| |
Home
Thousands of tastings,
all the music,
all the rambligs
and all the fun
(hopefully!)
Whiskyfun.com
Guaranteed ad-free
copyright 2002-2021
|
 |
|
| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
| |
|
| |
| |
June 18, 2021 |
|
  |
Seven Teaninich on the table |
Because Teaninich is pretty close to Clynelish… architecturally. |
|
Teaninich 9 yo (46%, James Eadie, Small Batch, 1084 bottles, 2020) 
From three casks, barrels and hoggies. We do know that James Eadie are extremely good at bottling young malts that would be 'ready'. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: they did it again. Immaculate, totally barley-driven, gristy and doughy malt, with good structure and just the right amounts of sweet yeastiness and ripe apples. A perfect beer, just a wee bit stronger. Mouth: excellent. Touches of coffee (dregs), earth, fresh baguette, then bread indeed, vanilla fudge, ale, beeswax… A very warming dram that, having said that, you could quaff like Champagne. So, careful… Finish: pretty long and extremely barley-y. That's the whole point, is it not. These coffee-ish notes in the aftertaste, café latte, cappuccino… Comments: perhaps a tad Starbucksian, but in the words of Pete Rodriguez, I like it like that.
SGP:551 - 86 points. |
James Eadie had another proposition last year… |
|
Teaninich 12 yo 2008/2020 (51.5%, James Eadie, 1st fill oloroso hogshead finish, cask # 354556, 246 bottles) 
So, the opposite I suppose… Colour: coffee. Nose: not that extravagant, rather well-mannered, rather on coffee and pipe tobacco, then rather on herbs such as parsley and coriander. A little rosemary too, mole sauce, hoisin… With water: sawn oak and walnut stain, I would say. Not sure it needs water. Mouth (neat): some dry Jägermeister and a large bag of cocoa and coffee. Walnuts as well, of course, and touches of pencil shavings. I suppose the finishing time has been relatively short. With water: very fine but I believe we're touching the limits of this set-up. Some bonbons, oily herbs, liquorice cordial, Ricola (do you know of Ricola?) … I have the feeling that we've left Whiskydom. Finish: rather long, on coffee and herbs, which is not, mind you, as emetic as you would think. Comments: I'm a little lost here. What to think of this? Some kind of readymade coffee-schnapps? And who would recognise Teaninich? The Distillery Manager?
SGP:461 - 80 points. |
|
Teaninich 1999/2019 (49.7%, Dutch Connection, Michiel Wigman, They Inspired, 238 bottles)
With his bottlings our friend Michiel is paying tribute to people who really counted, Gandhi, Mandela, Churchill, Kennedy, Jim McEwan… Colour: white wine. Nose: light, clean, almost diaphanous malt whisky, on crushed bananas, bread, pastries, oatcakes, porridge… I'm not sure you could come any closer to 'the barley'. With water: wonderful earth, flour, concrete dust, paper... Mouth (neat): a wee dusty/cardboardy feeling at first, then rather a lot of coffee and kirschwasser. Raw in the good sense. With water: sour juices, weissbeer, cherry juice… Finish: medium, pretty yeasty and sour/sweet. Comments: this one's very close to nature. Excuse me, to Nature.
SGP:351 - 85 points. |
|
Teaninich 12 yo 2008/2021 (48.5%, WhiskySponge, refill hogshead, 257 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: even more natural and raw than Michiel's, this is almost ink mixed with chalk and M&S's pancake mix. Do M&S make any pancake mix? Then paraffin, plasticine, limestone, lambswool and fresh-broken branches. Perhaps a little intellectual? Do sponges have brains? Mouth: understood. The cask having its say now, with café latte and roasted hazelnuts, sesame oil, touches of triple-sec, curaçao, then more herbal and spicy touches, thyme perhaps, juniper… Finish: rather long, rather herbal and rather bitter. Comments: very intellectual but I kind of like it. Same feeling as when you would read War and Peace in German, only much faster. So all in all, this wee whisky saves you time!
SGP:351 - 85 points. |
|
Teaninich 11 yo 2008/2020 (60.4%, The Single Malts of Scotland, Elixir Distillers, hogshead, cask #715790, 313 bottles) 
I've called my lawyer, we may proceed… Colour: white wine. Nose: no really, bread, ink… Are we supposed to destroy our olfactory bulb and brain to try to detect any clear aromas or even molecules here? Wood alcohol, grasses… With water: no. Whisky for masochists, which we are not. Mouth (neat): raw, ethanoly, harsh, unethical, dictatorial, unsexy, grassy, almost fascist whisky. No really, try this one, we'll talk later. With water: a little better, fruitier, but frankly, we would indeed only drink this if we would have run out of Absolut, Jägermeister, Tanqueray and Havana Club. Finish: medium, grassy, sour, unnecessary. Comments: good fun, but these are the limits of malt whisky. You could intellectualise anything but at the end of the day, would you have another glass? The answer is a clear and resounding 'no' here. For once, but London, everything alright?
SGP:451 - 70 points. |
|
Teaninich 13 yo 2007/2020 (55.8%, Adelphi for Hotmalt Taiwan, cask #301265, 522 bottles) 
Looks like this is coffee liqueur… BTW we don't hear much of our dear friends at Adelphi's these days, hope they're doing fine! Now they must be very busy with their own distillery… Colour: reddish coffee. Nose: wood oils, teak, balsam, gianduja, café latte, Bulldog sauce, fresh-sawn MDM or plywood, prunes… With water: rather similar, only with more meaty and herbal touches. Chicken broth, bouillons, miso and stuff… Mouth (neat): very thick, extremely extractive (nice, S.!) and really pretty harsh. These high-extraction whiskies can be fun, but this time we're in doom-metal-black-hard-rock territory. Even Ozzy would be afraid; no, of course not Keef. With water: meat and chocolate. A new business idea, some chocolate flavoured with beef, chicken, veal, pork, shrimp, foie gras… What would you say? Good, let's do it 50/50… Finish: very long, bitterer, brutal, green, salty… Comments: funny and even motivating, but extreme; would we take another glass? Is it really moreish? NO.
SGP:672 - 79 points. |
A much older Teaninich and we're done. Boy, Teaninich! |
|
Teaninich 27 yo 1958/1985 (46%, Cadenhead, dumpy)
This one from when Cadenhead were still in Aberdeen. Was the 'old lady' still at the helm? By the way, while we're at t it, many entities are claiming that they've pioneered the whole 46% vol. idea. Yeah right. It is also to be noted that this was distilled before Teaninich doubled its capacity of production, in 1962. Maybe also that Teaninich is an extremely modern Distillery, but that wasn't the case back in 1958. Colour: straw. Nose: that's the thing, all these 'black dumpies' by Cadenhead do share some common traits and after 30 or 35 or 40 years in glass, it's hard to say whether some aromas or flavours were there when the casks were disgorged, or If it was all generated during bottle aging. In this very case, we've got big notes of metal polish, old copper coins, old toolbox or even 'old motorcycle'. But is this Teaninich or is it Cadenhead? Mouth: old broths, oils, ointments.. Some inks, herbs, bouillons, some saltiness, some meat, marrow, cold cuts, leek soup… No easy malt whisky for sure, and no fruits to be seen. There's even something oxidative, dry sherry style. Finish: rather long, rather on salt, paraffin, marrow, putty, walnuts, oloroso and bitter oranges. Is this a little unlikely? You bet! Comments: this was bottled 35 years ago. It's beginning to nosedive, I'm sure. Secure your investments, friends; bottles of whisky, whether the level is okay or not, are not eternal!
SGP:263 - 85 points. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
