Irish

Teeling Whiskey Very Rare Cask 33 Year Pineau des Charentes Finish

$3,699

OVERALL
RATING

10

Whiskey Review: Teeling Whiskey Very Rare Cask 33 Year Pineau des Charentes Finish

Tasting Notes:

About:
It matured in ex-rum casks for 30 years, finished in a Pineau des Charentes cask for an additional three years, was bottled at 49.7% ABV, priced at $3,699, and released in 316 bottles.
Appearance:
This shows nicely in glass at 33 years old, with a rich golden-orange color and remarkably thick legs streaming down the inside as I swirl.
Nose:
WTF am I smelling? This isn’t a negative; I’m just mesmerized by its uniqueness, with notes of fresh pineapple, baked bread, tropical hard candies bunched together, vanilla bean, brown sugar, and multiple tropical floral bouquets.
Palate:
Uh, huh. This is like visiting, taste-bud-wise, someplace in the Caribbean with French influences in the food. Deep tropical sweetness, fresh French pastries, bright florals, warm spices, and pineapple candy intermingle with the slightest hints of banana and baked apple. How is this possible?
Finish:
This goes down uniquely, bringing me to the desire to enjoy a Cognac on a warm beach somewhere tropical. I know it is an unusual way to describe a finish, but what I’m getting at visually is that this is like perfection fading into my throat in the warmest and buttery of ways, making me want more. Alas, my review sample is understandably tiny, given the price tag of this whiskey.
Comments:
This is neither a whiskey priced for many mortal people nor one whose flavor profile most have experienced before. Easily a showstopper for anyone’s collection, pony up the dollars if you have them – you won’t regret it.

Editor’s Note: The party behind this whiskey gave us a review sample. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review. It should also be noted that clicking the buy link in this review earns our site a small referral payment, which helps to support, but not influence, our editorial and other costs.

Teeling Irish Whiskey, established in Dublin, Ireland, in 2015, represented, at the time, one of the first of a new wave of Irish whiskey brands to emerge from a country with a once dominant whiskey scene. Initially working exclusively off aged stock that previously was maturing in the Cooley Distillery, today, Teeling produces a good amount of its own whiskey. However, there’s still some of the old stuff left around, and now and again, it appears in rarer bottlings.

What I’m reviewing here today, the Teeling Whiskey Very Rare Cask 33-Year Pineau des Charentes Finish, likely falls into that stock. The Very Rare Cask Collection is a portion of the Teeling portfolio noted as coming from “hand selected casks, specifically chosen by our master distiller for their distinctive characteristics and rarity” that herald from “some of the finest and rarest Irish Single Malts available today from the very oldest inventory of Single Malt in the Teeling Whiskey warehouses.”

This whiskey was distilled in 1989, matured in ex-rum casks for 30 years, and finished in a Pineau des Charentes cask for three more years. Pineau des Charentes, for those that don’t know, is a regional aperitif of western France consisting of a fortified wine (mistelle or vin de liqueur) that’s made from either fresh, unfermented grape juice or a blend of lightly fermented grape must to which a Cognac eau-de-vie is added and then matured.

Teeling Whiskey Very Rare Cask 33-Year Pineau des Charentes Finish, priced at $3,699, is bottled at 49.7% ABV. Only 316 bottles of it were released last year.

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti

Nino Kilgore-Marchetti is the founder of The Whiskey Wash, an award-winning whiskey lifestyle website dedicated to informing and entertaining consumers about whisk(e)y globally. As a whisk(e)y journalist, expert, and judge, he has written extensively about the subject, been interviewed in various media outlets, and provided tasting input on many whiskeys at competitions.

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