Teeling Whiskey, the new Irish brand (and new Irish distillery!) continues to make waves and inroads since announcing itself on the world stage. Whisky & Wisdom has written much about this in the past, but rather than repeating the history in this little piece, you can read our previous article here. With the Teeling Distillery opening in Dublin in 2015, there is a true sense of revival, and so what better name than Revival to give the first of the updated Vintage Reserve Collection. (Revival – a 15yo release – will be followed by a 24yo and 33yo release).
The new Teeling 15yo Revival – limited to 10,000 bottles – consists of whiskey distilled in 1999 and matured exclusively in ex-rum casks. Bottled at 46% and non-chillfiltered, it’s a juicy whiskey that provides an interesting mix of both spirit and wood-driven characteristics.
A sample was provided to Whisky & Wisdom by the local distributor, so yours truly sat down recently and spent some time with a dram. Thoughts as follows:
Teeling Revival 15yo
Colour: Pale gold, with a slightly greenish hue?
Nose: Tropical fruit, particularly paw paw. Robinson’s Lemon Barley Water powder. Fruit flan and Danish pastry. Very soft lemon sherbert / lemon citrus.
Palate: Lemony. Lemon meringue pie. Barley porridge. There’s a nuttiness (roasted macadamias?) and toasted spice note under the barley, seemingly the contribution from the rum cask.
Finish: Arnotts Milk Arrowroot biscuits, cereal. Just a touch of bitter oak right at the tail, which becomes increasingly drying.
Comments: A true delight to nose – so sweet and alluring, yet complex and interesting. The palate starts off with bittersweet lemon, but it takes on an increasingly bitter edge with repeated sips. As Irish whiskies go, it’s got more depth and mouthfeel than many of its peers, but the balance was just slightly off centre and the bitterness didn’t quite gel with me. Nevertheless, a reasonably solid dram all around, and it fits in nicely with the rest of the current Teeling range.
The Revival 15yo is available through the usual outlets and has an RRP of $160.
[Update – Teeling has just announced a second bottling of Revival, coined “The Revival Volume II” to mark the one-year anniversary of the distillery and visitor centre opening. The Volume II bottling is a 13yo Irish malt whiskey distilled in 2002 and matured initially for 12 years in ex-bourbon casks before being transferred to ex-Calvados casks for a 12 month finishing.]
PS: You might like our other articles on Teeling Whiskey….
Teeling Single Malt and Silver Reserve 21yo
Teeling Whiskey – Three limited edition gems
