24yo whiskies when Jack and Stephen Teeling just opened their distillery in 2015? The answer is that their father John Teeling opened Cooley as a whiskey distillery in 1989, located in the county of Louth, about an hour north of Ireland (previously it had been a potato schnapps distillery). Jack and Stephen worked with their father at the distillery before the family sold it to Beam in 2011 -- but, important for our purposes -- as part of the sale they negotiated the purchase of 16,000 casks of aged whiskey! The Teeling company was established a few months later and started releasing key bottles (like the 21yo mentioned above) as they made their plans to launch their new Teeling distillery in London. This independent bottling was bottled in 2011We have fellow drammers Dan and Sole McGinley-Aviles -- they bought the bottle for the wedding anniversary, got married in Ireland, and have generously made it available for us to share together in part because our tasting is 2 days before their 2nd wedding anniversary (cheers!). 46% abv.
- Teeling Single Cask ex-Carcavelos Port Cask (2016, BOTH SET A and SET B) -
In March of 2016, Teeling announced the launch of 12 individual casks in time for St. Patrick's Day which were unique in that they were apparently the first whiskey distillery anywhere to release whiskey matured in ex-white port barrels, in this case a year in ex-Carcavelos casks from Portugal after 12 years in ex-bourbon. The decidedly light, perfumed fruity flavor is given plenty of kick with a 59.7% abv bottling (and note this is the first bottling not at 46% abv in our lineup!). A small handful of these bottles still exist out there, and we need to thank Prashanth Gopal, a fellow Drammer in our Los Angeles chapter, for tracking down a couple of these bottles for us to enjoy, thanks Prashanth!
- Teeling Single Cask 13yo Chestnut Cask (BOTH SET A and SET B) -
This single cask release was distilled in October 2005, and bottled more recently in July 2019, making it the first bottle in our lineup that you should be able to find out there with a little searching. Like the ex-Carcavelos, this one was bottled at a whopping 55.1% abv, matured initially in ex-bourbon casks, then finished in a chestnut cask. Teeling used to offer a chestnut cask-matured bottle as a distillery exclusive before releasing this to the US last year. If any of our members are aware of any other whisky matured in a chestnut cask, you'll have to let us know -- this is the only one I've heard of personally.
- Teeling Single Pot Still (BOTH SET A and SET B) -
Now, finally, we're getting in to some of the core-range stuff you can actually find regularly for your drinking pleasure. These retail in the $70ish range, and as usual at 46% and non-chill-filtered. Irish whiskey is often best-known for being triple distilled (unlike their double-distilled competitors in Scotland), and traditionally it was done with unmalted barley. Here Teeling has opted for a mix of 50% unmalted and 50% malted barley for their pot still release. But this gives me a great excuse to draw attention to the historically hugely-important role of Dublin's commitment to an Irish style of specifically pot-still whiskeys (vs. the more efficient but some think less flavorful "continuous column still", and how that ultimately led to the near-total collapse of Irish whiskey. For those of you who have a copy of Robin Robinson's book The Complete Whiskey Course, you'll find this on page 160: "When Coffey introduced his continuous distilling machine to Irish distiller in 1831, it was so universally hated by traditional pot still distillers that it eventually prompted the Dublin owners to publish a tract called "Truths About Whiskey" by John Jameson and Son. It is a ninety-page diatribute on the ills of what they referred as "silent spirt" - whiskey made cheaply and plentifully in a continuous operation with none of the flavor of their pot stills". They were so incensed about this change that was becoming dominant in Scottish whisky, they changed their spelling to "whiskey" (with an e) to distinguish it, which ultimately led to distillers in America spelling it with an "e" as well.
- Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey Ex-Rum Finish (BOTH SET A and SET B) -
Another in Teeling's impressive core range, this one retails in the accessible $40 range, and very rare for a core-range product like this, it is finished in ex-rum casks! That's usually reserved for higher-end releases. Again bottled at 46%, and now is a good time to get into that. Why are nearly all of their whiskies bottled at 46%? We'll confirm with them on Saturday, but almost certainly the answer is because that is the magic number below which whiskey companied face a daunting choice -- to chill filter or not to chill filter. If your whisky is below 46% alcohol, and you don't chill filter, the whisky may appear cloudy in the bottle, which in reality scares off non-expert whiskey consumers who wonder if maybe something has gone wrong with it. In practice, that cloudiness is proof that certain large molecules that contribute to mouth feel and flavor are still in the spirit, but most large brands feel the need for purely cosmetic reasons to filter them out. Understandable, but a shame, and Teeling smartly avoids this entirely by bottling everything at 46% or higher!
That's our lineup, a true celebration of Irish whiskey at the highest end! And we're very fortunate that their global brand ambassador Robert Caldswell will be walking us through all this history and amazing juice. The event starts on Saturday at 3pm EST. Whiskey sample sets provided at cost as always.
ZOOM LINK FOR TEELING EVENT SATURDAY, starting 3pm EST:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85273193967?pwd=bG1ZbytwL1ZXdkJiMzhFdGlWYkU3QT09
Password: 05232020
Meeting ID: 852 7319 3967
Cheers!
Charlie