After the delightful Glendalough, we were primed and ready for more Irish explorations!
Our Whisky Lady host brought back an interesting duo – a new Brabazon Bottling series from Teeling that explores Sherry in the 1st and this Port in the 2nd. Each series has different bottlings – with month and year on the label.
We started with the Port, bottled in September 2018… What did we think?
Teeling Brabazon Port 49.5% (Series 2, 09/2018)
- Nose – Cinnamon, wet leaves, wood, musty, camel leather, over ripe apples… then shifted into sweet dry spices of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg… and from apples to citrus orange and apricots… with a lively kick
- After the 1st sip, became quite sweet – biscuits, a nice custard, lemon chiffon cake. It simply needed time to open into a delicious desert
- Palate – Hmm… began with quite a bit of oak, tannins, spiced cherries, orange marmalade with bitter orange peel, smooth, shifting between a sour amla and marmalade
- After some time, we returned and I found it quite bitter, it had a slightly queer or weird character… interesting when it veered more towards a tart marmalade, challenging when it became more like a bitter gourd like karela
- Finish – Bitter warm spice, like absinthe soaked burnt sugar, a bit sharp…
This one sparked quite a bit of debate. We thought it had an interesting nose that became quite lovely. However the palate was quite mixed.
One lady quipped it was the kind of whiskey that was like a train with a great start but somewhere in the middle “Bro! I need to get to the next station!”
And what did we mean by this? Both the nose and finish received a thumbs up. However the taste simply wasn’t for everyone’s palate. Yet for others, this was a clear preference.
For me? I couldn’t help but think of a hot toddy… Something about the finish in particular made me speculate if it might make a rather superb one!
And what do the folks at Teeling have to say?
Jack Teeling, Founder and Managing Director of Teeling Whiskey, commented “Our new Irish Single Malt brings together two famous Dublin family names – the Teelings and the Brabazons. By making reference to the historical Brabazon name, we are telling the story of why our family first came to the Liberties area of Dublin. But more importantly we are telling the story of why we are here now. Our aim with the whiskey was to create a full bodied tasting experience for people who enjoy the added complexity and taste sherry casks impart, and at the same time continuing our goal to expand the spectrum of flavours available from premium Irish whiskeys.”
And specifically anything about their 2nd series featuring port?
Not on the Teeling website that I could find, however the Celtic Whisky Shop folks have these tasting notes:
| Taste | Smooth and mouth-filling. The fruit characters are fresh and lively with a delicious strawberry shortcake front end backed up by malted grains, vanilla and dried fruits. The finish is drier and oakier with some furry tannins and exotic spices creeping through. |
| Nose | Soft and aromatic with touches of freshly baked fruit loaf, apricots, strawberry jam, dates, fresh figs, honey and malted milk biscuits. |
| Colour | Bright gold with a very slightly pink hue. |
We continued on to the Brabazon Bottling with Sherry… and contrasted and compared the duo. Some preferred the Port, others the Sherry. I’d be curious to hear from others familiar with both which they prefer and why?
What else was picked up Whisky Ladies Irish Trio:
- Glendalough 13 year Mizunara Finish 46%
- Teeling Brabazon Port 49.5% (Series 2) – This post
- Teeling Brabazon Sherry 49.5% (Series 1)
Interested in receiving more Whisky Lady posts? Why not follow on:
- WordPress https://whiskylady.co/
- FaceBook Whisky Lady in India – https://www.facebook.com/WhiskyLadyIN
- Twitter @WhiskyLadyIN
Whisky Lady 