Teeling Blackpitts Single Malt Irish Whiskey 750 ML

Unconventional whiskey at its finest. The latest release from the Teeling Whiskey Distillery Co. Teeling Blackpitts is a non chill filtered, first Dublin-distilled peated, single malt whiskey, triple distilled from malted barley dried over peat fires and aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and sauternes French wine casks.

The use of the sauternes casks brings in deep fruit flavors which perfectly complements the bourbon notes and smoke. Blackpitts Peated Single Malt Whiskey is inspired by the old ancient Blackpitts area just behind the Teeling Whiskey Distillery. Blackpitts was the traditional home to some of the largest barley malting houses in Dublin, Ireland. By using smoke from peat to dry the barley during the malting process, the resulting peated malt produces a distinctive smoky taste profile which is the signature of a Peated Single Malt.

Teeling Blackpitts is the first peated single malt from the team in Dublin, named after the Blackpitts area just behind the distillery, which just happened to be rather well-known for its malting houses. Interestingly, this expression is triple distilled, which the Teeling folks say helps allow the barbeque smoke elements from the whiskey's flavour profile stand out.

It was aged in a combination of bourbon and Sauternes casks, helping to bring some sweetness to this peaty treat. What makes Teeling Blackpitts so unique is the triple distillation process, which reduces some of the medicinal character you would get from a traditional Scottish Peated Single Malt and allows the more barbeque smoke characteristic to shine.

This is then combined with signature Teeling innovative cask maturation using both ex-bourbon and ex-Sauternes white wine casks, which is bottled at 46% with no chill filtration to produce a truly different and unique expression of Teeling and Irish Whiskey.

The inspiration for the use of these casks came from a previous bottling of Teeling 24-Year-Old Single Malt which was honoured as the “World’s Best Single Malt” in 2019 at the World Whiskies Awards. Using Sauternes Wine casks brings in deep fruit flavors, such as white grapes, pears and grilled pineapple. These notes perfectly complement the rich bourbon notes that make up two thirds of the ageing process. The sweetness that comes from the bourbon casks balances the subtle notes from the smoked dried barley.

Peat is of course native to Ireland, and it would be naive to think that it was never historically used in the production of Irish whiskey. Traditionally Irish whiskey is stereotyped as having a smoother finish in contrast to the smoky, earthy overtones most common to Scottish (Scotch) whisky. These flavour profiles come from drying the malted barley using Peat this became most popular in the malting process in Scotland and faded from away from the Irish whiskey for the most part. There are of course the exceptions to the rules in both countries. Examples include Connemara peated Irish malt (double distilled) whiskey, O’Connels Bill Phil, Pearse Lyons Whiskey from Pearse Lyons Distillery, Dunville’s peated from Echlinville Distillery and now Teeling.

This is a distinctive and unique flavor that rises above tradition. Teeling Blackpitts. Peated Single Malt is truly Irish Whiskey at its finest, designed for the boldest palettes.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: A subtle and light layer of peat. But also, quite some fruity notes, such as pineapple and ripe pears. A hint of BBQs smoked bacon. But I also get a sugary note from tumtum (an old Dutch pink candy). Then some freshness from lime and mint in the background. Later also a green tea note.

Taste: A salty note. Pineapple and stewed pears. caramel and some honey. A bonfire leading towards peat, which is followed by red apples.

Finish: Short to mid-long. caramel and slightly peaty. A nice and enjoyable second release from Teeling, well done! However, the finish is slightly lacking some flavors compared to the rest. But all in all, a lovely addition to the Teeling portfolio.