Teeling Single Malt Red Wine Cask

My wife and I picked this up on a trip to Total Wine in Delaware shortly after she brought back 9 bottles of Irish Whiskey from Ireland. The first one we'd opened was Teeling Wonders of Wood Swedish Wood, which was wonderful, and given I also enjoyed Teeling Blackpitts, which is vastly different than the Swedish wood, Teeling was batting 2-for-2 with me, so why not? The Red Wine finished bottle is cask strength (and I'd never had a Teeling Cask Strength) and it was marked down from $90 to $75, which, given Delaware doesn't have sales tax, why not? For this review, I'm following our opening Method and Madness Garryana Oak and doing a neck pour for St. Patty's (almost typed Thanksgiving there, didn't realize the pour of Garryana hit me that way but we haven't had dinner yet), and now I'm following it with this Teeling, which in fairness has been open for months and is near the end. Generally, I have preferred this one with a ratio of 1.5 oz and one small ice cube to mute its intensity, so that may give you an idea of where we stand with this, but for the purposes of this review, I'm going without a splash or ice. The only other review here states that the red wine is too intense, and I believe I'd concur when the bottle is first opened. Over time, with air in the bottle, that mutes the intensity, so that now, when I'm doing this tasting, the red wine aroma is well integrated into the whisky. The aroma is largely cherries jubilee with an underlying current of vanilla custard and an additional sweetness that reminds me maraschino liqueur. What I find funny, of course, is the general labeling of Red Wine Cask rather than a specific wine like Cabernet or Syrah or Pinot. Were there multiple barrels with multiple styles. It's a bit opaque which doesn't make it a bad whiskey but for those of us looking for answers...well, I suppose I could Google it, but I'm going the lazy route. Actually, the aroma is quite delightful as a dessert whiskey, and I'm enjoying it now a great deal, even if I haven't had dinner yet. On the palate, the cherry flavor continues with a bit of ginger and clove spice, granting a mulled texture to the taste that doesn't come through on the nose. Whereas the nose smells like dessert, the cherry here has a medicinal edge like cherry cough drops, which makes for an odd mulled wine. The mouthfeel is thick and rich, and this transitions into a mid-length finish that mingles sweet and sour in an experience that almost feels like the best description would be red sour patch kids. In the end, I'm not sure everything fits together perfectly, though maybe it does and it's just an experiment that ends up being an acquired taste? This is one of those whiskeys that have fluctuated for me over the course of the bottle. Sometimes I might have rated it 3.25 but now on the day of tasting I'm feeling generous and enjoying the sour patch kids/sweet tart cherries jubilee mulled wine mash up. If that sounds good to you, roll the dice. If that sounds disgusting, maybe this isn't for you. And just as a reminder of how subjective ratings can be (if you need another reminder), I just gave the Garryana Method and Madness 3.75 and this a 4.0 though I think objectively speaking, the Garryana Method and Madness is a more interesting whiskey, with more nuance and subtlety for an appreciator to mull over. The best comparison would be that the M&M Garryana is avant garde experimental music and this is mainstream pop.The latter is more easily enjoyed in many situations whereas the first requires time and effort and maybe sitting in a room alone, thinking deeply about it.

Overall the red wine cask is overdone. Nose is sweet, of berries, plum, oak, pineapple, cherry, heavy red wine. Palate is berries, ash, vanilla, oak, grape jelly. Finish is smooth and a little spicy.