...where distraction is the main attraction.

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Teaninich 19 year old 1999 Old Malt Cask 20th Anniversary

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

Staying in 1999 — a good year for film and me — this cluster hops over to Hunter Laing's celebration of the Old Malt Cask brand's 20th anniversary. Said celebration was actually in 2018, but this Teaninich was distilled in '99. The whisky was, yes, also from a hogshead. I hope it has a bit of the previous '99 Teaninich's darker side, because that fit in well with my palate. Or at least, please whisky gods, let this be more about the malt than the cask.


Distillery:
 Teaninich
Ownership: Diageo
Region: Northern-ish Highlands
Independent Bottler: Hunter Laing
Series: Old Malt Cask
Age: 19 years old (July 1999 - August 2018)
Maturation: Hogshead
Cask #: HL 17090
Outturn: 284 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 50%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

No darkness here! Plenty of fruit on the nose, though, starting with tart apples, kiwis, pineapples, and lemon juice up front. A few gumballs roll around in the background. Around the 30-minute mark, new notes of baked apples and cinnamon move to the fore, and a hint of cumin shows up in the back. The palate is sweet and malty. Toffee, milk chocolate, and almond butter, then a cayenne bite, and a lemony kiss-off. Lemons and toffee remain in the sweet, tart, and salty finish, with hints of cherries and cardboard in the distance.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or ½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Those few drops may have broken this whisky. The nose goes nearly silent, with only vanilla, bananas, and ginger beer remaining. The palate is very simple as well. Just oak spice, toffee, and vanilla. Some of the tartness returns to the finish, along with bananas and ginger beer.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

A sweetie-pie of a whisky, this Teaninich could be quite the crowdpleaser when neat, where the malt stands tall. The bright, fruity sniffer wins me over as well, lifting this 19yo from decent-casual-drinker status to a hmmm-pretty-good level. (Perhaps that makes more sense than a number grade?) The less said about the diluted version the better, as the standard Old Malt Cask strength of 50%abv suits the whisky well. The price wasn't horrible either.

Availability - 
Sold out

Pricing - around €90
Rating - 85 (neat only)