Teeling's Hybrid Theory

Earlier this year, all eyes were Ireland bound for the biggest news surrounding Irish whiskey in decades.  The Cooley Whiskey Company had reached an incredible $95 Million agreement to sell the company to American whiskey giants, Beam Global, owners of Jim Beam, alongside Islay powerhouse, Laphroaig.  With such a war chest to play with, one wondered what the Teelings, Jack and John - former owners of Cooley, would do next... retire to the Bahamas? Yachts?? Party???

Well, they decided to do what they clearly know best and start a brand new whiskey company.  

In April they announced the birth of The Teeling Whiskey Company, initially deciding to focus on some stocks of aged whiskeys they had acquired.  However, their most recent release, Hybrid, has now firmly put the new company on the map, with the same spirit of independence the Teelings approached Cooley with.    

Hybrid claims to create a brand new category of whisk(e)y - effectively bringing together Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky in the same bottle.  Whilst it's not the first time this novel idea has being employed by the Teelings - Cooleys & similarly progressive distillers Bruichladdich partnered up to previously release Celtic Nations (a blend of single malts from Bruichladdich and Cooley, whose use of the phrase 'Celtic Malt' got the SWA totally rattled, subsequently banishing it to the naughty cupboard)  Hybrid is the first release for the Teeling Whiskey Company and is comprised of a marriage of ten year old Cooley with Bruichladdich single malt, which have been aged together for a further eight years. 

1,400 bottles of Hybrid No.1 Edition will be released this month, retailing for £30.  

Now type the word 'Hybrid' into google and you're immediately presented with a load of pretty boring looking cars (save for the wonderfully curvy Porsche 918 Hybrid)  So is this idea of a hybrid whisk(e)y a legitimate one, or is there a reason why this hasn't been explored successfully before?  

Let's find out what all the fuss is about... and more's the point, let's hope this Hybrid is more like the Porsche, rather than the Toyota Prius...

Teeling Whiskey Company -  Hybrid - No.1 Edition - 44.7%  

Nose: Initial soft fruit notes, some dusty books, white pepper, buttered brown toast and a slight waft of old lobster pots/sea air/iodine. With a little time, some vegetive notes develop (mashed potato and green beans.)  Direct and very appealing. 

Palate: Very thick and rich on the palate, tongue coating and silky.  The peat smoke combines with a sweetness to great effect -  think a smoky version of golden syrup and you're somewhere nearby.  Further notes of green apple skin and liquorice can be found with the addition of  water, which really opens the Hybrid up. It is moreish, easy to drink and quite frankly, an ideal session whisk(e)y, based on its easy-going palate.

Finish: Fresh, with smoky overtones and a hint of drying oak.

Overall:  Well... that works.  Congratulations to the Teelings -  despite the fact that this is such a simple idea, combining two distinctly different styles of whisk(e)y together and re-maturing them again is a cracker. £30 a pop makes this pretty much a no-brainer if you're getting a few friends round for a bit of a session too.    

 Hybrid...high marks indeed.  

Behind The Green Door

What a week... Only a few days ago, we released our second whisky and we're pleased to say that it is selling like the proverbial hot cakes... Only a few are available now, so if you fancy one, get skippin' along to Master Of Malt and grab one whilst they're still warm!

Also, I decided that Caskstrength Towers needed a bit of a facelift, given that several of the neighbouring residences all had their fastidious owners out painting, re-landscaping and making their home-from-homes more attractive.

Where to start?  Well, one of the windows at the back looked a bit jaded, so I stripped it all back and began to repaint it in a rather lovely green smoke shade. Then I noticed the front windowsills looked a little tired, so I bought new masonry paint ('sandstone'), which adheres to the regulations governing the house (CS Towers is actually a listed building!!)

Then I realised it looked ridiculous.  The shade of sandstone made by Farrow & Ball is clearly different to the one the place is already painted in.


So, with a grimace,  I began to paint the WHOLE DAMN HOUSE.

