Some years ago my aunt gifted a “Teeling Trinity Pack” to my father for Christmas. Him being rather fixed in what whisky he would drink and when (sherried Speysider with a piece of chocolate for a scheduled movie night) these samples gather dust in cellar until I recently rediscovered them. My gut feeling was that they had been there for a nearly a decade, but that can’t be true: Teeling distillery only opened in 2015 as “the first new distillery in Dublin for over 125 years”. Since Irish whisky too must age for a minimum of three years, that seems to put Christmas 2018 as the earliest date for the gift. Miraculously, searching the bottle code at the back of the mini yield a hit on whiskybase, with the information that “L17 014 205” was bottled in 2017 (my batch being L17 014 206). Now, I was quite happy to leave it at that and believe I’d be tasting 3yo whiskies, but after tasting the drams reviewed below, I just couldn’t wrap my head around how they could have this level of quality at that age. So, doing a bit more research I discovered that the owners of Teeling previously founded Cooley distillery in 1987, and brought some of that stock over to the “Teeling” operation. So, I’m operating under the assumption that I’m drinking Cooley tonight. Beside the character and quality of the whisky as such, I’m curious to see how well the samples have survived years of storage.
Teeling (Cooley) | “Single Grain” | bott. 2017 | 46% | Official
🌐
Irish single grain
🪵
wine cask finish
🔆
unchillfiltered & natural color
💲
€33 (full bottle, recent ed.)
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
Predominantly vanilla and some coconut. Other very mild tropical fruits, grapes, oak and some damp earth.
Sipping
Tastewise its quite sweet, savoury and mouthfilling with a tinge of bitterness. Flavourwise some very generic fruits, oak, and spiciness, and a slight bubblegum note. The finish is almost absent, except for the prickly spiciness.
💭 Comments
Look, if this is 3 year old grain whisky I’m actually really impressed. Except for the spiciness [turns out it’s not], it does not scream grain whisky, and is actually perfectly drinkable, although, there’s nothing exciting.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
🔴🟡⚫
🔴🟡⚫
🔴🟡⚫
Mnieh
Teeling (Cooley) | “Single Malt” | bott. 2017 | 46% | Official
🌐
Scotch single malt
🪵
Sherry, port, madeira, white burgundy, cabernet sauvignon
🔆
unchillfiltered & natural color
💲
€33 (full bottle, recent ed.)
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
Vanilla and fruits: apples and banana, mixed tropical fruits, melting vanilla ice cream, almonds, cinnamon and dried fruits with a subtle hint of sherry.
Sipping
A little water really awakens this dram, and makes it overflow with ripe yellow fruits. Lots of dried berries (gooseberries) in the finish.
💭 Comments
This is really juicy and inviting, if a bit simple. If I’m ever hosting a non-Scotch themed whisky tasting (which usually need to keep within low budget) this would be a good representative for Ireland, and possibly a crowd favourite.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
⚫🟡🟢
⚫🟡⚫
⚫🟡🟢
Sweet Irish vibes
Teeling (Cooley) | “Small Batch” | bott. 2017 | 46% | Official
🌐
Irish whiskey
🪵
rum cask finish
🔆
unchillfiltered & natural color
💲
€30 (full bottle, recent ed.)
🔗
whiskybase (almost)
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
Banana, citrus, leafy/grassy notes, including tea, and bit of saw dust. Knowing to look for it, I find the rum, but it’s not very strong.
Sipping
Green/grassy and fruity, with some spiciness, and lots of cereal, some oak. Tastewise feels substantial.
💭 Comments
Quite nice, but well short of the single malt. Needs more of a cohesive direction, perhaps.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
⚫🟡⚫
⚫🟡⚫
⚫🟡⚫
Unmemorable.
Finally here’s a picture of the back of the box with the official tasting notes:
Encouraging news for my ever-expanding set of whisky samples, it seems they can in principle keep for years without an obvious deterioration (the dreaded cardboard effect). Furthermore I’m discovering more and more what a soft spot I have for Irish whiskey. (at least the single malt). A challenging prospect for a Scotch-lover, but I should just embrace it. I reckon it won’t be long now before I actually buy my first bottle of Irish whisky.
DuckDrams 
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