When my friend Henrik told me last Saturday about the crazy 1930s tasting his Finnish Whisky Club (VYS) is having, I asked him to write about it. He wrote a beautiful article and published it here, but before all that, he sent me samples of three Finnish whiskys. Two from the Teerenpeli distillery and an Old Buck bottling specific for the VYS club. I’ll pay homage to the small whisky industry in Finland – which is mainly beer breweries distilling some beer, and to to the club, by giving my tasting notes for those three whiskys.
Teerenpeli is a company which has a restaurants across Finland and a brewery and distillery in Lahti. They have been distilling since 2002 in a very small distilling operation (1500 liter wash still and 900 liter spirit still), producing about 30,000 liters per year. The whisky is lightly peated.
Henrik sent me two samples: One of the Teerenpeli 8 and one of the Kaski, which will be reviewed tomorrow. The 8 combines whisky that was aged in both ex bourbon casks (~60%) and 2nd fill sherry casks (~40%). By the way, you won’t find any information on their whisky on their site, as Finnish law does not allow such information to be disseminated as it would violate the ban on advertising liquor.
Teerenpeli 8 Years Old (43% ABV)
Appearance: Gold, thick and quick legs.
Nose: Malt, honey and spices come right at you, then some green leaves, the forest after rain, wet earth, pine nuts and some not unpleasant lactic notes. I’ve never been to Finland, but these are just the smells conjured up by Henrik’s pictures I see on Facebook.
Palate: Spicy at first then a lovely sweet honey and bitter citrus come in. The palate goes from spicy to sweet to bitter in a lovely transition.
Linger: Short linger, with the bitter citrus and light sweetness remaining. A mild souness develops in the back of the throat, with some possibly lactic notes.
This expression has a lovely bitterness with a rather complex delivery. This whisky delivers more than expected, and is a great example of a non scotch styled single malt. The price, however, is a bit out of whack, as £69 for a 500 ml bottle is steep for an 8 year old.
Thanks Henrik for sharing this lovely expression! Kippis!!