Teeling: Explorers Series: Japanese Edition (Irish Whiskey: 15 Year: 46% ABV)
Visual: Pale yellow grain coloured spirit.
Nose: Jelly babies in alcohol. Raspberry coolers. Grassy. Vanilla. Clean. Light lime. Vanilla toffee. Lightly earthy. Water makes more like alcoholic jelly shooters.
Body: Vanilla. Jelly babies. Sherry trifle. Grassy. Clean alcohol sheen. Apples. Gingerbread. Slight malt chocolate. Water soothes. More apples. Vanilla custard.
Finish: Warming gingerbread. Apple jolly ranchers. Vanilla fudge. Grassy. Lightly peppery/white pepper. Water adds grapes.
Conclusion: Shochu has always been an interesting on for me. Sake/Nihonshu I definitely like, when done well anyway, Shochu, the little I have got to try anyway, has some interesting flavours but is flipping fire-water!
Whiskey, now whiskey I am on more stable territory with that, until we reach this – Shochu aged whiskey! What madness is this?
When I first opening this it felt like it had inherited some of the shochu roughness, fine enough but a bit rough edged. A bit of time and air and it turns out instead I have myself quite the banger of a dram.
It still has gone some alcoholic … energy shall we say, but no longer feels rough. There are still alcoholic jelly baby flavours that feel like the Shochu influence mellowed through the whisky – allowing you to get the weird flavours without that raw alcohol punch.
The whisky below that is now Irish smooth, despite the shochu influence, when it has time to air anyway, but surprisingly grassy and savoury , with even a lightly earthy touch amongst the more familiar vanilla toffee. There is quite a range to the sweeter side though with fudge, vanilla custard and,erm, vanilla notes.
It all makes for an unusual whisky that is easy drinking but still bright and exciting, yet with good grounding to keep it from feeling overpowering. Lots of good touches taken from each element that makes this dram up, and they have stripped out a lot of the negative elements.
Water smooths it even more but seems to lose some sparkle. It is fine, easier to drink, but I prefer the wilder character it has neat.
I’m very impressed, well worth grabbing, just, you know, give it some time in an open bottle to air to get the best from it.
Background: I am, not quite sure what type of whiskey this is? I have seen it listed as Pot still, blended and single malt online and the box doesn’t seem to specify. I am pretty darn sure it is not single malt though as the box mentions corn and malted barley in the mix, a big no no for single malt. Best guess, Post Still whiskey, but have not managed to find confirmation. Anyway Teeling, they have some nice whiskies in their line up and this one is a tad unusual. Spent its first 11 years in bourbon casks, pretty normal, then the last 4 years in Mugi Shochu casks. From the website Mugi is the barley made version of Shochu, useful to know. I’ve tried a few versions of shochu when I was in Japan, they are .. an experience shall we say, and seem to be able to be made with most grains. Heck according to wiki it is “It is typically distilled from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or brown sugar, though it is sometimes produced from other ingredients such as chestnut, sesame seeds, potatoes, or even carrots.“ So, wow more varied than I ever guess, if wiki is not just being flat out wrong again. Music wise went with Espirit d’air’s album Oceans. I would like to claim it is a thematic link as the band is a mixed Japanese British one – but one – this is from Ireland not Britain. Two, I put it on as had just seen them live recently. They have amazing energy live, such a good vibe. Anyway, another one grabbed from Independent Spirit.