Housework on this scale is a little like becoming obsessed with high-end HiFi.  Once you start meddling, you start to change everything. Then once you've changed everything, you start all over again with the thing you first changed. Why did I have to start meddling...

So after two days, the facade of the house, the windows, the front garden and even the original victorian boot scraper have been tarted up.  Everything -  except the front door.

The existing door (in 'winter emerald green'- although it looks black in the picture above) looks nice enough -  but now it doesn't match the cocking windows.   Now i'm not sure if any of you have successfully painted a front door, but it seems bloody hard. Last time I did this, the pristine smooth finish bubbled and looked like the surface of the moon.  Epic fail.  So tomorrow, I will set out again to get it right, using overpriced Farrow & Ball oil paint, that will no doubt get everywhere, except smoothly across the panels on the door.

But beforehand, rather than thinking nightmarish thoughts about emerald paint, i'm going to enjoy some drams from the emerald isle... (see what I've done there...)

Recently, Joel and I were asked to chair the panel for the Irish Whiskey Masters, an industry awards run by Spirits Business magazine, which once again highlighted what we're all thinking: that Irish whiskey has never had it so good.

Sales across the board are hitting exceptional heights and with the news that both William Grant and Pernod Ricard are investing heavily in the category, the future looks glowing for the Emerald Isle.

So what of the current lot?  Well, you can take a look at the full list of award winners here in the Spirits Business.  In addition to these, last week we were sent a bevy of bottlings from a more obscure Irish whiskey brand.

The Wild Geese is not a name we're used to seeing in the pantheon of great Irish whiskeys.  In fact, taking away the historical puff that fills their website, there is very little to suggest who is actually behind the brand, where it is made and what the strategy is with the brand - (we've since discovered that it is produced by Cooley)  But the recent string of awards they've received gives a clear indication of what to expect.  The collection encompasses a standard blend, a single malt, a limited edition (which I think is a blend but the information available is unclear) and 'rare' (whatever that means)...and pretty decent they are too...

The Wild Geese -  'Untamed' - Classic Blend - Irish Whiskey - 40% 

Nose: Classic Irish whiskey fresh fruit and vanilla immediately burst through, alongside a little spiritiness, some pencil shavings and a light acacia honey.  Very delicate and top heavy. 

Palate: Very sweet and spirity with pear drops, sugar syrup, a little liquorice and a touch of citrus and green tea, sweetened with honey.  

Finish: Short, with a touch of green apple and a subtle maltiness as the palate dries.

Overall:  Lightweight and without a huge amount of character, this blend is inoffensive and certainly will appeal to those drinkers who have yet to really explore the Irish whiskey category. However for those who are already tuned in to the spirit, this blend (as pleasant as it is) is probably a little too light weight in the complexity dept to get your palate dancing a jig. 

Next up Wild Geese single malt:

The Wild Geese - Single Malt - NAS - 43%

Nose: Oily and rich, with liquorice, a touch of clove, unripe banana, fizzy lemon sherbet sweets and fresh nectarine notes.   

Palate: Not what I expected at all.  Slightly biscuity, with a touch of turned earth, a little leatheriness, icing sugar and a touch of medicinal lozenges. 

Finish: Some of the fruity notes (banana and nectarine) begin to make a return to the palate as it dries, with a lingering note of something fresh and green - unripe green apple. 

Overall:  With a nice oily backdrop in the fragrance dept, this will surprise with its more buttery, malty palate.  A very solid Irish single malt -  perhaps lacking the outer edges to make it a real stand out but decent nonetheless. 

The Wild Geese - Limited Edition Forth Centennial - 43% 

Nose: Immediate notes of tropical fruit, golden syrup, vanilla, demerera sugar and fresh cream. very nice indeed. Dig deeper and meringue notes begin to develop, drizzled in fresh raspberries and marzipan.  

Palate: The marzipan continues onto the palate, with a touch of lemon zest, a little nuttiness, some milk chocolate and more red berry fruit.   Given a dash of water, some warming spice (liquorice and clove) develop, alongside a creaminess.  

Finish: All too fleeting unfortunately, with remnants of the cream and fruit dashing from the palate swiftly, leaving a lingering note of vanilla.

