Well, this wasn’t on the list of potential reviews for July but as I am in Ireland for a spell, it seems appropriate to review some Irish whiskey; and as I am living in Dublin, only 10 minutes walk from the Teeling distillery, it seems all the more appropriate to review something from Teeling. I’ll do you two better: I’ll review three Teeling whiskies this week. Mind, they won’t be anything very exotic. I went over to the distillery a couple of days ago and while they do have a distillery exclusive release, it involves red wine casks and I’m not buying a full bottle of a red wine-bothered whisky without tasting it first. I might yet do so at their bar—but that might depend on what I make of this week’s trio. All of them are whiskies from Teeling’s core portfolio and you don’t have to come to Ireland to drink them—they’re all available in Minnesota. While at the distillery I purchased what they call their “Trinity Pack”, three 50 ml bottles of their Single Grain, Single Malt and Small Batch. First up is their Single Grain, which is a NAS whiskey that is, I think, also a sourced whiskey. My understanding is that the Teeling distillery is only set up to distill single malt and that the grain whiskey—and for that matter, most of the other stuff they put out—is sourced whiskey of one kind or the other. Those who know more about the ins and outs of Teeling should feel free to correct or add detail.

The current Single Grain whiskey listed on Teeling’s website is labeled as matured entirely in Californian cabernet sauvignon casks. And, indeed, most of the reviews I have found of this whiskey refer to that release. However, this miniature is labeled as having received a finish in “wine casks”. At first I thought that perhaps they had just labeled the miniature differently, having less space on the label, but this listing on the Celtic Whiskey Shop’s site shows a full-size bottle. As to whether these are two differently matured whiskies that share the same name, I don’t know. If I make it back to the distillery for a tour I will ask someone.

Teeling Single Grain (46%; wine finish; from a miniature)

Nose: Quite sweet off the top with honey and hard orange candy, with a spirity note rising up from below. The spirity note burns off quickly enough, leaving cereals in its wake. A drop of water seems to wake the spirity quality up again.

Palate: Comes in sweet here as well, a cloying grainy sweetness that soon picks up a bitter edge. The honey and hard candy are nowhere to be found. Rich texture and good bite at full strength. The bitterness expands on the second and third sips, picking up a chemical astringency. As it sits the bitter notes recede a little and some of the citrus emerges. Water pushes the bitterness back further and replaces the chemical astringency with chemical sweetness.

Finish: Long. Bitter here too but now it’s more vegetal. Develops as on the palate with time and water.

Comments: The best I can say about this is that it is not driven by the red wine casks it was finished/matured in. Alas, this is a rare case where I might have appreciated a little more of the wine influence! It’s spirity and raw and bitter and not at all to my taste. Well, this series is not off to the best start…

Rating: 72 points.