Here is another 10 yo Teaninich from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. This was distilled a year after Monday’s Teaninich 10 and was bottled a year later as well. The 2008 was a quintessentially austere Highlands whisky from a bourbon cask that had not seemingly interfered too much with the base spirit: the fruit was tart and joined by wax and mineral notes. I don’t say “quintessential Teaninich” above because I’ve not had enough to be able to rule on that. At any rate, I liked it a lot. Will this one be as good? The SMWS in their wisdom called it “This Ain’t No Pussycat”. Hopefully it’s not a dog either. Let’s see.

Teaninich 10, 2009 (58.4%; SMWS 59.58; refill hogshead; from a bottle split)

Nose: Less austere than the other, this presents with a lot of fruit from the get-go (pear, tart apple, lemon) along with wax and a peppery, mineral quality. After a few minutes there’s a fair bit of cream and also a leafy note; the wax moves towards paraffin. Water takes the lemon and the paraffin towards citronella and pulls out bits of pineapple and gooseberry.

Palate: Starts out more austere than on the nose. Waxy and mineral here as well and there’s a big sooty note as I swallow. Oily, mouth-coating texture. On the second sip there’s bitter lemon zest and a medicinal/aspirin note. More peppery now, very reminiscent of olive oil. With time the citrus gets a bit sweeter and comes out above the mineral/bitter notes. Let’s see what water does. Ah, it opens it up nicely: the fruit comes out to play and the whole is sweeter—though the pepper and mineral notes are still present under it all.

Finish: Long. The peppery, mineral, olive oil notes hang out here. As on the palate at first with water but the pepper builds in the background till it’s the final note (and it hangs around for a long time).

Comments: A strong family resemblance to the 2008 but this one adds more fruit to the austere notes and shows much more development with water. Lovely whisky, wish I had a bottle.

Rating: 89 points.