It’s now more than six years since Whisky & Wisdom wrote its first article about Teeling whiskey, and there’s been three or four further articles along the way with subsequent reviews of their excellent whiskies. With the release of Teeling Blackpitts whiskey, the brand has put peated Irish whiskey back on the radar and it’s excited fans of the category worldwide. But before we dive into the specifics on the Blackpitts rekease, it’s worth recapping on the basics….
The Teeling Distillery was completed in Dublin in 2015 and became the first new distillery to be built in Dublin in over 120 years. It also became the first operating distillery in Dublin since the closure of the old Powers distillery in the mid 1970’s. While the distillery’s new spirit was quietly slumbering and maturing, the brand established itself by bottling older whiskey that had been distilled at Cooley. (Cooley had been founded by John Teeling in 1987, hence the connection.) The distillery’s first release of their own home-made spirit was the Single Pot Still release in September, 2018, and there have now been several batches of that bottled since. However, the new Teeling Blackpitts release is the next exciting home-made chapter…
Peated Irish whiskey is an interesting category, as there’s generally a misunderstanding about what it traditionally is and when it was prevalent. When it comes to both Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey, there is often a misalignment between accepted tradition and…er…reality. (As an example, for so many years, nearly every article and textbook told us that Irish whiskey was triple distilled. And yet, for over three decades, only one of the country’s three operating distilleries actually carried out triple distillation!) There’s no doubt that, historically, Irish distillers used to use peat to dry their malt, although the accepted wisdom is that this practice dried up across the entire country once coal became more prevalent, available, and cheaper. What’s less known or understood is how many, if any, of the smaller distilleries made a heavily peated whiskey in the style that we associate with, say, the Islay distilleries of Scotland? By the time the Irish whiskey industry completed its 20th century decline (the industry went from having over 100 distilleries in 1886 to just two by 1970!) the system was so consolidated and amalgamated that any champions of the style had been long lost along the way. The Connemara brand (distilled at Cooley) released some more-heavily peated whiskies from time to time, and there have been others since, but it’s a varied field.
With the above as context, there was understandably excitement in October last year when Teeling announced the launch of Blackpitts. Named after the nearby district in Dublin that was once home to numerous malting houses, Blackpitts is a unique Irish whiskey that is both peated and triple distilled. And it’s a single malt. One of the more endearing aspects of Teeling is that they’re happy to disclose information about a whiskey’s production that other producers tend to keep secret. For the Blackpitts whiskey, Teeling share not just that the whiskey was matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-Sauternes white wine casks, but that the ratio of those casks in the final vatting was two-thirds / one-third respectively. The whiskey has been bottled at 46% ABV and has not been chill-filtered.
Righto, that’s the story behind it – how does it taste, and what does it deliver? Let’s dive in and see….
Teeling Blackpitts, NAS, 46% ABV
Colour: Pale, straw gold.
Nose: Let’s be honest, the first thing you’re going to go looking for is the peat, and it doesn’t take long to find it. However, it’s not a medicinal, iodine-like peat, like the kind you’d associate with an Islay malt. Rather, the peat on display is the from the family of phenols that promote aromas of soil, potting mix, garden nurseries and forest floors. Then the savoury notes enter the fray: Chinese-style BBQ duck and hoisin sauce.
Palate: The peat is front and centre. The phenolics in peated whiskies reduce over time, but as this is still relatively young spirit, they’re still at their full strength. Again, being young, there’s not as much oak development, and it’s a very spirit-led dram. Black jelly babies; white pepper; and a faint charred note come through in the spirit; there’s not much in the way of savoury notes other than perhaps some wok-fried Chinese cabbage with a Char Siu sauce. (Hmmm…second Asian food reference?) The mouthfeel is pleasantly oily and the alcohol balance is near perfect at 46%.
Finish: The black jelly babies leave the strongest footprint, although a pleasant sweetness lingers while the alcohol subsides.
Comments: It’s sweet, it’s clean, it’s soft; and it’s drinkable. In fact, if you like a peated drop, I’d almost describe this as quaffable! Teeling’s official statement on their website claims that the third distillation effectively removes the more medicinal notes commonly associated with peated whisky, and – like most triple distilled whisk(e)y – the spirit comes across just that little bit more refined, softer and…as much as I HATE to use the word…smoother. If anything, those are precisely the characteristics that supposedly define traditional Irish whiskey when it’s compared with Scotch. Less of a criticism and more of an observation, this whiskey is still young and perhaps a little more oak development would fatten out its dimensions a little.
Nonetheless, undeniably, if you’re a fan of Irish whiskey; a fan of peat; and a fan of Teeling, this whiskey should impress and will push your buttons. Teeling advise that they’re doing peated campaigns for a short period each year, and so Blackpitts will be an ongoing item in the portfolio. It will be both interesting and rewarding to follow its journey with future batches as we watch it get older each time and take on more character from the casks.
Cheers,
AD
PS: You might like our other articles on Teeling Whiskey….
Teeling Single Malt and Silver Reserve 21yo
Teeling Whiskey – Three limited edition gems
