2020 Irish Single Malt Binny’s Selection
Bottle splits are supposed to alleviate FOMO but there are times when it does exactly the opposite. You fall in love with a sample and do everything in your power to chase that bottle down. It certainly helps to curb those shopping endorphins when you completely forget about that sample for over a year! Please excuse me for this oh so timely review. The sample backlog is deep and never-ending.
Binny’s is a large Chicago chain retailer that selects its fair share of single casks every year. This Madeira cask selection was made available at the tail end of 2020 along with a 14-year-old Acacia cask. Binny’s produced a taste and chat Zoom video with Master Distiller Alex Chasko about these selections (time-stamped to the start of the Madeira cask talk). Not many additional details about these casks were revealed but it’s a nice introduction to the Portland craft brewer, turned Master distiller.
Distillery: Teeling.
Region: The Liberties, Dublin, Ireland.
ABV: 54%.
Age: 18 Years.
Cask type: Madeira cask finish. Cask #39728.
Price: $120.
Color: 1.6, Mahogany. Natural Color. Minimal filtration.
Tasting Notes
Tasted neat in a Glencairn with 15+ minutes of rest. Dilution was added for the second half of the tasting with an additional rest of upwards of an hour.
Nose: Sweet plum wine is the first note I instantly pick out. It’s distinct and lovely. Sweet marzipan with that nutty almond meal aroma. There’s a woody spice note of pine resin and nutmeg. The malt shines when dropped on the palm of my hand as the cereals are intense and aromatic. It also brought out an orange liqueur note like dry Curaçao.
Palate: I expected the oak from an 18 year old whiskey. This is a pleasant, wine-soaked oak stave flavor that is not at all tannic. Incredible bruléed sugar flavors with dried raisins and stewed cherries. Candied ginger and cinnamon spices. If you’ve ever soaked dried fruits for holiday breads, you’ll understand exactly the flavors here. The cereals come about like oat biscuits or Graham crackers. Digging further there is an herbal and yeast quality of dried rosemary and thyme focaccia.
Finish: The oak presents itself in a dank and musty way on the finish. I’m getting a bit of those oxidized, moss and grass notes even. Worn leather and oaky baking spices. Dry but not drying. The tannins are most noticeable here on the finish but are a welcoming character to the sweeter notes of the palate. The fruits are still evident and come across as acidic, like a tart cranberry sauce reduction or aged balsamic.
Overall
I rather enjoyed this whiskey. It took a lot to coax out the aromas but ultimately the flavors on the palate were sublime. I expected a lot more dry tannic oak notes, but this was a very active cask that helped to mask those flavors. The finish has its quirks but nothing I’d describe necessarily as flaws to the whiskey.
As this is long gone from store shelves, it’s easy to say I don’t regret chasing a bottle down. Had I been more timely with my tasting, I might have reserved a 200ml flask to save for a later date. It’s a great whiskey, just not overly complex.
Final Score: 87