Overall:  A very approachable whiskey, with a fine balance of fruitiness and sweetness. 

Finally -  Wild Geese Rare.  As we've mentioned on here before, a bugbear of ours is when companies use unquantifiable terms like 'small batch' and 'rare'.  If this is rare -  tell us why it's rare!! grrr. 

The Wild Geese - Rare - 43%

Nose: Stewed apple, some cinnamon spice, candle wax, a little fresh gooseberry and a more floral note than the others - powder puffs and lavender draw liners perhaps? Quite why I know such aromas is another matter, not for discussion on here... ;-) 

Palate: Creamy, with a toffee note, followed up by vanilla notes, some light citrus zest (lemons) and a little crumbled digestive biscuit.  A dash of water reveals a more spicy side with some liquorice notes developing nicely. 

Finish:  A little thin, but with lingering notes of chocolate malt, lemon zest and green apple.

Overall: Well, I'm still not sure quite why this is deemed to be 'rare' but it is certainly an enjoyable and easy drinking Irish whiskey.  It probably hasn't got the dancing legs of the Forth Centennial release, but is well worth seeking out in its own right. 

Beggan' For More

Looking through our posts these last few months and it appears that we've covered more Irish whiskies than any other style. There are 2 main factors to this:

Firstly, there seems to be an abundance of quality Irish whiskies out there, which we feel are helping revitalise the category. Statistically, Irish Whiskey is the fastest growing dark spirit in the world.

Secondly- we absolutely love it. Our recent outing from Dublin confirmed there are some real crackers out there, including the Connemara Single Cask bottlings and current Red Breast 15yo.

The sublime Kilbeggan 15yo.

Today we bring you news of a new addition to the Kilbeggan family. One of the very first whiskies to really blow our emerald socks off was the 15 year old, tried many moons ago, before the blog was barely a twinkle in our eyes. It's been a house staple for a while and when news broke last year that there was going to be an 18 year old- we were filled with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Will they phase out the superb 15yo in favour of the new older sibling, like Laphroaig did a couple of years back? More's the point, how has the blend developed, with whiskey aged for 3 extra years now available to master blender Noel Sweeney? We recently reviewed the Greenore 18yo single grain, which we presume is at the heart of this and it came off very favourably indeed, so our hope altimeter is set to 'extra high'.

The new release is at present a small batch release of 4,000 and, according to Cooley's press release 'destined to become a collector's item'. Hmmm. Nice idea, but for us, Irish whiskey above all others is for drinking rather than collecting! So without further ado, let's crack into the fabulously shaped square bottle and pour a large one.

Kilbeggan - 18yo Blended Irish Whiskey - 4000 bottles - 40%

Nose: How much bourbon vanilla is in here!! I swear, given a prevailing headwind, you'd easily mistake this for a small batch bottling of Kentucky's finest on the first nosing. Delving further in, some white pepper notes develop, followed by a hint of earthy, mossy leaves, some strawberries topped in sweet Carnation Milk and a very clean cereal note. So far, so good. It is different to the 15yo, in that some of the creamier notes have taken a back seat, but this all works very nicely indeed.

Palate: Rich, oily and thick on the mouthfeel, velvety soft in fact. The bourbon vanilla has now transferred itself to the palate and wave upon wave hits you, followed by the sweet creamy cereal and a touch of drying oak. The grain gives this a slightly spirity back palate, but it's a minor gripe really, as the initial mouthfeel is so pleasing.

Dolores, dressed as a furry Cranberry.

Finish: And, like The Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan sang so poetically- 'did you have to let it linger?' Well... yes they did actually, for rather a long time, it seems. I suspect the grain balance here is considerably higher than the malt whiskies, as the finish is light and fruity- classic aged grain in fact, but very nice nonetheless...

Overall: A thoroughly enjoyable dram with a nose and initial mouthfeel, which are highly commendable. Would it take over from the 15yo in Caskstrength Towers? Probably not, but this takes Irish whiskey blending on a step further. Good work chaps.