J's Whisky Diary

Teeling Whiskey, located in Dublin, Ireland, are a part of the new craft distilling scene emerging in Irish Whiskey, though, as per usual, they claim a heritage of distilling dating back to 1782. Distilling operations at Teeling began in 2015, though the company started in 2012. With Master Distiller Alex Chasko, an American ex-pat formerly of Bridgeport Brewery, in Portland, OR, Teeling have been racking up awards for their range of Irish Whiskeys, including a "Small Batch" corn/barley blend, a Single Malt (100% barley), and this "Single Grain," which is 95% corn and 5% barley. Doing the math on a 5 year matured product, bottled in 2015 means this batch is all sourced barrels, with no information available on where from, though Teeling's website states that it was column distilled. The copy on the bottle indicates that the spirit was aged in ex-wine casks, apparently California Cabernet Sauvignon, and further finished in ex-rum barrels for 6 months, a relativel

There's a bit of a complicated story behind this 6 year old corn whiskey. Carlos Lovell (profiled here ), a lifelong moonshiner from Mount Airy, GA distilled this whiskey after finally going legit in 2012 and opening Ivy Mountain Distillery. The whiskey, made with a recipe developed by Lovell's family over a 150 year legacy of moonshining in Northern Georgia, contains hickory cane, white dent corn, rye, malted barley, and malted corn. In 2015, the Indianola Distilling company, based in Houston, acquired the remaining barrel stock of Appalachian Corn Whiskey, and are now blending and bottling the "Heirloom" whiskey under the Ivy Mountain name. This product alongside a peach brandy also purchased from Ivy Mountain are limited stock and will presumably be discontinued when the barrels run out. The whiskey pours a slightly hazy amber yellow. The nose is bright and sweet, with a floral, minty finish; hints of dill and oily caramel lend an old-school, appalachian qualit