Today I am exploring a new single malt, courtesy of That Boutique-y Whisky Company (TBWC), an independent bottler which recently celebrated its 10th birthday. As a member of the Atom Brands family, TBWC is on a quest to bottle every distillery (they also do rum and gin), and today’s dram from their 2022 Advent Calendar is no exception. It’s a very young single malt (basically the youngest possible at which it could be officially called a whisky), and I struggle to find something comparable in my collection at that age. I land on the Wee Beastie, the youngest in the Ardbeg‘s core range, at only 5 years of age! I’ve had this one before, and honestly, I liked it, so I know what to expect here. Perhaps it will be an unfair tasting, but let’s see what we discover along the way! But first, we need music! Now playing: James Murray – Careful Now.

So… this is a new one for me, folks. I don’t even think I have heard of this name before. This is a Finnish single malt from the Teerenpeli Distillery, established in 2002 in Lahti. This young lad was aged in a “recoopered American ex-bourbon hogshead, which was left to slumber in a shipping container for three years.” Yes, a 40-foot ex-reefer sea container, folks, which sits outside the distillery without heating or cooling. As a result, the temperature wildly fluctuates throughout the year (from -35 to +30 celsius), and this impacts the profile of the whisky. Is this even allowed, you ask? Well, this isn’t Scotland, so why the heck not? This is the second batch from TBWC – the first one was 5 years old and came from a Spanish ex-Oloroso Sherry cask. The second is younger and, as far as I know, uncoloured and non-chill filtered (because that’s how TBWC rolls). The nose is bright, floral, citrusy, and a bit greenish. There may be just a hint of smoke somewhere, but it’s not showing. Surprisingly, I’m not hit with ethanol at this high alcohol content. We’re at 55.5% ABV, so I’ll sip it a bit neat before adding water. It’s darker, and a tad sweeter than it claims to be with the nose. There is that vanilla, but it’s drowned out a bit by the strength of alcohol. The citrusy elements are transformed into the bitterness of grapefruit skin. I’m going to attempt and bring it down to about 48% now, and my trustworthy calculator instructs me to add about 4.7ml of water or just a bit over 3 tiny capfuls from my water bottle. I’ll go for 2 now. The nose changed. It’s sweeter and almost candied now. It’s obviously still a little rough around the edges, but it has smoothed out, dampened, and mellowed out. I’ll let that sit for just a bit and turn over to Ardbeg.

Now, this little guy is obviously going to be smoky. It’s already threatening to punch through the glass with the initial whiff. Oh, but I like the phenols, coming in like angry monsters, and they are wild, smoky, sharp and hot. The Wee Beastie is bottled at 47.4%. It’s non-chill filtered, and I think there is no colouring added, but it looks a little darker than what I’d expect a five-year-old to be. Let’s go in for a taste. Oh, damn, it’s smooth and goes down super easy! I wonder if it’s because my palette has already been prepped with a higher ABV from a prior sip. It’s as peaty as it gets, with some of that delicious tar and cracked black pepper. I’ll add a drop of water here and see what happens next. The smoky nose is gone! What happened here? It’s probably my mind just playing tricks on me, and so I smell the inside of my arm to reset all my senses. Nope. It is gone! I smell the neck of the bottle, and there it is again, but it’s no longer in my glass! This is absolutely fascinating! And even on the palate, it has very much receded, leaving behind the sweetness of the bourbon cask and now a slight bitterness. Let’s go back to the Teerenpeli. Wow! I’m having quite a ride here, folks. It’s softer, but it’s tangy now! There is a party in my mouth, and all the flavours burst at once! The Wee Beastie comes back out swinging with that smoke – pronounced now compared to Teerenpeli. It’s breathing fire in my face, and I must say, I love it, but is there something else, or is that it? Moving from Teerenpeli to Wee Beastie, I just get slammed with smoke, but going back [after a period of swooshing San Pellegrino water around in my mouth] is a little more interesting. There’s texture and sweetness and a long-lasting finish that just keeps on giving.

So there you have it, folks. I’m pretty much impressed with both. The Beastie was a given, and expectations have been met. Dilution with the water was unexpected, and I’ll have to give that another try sometime. This 5-year-old bottle goes for only £36 in my neck of the wood, and honestly, if you’re a fan of peat, you can’t go wrong here! Not at all! The Teerenpeli is around £60 now (and that’s for a 50cl bottle, as is standard with all TBWC), and although younger and very much less in your face, I do think that this is an interesting single malt. And for that reason, I will proclaim the Teerenpeli 3-year-old as the winner of this round. I wish I had more Finnish single malts to pair it up against.