Teeling 32 Year Old Irish Single Malt Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A+

Although Teeling Whiskey Company is well past its days of being solely reliant on sourced whiskey stocks for their work, having opened their Dublin distillery in 2015. That said, they still have some ultra-aged stuff socked away to play with, which is why we get periodic releases of things like this new 32 year old single malt.

This whiskey started out by entering an ex-bourbon barrel in 1990, where it stayed for 28 years. Four years ago, Teeling transferred it to a cask used to mature Purple Muscat from Portugal, receiving a particularly long, deep finish before dumping and bottling.

That finishing choice grabbed my attention, given that I lived in Portugal for eight years and continue to visit regularly. Purple Muscat is largely grown and made in Setubal, a region just south of Lisbon that I know well for the scenery, diving and the Queijo de Azeitao. Teeling actually has a track record for finding excellent (and sometimes exotic) cask stock from Portugal, and this time was no exception.

The muscat cask was the only one used for the release, and yielded only 283 bottles. Part of the reason why is it was bottled at cask strength, which coming to 53.7% ABV is one of the strongest Teeling whiskeys to date.

The Whiskey
The coloring of the pour is a dark, deep reddened amber, as one might expect from something that has gotten such a long soaking in a wine cask. No water was necessary here, as I found the whiskey perfectly enjoyable from the bottle.

Taking in the nose gave me a current of bright red fruits (think strawberries, cherries and raspberries, not grapes) and caramel, with a strong accent of peppermint and a sliver of moody, hoary wood. It’s a luxurious, richly endowed dram, which shows itself best on the palate. The fruity side goes a bit dark, with raisins stirred into that cocktail, and the caramel/vanilla note is subdued by a rising tide of tannic, dry oak. The turns sharply, though, with the woody spices moderating out to sandalwood, joined to an earthy oat cookie.

This one is a superlative bottle, and truly a proper muscat bomb, if there were such a category. It sings with its cask finish, but not in such a way as to make you forget there is a well-aged Irish single malt at its core. It’s been a few years since I last handed out an A+, but in this instance I didn’t dither over the grade one bit. The whiskey really is that good.

The Price
The Teeling 32 Year Old will become available in the US next month, with a retail price of $3,499.99.