Dublin On The Rise - Teeling Single Grain

Feeling Single Grain

I have been working the Teeling magic for sometime so it is about time I actually documented it officially. At our previous club(s) tasting I showed up the virtues of the Teeling Small Batch with its delicious rum cask finishing. Here I present the Teeling Single Grain. Quite simply liquid raspberry ice-cream. What a profile!

To begin though a wee bit about Teeling itself. Teeling is an old name in the Irish whiskey community with ties to whiskey production dating back to the 1780’s. Until recently all Teeling whiskey was being produced under the Cooley distilleries celling. Now, with the new Teeling distillery constructed and it’s doors about to open to the public, Dublin sees its first new distilled active in 125 years. Teeling's goal is “to revive the independent spirit of Dublin” through small batch releases of interesting and flavoursome bottlings.

This whisky, the Single Grain, has been an award winner since it saw release nabbing the title of World’s Best Grain at the World Whiskies Awards, 2014. With full maturation in Californian red wine barrels, the whiskey takes on a lush red berry nature. I have presented the Single Grain now in several public whisky tastings and can confirm it is a true crowd pleaser every single time.

As the name suggest it is single grain being primarily made of corn. There is a small amount of malted barely that goes into the mash in order to create a natural catalyst to start the sugar break down process. Under EU law a single grain can have up to 10% malted barley if required. You may start to associate corn with bourbon but let me tell you there is no resemblance except they are both whiskies. Corn is in fact one of the most widely used grains in the world for distillation and not just relegated to the bourbon industry as urban myth tells.

Teeling Single Grain
Distiller: Teeling Whiskey Company
Alcohol/ABV: 46%
Type: Single Grain
Region: Dublin, Ireland
Barrels: Californian Cabernet Sauvignon
Bottled: 10/2014

Nose: Light coffee, raspberries, creamy vanillas & spice mingling to make fresh liqueur white chocolate.

Taste: Soft rounded mouth feel that gets spicy with exciting mixed berry and vanilla ice cream.

Finish: High cardboard dryness with a medium heat that causes palate chew with lingering sweetness.

Overall this is an amazing whiskey and oh so well priced at $64.00AU a bottle. Considering it is coming in at 46% ABV, displaying excellent packaging, and outstanding spirit quality, makes it a sure winner. If I was to give a dram an easy 6 out of 7. It may have taken some time since the end of Prohibition in the US which caused the decay of the Irish whiskey market but, I think we can surely say Irish is on the rise again with crackers like this.

At this time Teeling it is only available by the bottle through Dan Murphy’s but will now also be seen over bar tops too. Keep an eye out for the Teeling Small Batch (review to come), Single Malt, and 21 Year Old.

The Baron.

Whisky Round Up - Whisky Show Sydney 2015

The Whisky Show Sydney 2015 has now passed and some of us D.T.W.C. members made an appearance once more.

We have been attending The Whisky Show for many years now and have seen some significant changes as the format builds. For a whisky event it is well priced and the first of the major showcases to be appearing on Sydney's whisky calendar each year.

Held at the Stamford Plaza, Sydney Airport, Mascot, this show saw 3 main event times running from: Friday 4pm to 8pm; Saturday 12pm to 4pm; Saturday 5pm to 9pm. Friday evening was certainly the time to go with approx 250 attendees, while Saturday saw max capacity crowds of 500 attendees at both sessions.

In the time I spent at the show I found the selections of whiskies underwhelming, but when I have tasted as many whiskies as I have through the years this can be expected. There was some crackers to be had and some new releases raising their heads including tasting of the limited re-release Laphroaig 15yo. This is not the 15yo you may remember. It had a very high dryness and flatness to the palate.

For the Brown-Forman appreciators the new Woodford Reserve Double Oaked was a big winner as was the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir Finish (hows that for a title), followed by a very popular Jack Daniels Sinatra Select.

Pernod Ricard unveiled the plans of scrapping the classic Glenlivet 12yo from our Aussie shelves and replacing with the less than impressive Founder’s Reserve which left a heavy heart for myself. Find out more about my thoughts on this here: RIP to a classic. My sorrows were cradled by tasting the Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso packing a punch at 60.7% ABV with a fabulous array of cinnamon, dark chocolate, honey and apricots.

