Tasting: Teeling The Revival 15 yo Rum Cask Irish Single Malt Whiskey

Dram data:
Distillery: Cooley (undisclosed)
Bottler: Teeling
Distilled: 1999
Bottled: 2015
Age: 15 years
Limitation: 10.000 bottles
Casks: rum casks
Alcohol: 46%
Unchillfiltered; uncoloured
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour: golden straw
The nose opens with a slight hint of rubbing alcohol, making place for stewed apples, pears, green apples, slightly unripe gooseberries, pineapple, grapefruit, banana chips, slight tropical spices, “fizzers” sweets (don’t know how international these are…) and a light demerara sugar note. More pears and baked apples after a while. The rum influence is there, but it doesn’t scream out loud – which is a good thing. Staying pretty light overall. The palate is initially a tad strong on the alcohol and quite dry. When the aromas get through, there’s a lot more rum influence than on the nose. Quite light, white rum, artificial cherry candy, fructose, pear juice, banana, peaches, grapefruit loads of lychee water and a hint of vanilla. The medium long finish is quite mellow upon swallowing, oily and dry at the same time with the sweetness of blackcurrants, lychees, and sugarcane distillate.

Verdict:
Bottled to celebrate the opening of their new distillery, Teeling has released this limited (10,000 bottles) ‘The Revival’ bottling, distilled in 1999, matured exclusively in ex-rum casks. Well, the rum maturation for 15 years is really apparent without completely taking over the spirit. A light (as most Irish whiskeys are) dram with loads of summer fruits and a good measure of sweetness. This would go down well in the summer months.

Score: 86/100
(Nose: 87 Palate: 85 Finish: 86)

Thanks to Steve Rush @thewhiskywire and the Teeling distillery for the sample, supplied for the #TeelingWhiskey tweet tasting