Teerenpali Portii

A huge thanks to @Richard-ModernDrinking for the generous sample from Finnish distillery Teerenpeli which makes this PORTTI (a Finnish word meaning gate) single malt that matured for 3-4 years in bourbon casks then was transferred to port wine casks for an additional 1.5 years, resulting in a final age range between 4.5-5.5 years old and bottled at 43%. The nose is very light but with time you can pick out notes starting with a straw basket filled with freshly picked strawberries, blueberries and figs then comes gingerbread cookies followed with light barrel spices, a hint of oak with light ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with light fruit notes of fresh figs, dates and strawberries followed by a light spice with gingerbread cookies then light barrel spices and hint of oak with light ethanol burn finishing short with light notes of blueberries, dates, a medium spice and light oak. Well, Teerenpeli it seems that you have some work to do because this is an average whiskey at best that is extremely youthful with a light nose and taste that you have to play a whiskey version of Where’s Waldo, called Where’s the Flavor because a drinker could easily miss any of the flavors with a finish that is extremely short with light fruit and a medium spice. There really isn’t anything here to fault or praise because it’s just an average and young whiskey that requires more time in the cask to fully develop those flavors and hopefully future editions won’t require a game of Where’s the Flavor in my glencairn.

@Richard-ModernDrinking and I had a tasting last night where we shared a few drams with each other. I bought over the unusual hard to find non-Scottish whiskies. This was one of mine I shared. Taste really young. Almost like craft American whiskey. Dates and fig. Light and clean, but just too youthful . The climate in Finland warrants a bit more in the cask. This didn’t make it to my top 5 or 6 out of the 12 I had