I was mightily impressed with the Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon at 55% ABV from Wild Turkey. I will be looking forward to seeing this on our shelves later this year.

For the first time Gentleman’s Cabinet set up shop with a range of Cuban cigars that quite literally flew off the table. I was enviously watching as punters wandered the crowd nosing a cigar while sipping a whisky. No question I will be doing that next year!

Also on display was the new Denver & Liely Whisky Glass. I had been hearing a lot of talk over the last few months on its release and know a few people who have invested the dollars in buying one or tow glasses. Designed to allow multiple nosing levels of appreciation by matching the size of a tumbler to the nose of a sniffer. The concept is certainly interesting to contemplate. On picking up a glass though the weight alone made me shift uncomfortably as it felt awkward and unbalanced but this I am sure is due to being unfamiliar with it. As it was during the break I had a full 30ml of Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso so I transferred my sample into the D&L glass for an experiment . The nose was clearly enhanced even though the suggestion had already been planted. Wrong environment to really be testing the idea  with so many other whiskies around so I will shelf opinions until I can borrow one at some stage. At $50 for a glass it is too pricy to discover I don't like it. Looks fantastic though, especially on a black table cloth and very impressive from a distance. Well done to the Aussie lads for taking on the world with this one.

Lastly we sampled the Starward Shiraz Wine Cask which was delicious and confusing at the same time. Big flavours typical of a heavy sherry cask whisky exploded in the mouth while the stewed bananas, typical of starward single malt, settled in the background. Considering the standard Starward Single Malt is actually the true sherry cask leaves you wondering how long before wine cask truly overtakes sherry in the global market. Go Australia!

Moët Hennessy had a Ardbeg vaporiser on hand to effectively allow you to inhale Ardbeg 10yo. What is not to love about that?

Our biggest gripe is the location. It just takes too long and it is too far to make your way out to Mascot. Trains through to the airport are expensive each way and busses easily can take over an hour too and from the city with no direct routes outside the city centre.

Access to food in the area is limited to just the inflated prices in the hotels restaurant or a 10min walk to the McDonalds. The Whisky Show have solved some of the food problems in the past with a food bag which guarantees everyone gets their share. Well done on this part.

I would allspice to point out the much more amped up security and restrictions on drunken behaviour this year by the staff at The Whisky Show. Really obviously and tight. I only experienced one or 2 rather intoxicated individuals while serving at the event and as a punter. Well done on this part no doubt.

Overall a great event was had and a fair few whiskies were on show. Things were let down though by what felt like a poor vendor turn out as their presence was clearly down. On the positive side the vendors that were there were swamped beyond belief. I should know as I was helping serve on the  Brown-Forman table during both Saturday sessions.

The Baron

RIP to a classic – The Glenlivet 12yo on the way out fast

Move over The Glenlivet 12 Year Old. In time your memory will fade.

For those not aware the classic Glenlivet 12yo has been confirmed to be leaving Australian shores and being replaced with a less than interesting Founder’s Reserve expression. Though we knew some markets would be losing it, I personally did not think Australia would be one of them. Hell we are a small country, could we impact that greatly on stocks? Well it seems this is not an aged stock issue at all. I had heard rumour of Australia taking the hit but, hearing it from the Pernod Ricard reps confirms without doubt.

In my tasting experience, at the recent Whisky Show Sydney, I found the Founder's Reserve to be a poor substitute for such a classic whisky. Pernod Ricard sight that an educated market does not need to have age statement whiskies anymore but, can appreciate a whisky without knowing how old it is!! No wait should that not be the other way around?

Let as not mistake the fact I like many NAS (No Age Statement) whiskies and in fact there is probably more I can appreciate than not. This issue though is not about low stocks nor about a replacement with a better product. The point is it is an iconic whisky of exceptional quality at a great price point now being replaced with a more expensive, lower grade product in taste and texture.

I can see this as a bit of a reaction by Pernod Ricard wanting to maintain market shares as they lose ground in an expanding global market. Reports have continued to circulate that there is not an aged stock issue driving this move. An interesting article written by Oliver Kilmek over at Dramming.com, written back in Feb 2015 when the news first hit, covered off many of these issues. I suggest you have a read.

