Just over a year ago now I had my first encounter with Teeling Whiskey in the form of the Small Batch and Single Grain expressions. I was genuinely surprised by both of them; I was amazed that entry-level, highly affordable expressions could taste that great. A combination that I think I’m still yet to come across with Scotch whisky. This time though I’m taking a look at something from Teeling that’s a little higher up in their range, the new 15 year old Teeling Revival.

Teeling 15 year old Revival

Having recently opened their new distillery and once again brought the art of distilling back to Dublin, the Teeling Whiskey Company decided to mark the occasion by releasing something a little bit special. To quote Jack Teeling, founder of the Teeling Whiskey Company “The opening of our new distillery was a major milestone in the history of Teeling Whiskey. It took three years of planning, hard work and significant capital investment, but now Teeling Whiskey is finally home”.

Enter the Teeling 15 year old Revival. Distilled in 1999, The 15 year old Teeling Revival has been exclusively matured in ex-Rum casks and bottled at 46% ABV, with no chill filtering.

Tasting notes

On the nose I immediately got notes of fresh cut grass and cereal grains, layered with a slightly drying, astringent note – plastic or acetone perhaps? Thankfully those notes settle and dissipate after a short while in the glass revealing a pleasant honeyed sweetness with plenty of under-ripe fruit salad notes (rockmelon, honeydew, green banana, peach lollies and tropical fruit juice). More air reveals a nicely integrated earthy note, something I’d liken to damp moss. It’s quite a complex nose, one that benefits greatly from air in my opinion.

The palate has a really nice delivery of fruity sweetness and spice, wrapped up in a medium oily mouth feel. I feel like the word ‘juicy’ is a good descriptor here. The honeyed sweetness presents upfront along with grapefruit, mango, pawpaw, fading to reveal a tempered spice on the edges of your tongue. Its nicely balanced and integrated though helping to add character, rather than detract from it. The finish is reasonably lengthy, keeping the tropical and sour fruit notes for a good amount of time, before turning slightly vanillic and tannic toward the end. Over-steeped jasmine tea comes to mind.

The presentation of this is whiskey is pretty special. The packaging features an incredibly solid decanter-style bottle, phat brass-colour stopper and heavy card presentation box bearing plenty of gold embossing and even a wax seal on the inner lid. Whilst none of that has any bearing on the taste, I can’t recall any other Irish Whiskeys on the market at the moment –  especially in this price bracket – that are presented anywhere near as smart as this.

The Teeling 15 year old Revival is available in Australia now at a recommended retail price of AU $159.99. Thanks goes to Martin and the good folks at Teeling for the sample reviewed here.