Whisky: Teaninich 13 Year (1983), SMWS 59.7

Country/Region: Scotland/Highland

ABV: 56.6%

Cask: Oak

Age: 13 Years (Distilled Nov. 1983, Bottled Jan. 1997)

Nose: Grass and citrus, lemongrass, pine sap, peppery dandelion greens, hints of plastic, slightly industrial and acrid pothole puddles.

Palate: Medium-bodied, herbal and citrusy, sandalwood and cedar, coconut lotions, pine, butterscotch, dusty old herbal candies, cola and horehound, old paper with hints of cheap bubblegum.

Finish: Medium-length with grassy sweet sugar cane and old yellowed paper.

Score: 7-8

Mental Image: Big Chew Baseball Cards

Narrative & Notes: Our local whisky group included this at a very special SMWS birthday-anniversary bash. We tasted the 2023 SMWS 1.9.8.3. series of bottles released for their 40th anniversary, along with a Bunnahabhain released earlier in the year to mark the American chapter's 30th anniversary. This Teaninich joined the lineup as a genuine 1983 birth-year malt to mark the occasion. It was, for those in the know, the big ticket item during the tasting, and while it was not to everyone's taste, it won over quite a few fans.

The flavors were unique, which made it a touch divisive— how do you feel about the coming together of lemon and pine notes? For some, that came off as pinesol, which some loved, and others grimaced at. I enjoyed the old-school industrial quality that always seemed to be lingering in the background on the nose and appeared with a bit more richness as old-fashioned cola candies and worn cardboard paper baseball cards. That cheap Big Chew bubble gum, the kind of thing only a kid can enjoy, ran as a theme throughout, and I loved that chewy bit of nostalgia.

Overall, a bit unrefined and wild, this was only vaguely like the boba-tea flavors I often get on modern Teaninich; surely, that is where some of those herbal elements have drifted in recent decades. The unpolished and unusual elements of this whisky were on even fuller display as we tackled more refined and modern malts during the tasting.