Teeling Blackpitts

I guess it was only a matter of time before the Irish Teeling distillery also released a peaty whiskey. I confess, I wasn't waiting on it. On the other hand I was a bit curious. This whiskey does have the dubious honor of me writing the tasting notes only after the 5th tasting session! That actually says a lot, doesn't it? Thanks to the triple distillation this is a lot more fruity than you would expect. Technical details: the peat comes from the Scottish Lowlands and the whiskey is finished on the Sauternes wine casks! Let's get to it.

Poached pears, grilled pineapple, Jelly Bean candy, cigar tobacco and the qshes of yesterday's barbecue. That is the nose of this at first rather strange Irish whiskey. I can't help but make the – probably completely unwarranted – comparison with Connemara. But at last I am able to appreciate it.

The body is rather light. Again those pears come up joined by apples and pineapple , followed by something medicinal that I find hard to appreciate, a bitterness as if from a grape pith and smoke that keeps getting bigger. Quite a bit of sugar. Just plain sugar. Not easy, but interesting.

The medium long finish some woodsmoke and a final salute of white fruit.

The first 2 times I tried this, I was not convinced. Completely not. The 3rd and 4th time I thought it was okay-ish, but the fifth time ... that's when it hit me. This is quite beautiful in its genre. Kudos to Alex Chasko. But fair is fair, I wouldn't need a whole bottle of this. It would take me too long to finish it.