While Teeling Distillery was founded in 2015, a quick look at their offerings will show releases carrying much older age statements. This is because when John Teeling sold the Cooley Distillery to what is now Beam Suntory, one of the stipulations of the sale was the family taking 16,000 casks of whiskey with them. It is from these casks that many of their older bottlings are derived, whiskey essentially sourced from themselves. The Brabazon series from Teeling kicked off in 2017 and was named after William Brabazon, the 3rd Earl of Meath, who oversaw the development of the New Market area in Dublin that would eventually become the Liberties district where the current distillery resides. There have been four entries in this series as of this writing. The Brabazon 2 was bottled in September 2017 and matured in a various sizes of ex-port casks.
Distillery: Teeling
Region: Foreign
Age: NAS
Strength: 49.5%
Price: $70.34
Maturation: ex-port casks
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Nose: Perfume, floral, plum, caramel, cherry, spice, vanilla, butterscotch, barley, peach, honey, grapes
Palate: Caramel, raisin, currant
Finish: Oak, char, wintergreen
Comments: Water seems to slightly unbalance the panorama of flavors.
Adam – The Brabazon 2 greets you with a nose of gentle florals backed by sweetness that pass through vanilla into peaches and honey. The mouthfeel is buttery with an unfurling of caramel and stone fruit before bright oak greets you on the way out, wreathed in a light wintergreen. I am a big fan of what Teeling does in general and this one especially strikes me. The port maturation adds a lovely fruity mix to the bedrock caramel and oak but does not dominate. This is balanced and intriguing, dancing across the tongue while inviting you to engage your senses and your curiosity. I’m a little surprised at the prominence of oak in the back half of the palate leading into the finish but it is not egregious or unwelcome. If I had another bottle (this last disappearing far too quickly), I could imagine many future evenings spent with this in my glass, replete with a good book or a good friend.
Henry – Rich and layered nose of spicy florals, wildflower honey, candied fruit, vanilla, and Muscat grapes. Palate is tannic and oaky, with a surprising mid-palate aroma burst of fabric softener and fresh oak reminiscent of a Kentucky bourbon, before backing off to reveal a complex cask influence of wood, wine must, raisin, and black currant. Delicious, intriguing, and surprising.
Ben – My mouth is watering, thinking about good maraschino cherries when I smell it. Reminds me of good cocktail cherries. There’s big cherry. Big vanilla at the back of my throat, fighting for life. Oak is all over. Like cherry ice cream, all that vanilla with the dark cherry but then there’s the oak doing not those things. I’m getting baking spices up front in the palate. I really like this but on the wrong day this could land really badly.
Like Dublin in the rain.
Bill – There is an unusual level of caramel in the Brabazon 2 that many Irish whiskies lack. The port just pulls it out a little more. This is a whisky that makes no apologies for what it is. It doesn’t care what your opinion is; love me or not, here I am. It’s a niche whiskey. It hits it perfectly but it’s a very small niche. It has a dry finish, with a dusty feeling. And no apologies still. This has attitude. It has philosophy. It’s a nihilist.
Mike – Quite enjoyable. I did get a little bourbon vibe from the tannins. I thought the nose was great and just an overall enjoyable sip. The nose was not prominent for me at first, I got more from the palate. The evolution from the palate to the finish hit more for me.
Evelyn – The nose is rain on the cobblestones for me, with a dash of fresh peaches. There is definite grains on the palate. The Brabazon 2 is just amazing all around.
Sam – There’s grape must on the nose, like Dublin in the rain. The palate is pure heaven, full of sharp grains with a slightly bitter finish of wintergreen and stone fruit.
