Teeling 24 Year Old Vintage Reserve

This 24 years old Teeling is part of the oldest stocks that the Teeling brothers were able to ‘liberate’ from the old Cooley stocks. The whisky first matured in former bourbon casks and then got a finish on Sauternes casks. Sauternes is of course the sweet dessert wine from France.

It is quite a fruit bomb on the nose, with apples, pears and some tropical notes. Banana flambéed! Nectarine, red berries… there is also a soft smoky note in there! And guimauve! Hurray – I love guimauve and I do not come across it often in whiskey. A beautiful nose that in all honesty reminds me a bit of Littlemill.

Stop the press! It is tropically sweet on the palate, but with benefits! Some smoke, earth, putty and heathery honey. Peat? Yes, I do believe so. I reckon a cask of Connemara went into the mix here. Delicious. A veritable kaleidoscope of taste.

The finish is long, truly long. The peat smoke clears slowly to make room for the sweet, dried, but still quite exotic fruit.

Boy, simply grand, yes. But not cheap in the least with a price tag of around 400 EUR. But what a whiskey…