I can imagine that these big players will in fact return to age statement whiskies soon enough once our markets are flooded with NAS whiskies by the micro distillers popping up. Unfortunately the damage may have already been done. Remember what has happened to the general feeling now on The Macallan 1824 Series core NAS range in Australia. Big price, flat profile.

It it a real pity to be seeing this happen so if you a keen Glenlivet 12yo enthusiast, start buying a few cases now. Yes a few cases and pop them in the cellar. Though it will still be available in some markets you can imagine the price increase locally will increase significantly once the removal occurs in much the same way as when the JW Green label also left our shores.

How long before we see the 15yo and 18yo also disappear? The Glenlivet are going to have to start working pretty hard to win me over on this issue. In the meantime I have started stocking up.

The Baron

This is a non-sponsord announcement. For any further details please defer to the Glenlivet website. We have not been supplied any official press information on the release of the Founder's Reserve. All views and opinions are our own unless otherwise stated. 

For Charity – Glenfiddich Original Masterclass

Official image taken from the Glenfiddich website.

Have you tasted the new release of Glenfiddich The Original? William Grant & Son's Australia are putting on a  series of masterclasses here in Sydney to get you to grips with this throwback release. To be held over a series of days, all proceeds from the classes go to the Soldier On Charity. Following is the official extract on the promotion:

To celebrate the launch of Glenfiddich The Original we are hosting a series of masterclasses. Sampling the Glenfiddich range from the 12 year old to the 21 year old, including of course a tasting of The Original. This will be one of the first opportunities to taste this unique limited edition whisky. All proceeds will be going to www.soldieron.org.au a charity caring for physically and psychologically wounded members of our defence force.

If you have been following our tastings with William Grant & Son's over the few years you will note their level of hospitality and generosity in public engagement is next to none.

Cost is $25 and the location is the Lord Dudley Hotel, 236 Jersey Road , Woollahra, NSW 2025 Australia. Dates are from 4th June until 7th June. Complete times can be found on the event bookings page here.

We will be there. Will you?

The Baron

This is a non-sponsord announcement. For any further details please defer to the Glenfiddich facebook page.

Register Now - Ardbeg Day 2015 Sydney

Official image from Ardbegwhisky.com.au website

Ardbeg Day is upon us and registrations have now been released to public. Over the last couple of months we have been keeping you up to date on various piece son info that is slowly being released about Ardbeg Day 2015. In the official words on Ardbeg Day 2015 form the rego site:

This year celebrates 200 years of Ardbeg. TIMES CHANGE. ARDBEG REMAINS. We would love you to join us at our major event in Sydney or at one of our seven Ardbeg Embassies, to raise a glass to the next 200 years!

If your in Sydney Australia on the 30th May be sure to register here at the Ardbeg site. If your in one of the other capital cities you can find out more about what the Ardbeg Embassies are doing also at the registration page. But for a short overview below is the official listing at this moment:

• Melbourne – Whisky and Alement, 270 Russell Street Melbourne. 3pm-late
• Melbourne – The Killburn, 348 Burwood Road Hawthorn. 6pm-late
• Melbourne – 1806, 169 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. 7pm-10pm
• Sydney – World of Whisky, g12/2 Knox Street, Double Bay. 12pm-4pm
• Sydney – Stitch Bar , 61 York Street, Sydney. 4pm - late
• Brisbane – The Gresham, 308 Queen Street, Brisbane. 3pm-late
• Perth – Helvetica, 101 St Georges Tce, Perth. 3pm - late

We have seen consecutive years of fun and frolics at Ardbeg Day with anyone who is anyone loving whisky setting aside this day each year regardless of commitments. At these events you will discover the event release bottling on tasting, just about all the standard release Ardbeg's on tasting, specially created Ardbeg Cocktails, great food (there always seems to be a roasted pig on a spit), fun games, and each and everyone person attending a genuine lover of Ardbeg.

If you want to discover what goes on at an Ardbeg Day read up on our previous posts: A Day Gone & A Day To Come - Ardbeg Day 2014; What A Day - Ardbog Day Sydney 2013.

Your best bet to stay informed about when the registrations will be next year, then be sure to sign up as a Ardbeg Committee Member. It is free and the reward is truly worth it.

Hope to see you there!

The Baron

This is a non-sponsord announcement. For any further details please defer to the Ardbegwhisky.com.au website.