Taste: Teerenpeli 43% 8 year old
Enjoying and expanding your experiences with whisky can be a costly business. There is zero possibility of tasting everything from a financial and medical viewpoint, so you’re left to be selective and make those choices count.
Given the choice I always prefer to spend some time with a bottle of my own before coming to taste conclusions. Samples obviously lack this longevity and instead focus the senses more, meaning that first impressions have greater emphasis. This does have drawbacks particularly with 3cl samples; you’re only receiving a glimpse, a snapshot and in this backdrop I try to keep everything else constant. Given the choice I always tend to prefer 5cl's at least for reviews. I’ll experience samples in the same environment, relying on the exact type of glass (Glencairn) with the same preparation.
After all is said and done, samples do allow you to taste whiskies that might be out of reach due to their rarity or distribution. Become involved with a whisky group or find likeminded individuals and you can spread the cost of bottles or even trade samples from your own drinking shelf. Hence this recent trio of Scandinavian samples from the Jolly Topper to tie in with the Winter Olympics. Topper possesses an impressive world whisky bottle bank and given my recent Thai experiences, I wanted to move into the realm of Scandinavia whilst enjoying the television coverage of the games.
Teerenpeli distillery is part a family-owned group that in addition comprises of restaurants, brewery and a grill. In theory it is possible to visit for a meal and also enjoy a tour of the distillery in the cellar below. With annual production being just 15,000 litres per year, their whisky is a modest, artisan operation and despite such low numbers is available online.
So this is the 1st of 2 Teerenpeli taste reviews before we move onto Sweden to complete our short Scandinavian tour. So a healthy sample means 2 good sized tasting drams and some great snowboarding coverage.
Distillery: Teerenpeli
Age: 8 years (sorry due to the sample I don't know the exact year of distillation)
Strength: 43%
Price: expect to pay around £70 for 50cl = a little more expensive due to the smaller bottle
Colour: hay bales
Nose: Sweetness, especially strawberries on the nose dominates. A little wood in the background, mint and pine nuts.
Taste: Oh yeah, this is an easy drinking well balanced whisky. I hate to say 'smooth' as many assume this means bland when it doesn't apply to this whisky; perhaps refined is more appropriate. A pineapple freshness, a touch of pear with a dollop of cream to finish. This isn't a glorious fruit salad as everything is in harmony. No single flavour dominates over the others. There was another flavour that only came after the 2nd dram which was crème brûlée.
I will be reviewing another Teerenpeli as part of this trio, which will be a from a sherry cask. In the meantime enjoy the Winter Olympics!
Age: 8 years (sorry due to the sample I don't know the exact year of distillation)
Strength: 43%
Price: expect to pay around £70 for 50cl = a little more expensive due to the smaller bottle
Colour: hay bales
Nose: Sweetness, especially strawberries on the nose dominates. A little wood in the background, mint and pine nuts.
Taste: Oh yeah, this is an easy drinking well balanced whisky. I hate to say 'smooth' as many assume this means bland when it doesn't apply to this whisky; perhaps refined is more appropriate. A pineapple freshness, a touch of pear with a dollop of cream to finish. This isn't a glorious fruit salad as everything is in harmony. No single flavour dominates over the others. There was another flavour that only came after the 2nd dram which was crème brûlée.
I will be reviewing another Teerenpeli as part of this trio, which will be a from a sherry cask. In the meantime enjoy the Winter Olympics!