Infrequent Flyers Teaninich 2013 13 year old PX Finish Single Malt Review

The independent bottling world, especially in Scotland, is a pretty crowded but seemingly fertile place. Of course Scotland has had an advantage over the last half century in that it had at least 100 working distilleries to be able to purchase whisky or casks from. Go back 50 years in Ireland and we had but two working distilleries and a worldwide lack of appetite for Irish whiskey.

The Infrequent Flyers range is a relative newcomer to this diverse world, starting up in 2018 with the birth of the Alistair Walker Whisky Company. Alistair has had a pretty good grounding in the whisky world working with Burn Stewart in 1997 when they looked after Deanston and Tobermory. From there he joined the Benriach Distillery Company in 2004 who eventually bought over Glendronach and Glenglassaugh distilleries in 2008 and 2013 respectively.              

Taking what he learned from the big names of scotch whisky Alistair wanted to bring that knowledge to the world of independent bottling. The idea behind the name ‘Infrequent Flyers’ is to showcase distilleries that are not widely available but are of excellent quality, so think distilleries whose malt was generally consigned to blends rather than official bottlings.                                                                                                                       

As a consumer this is great as it widens our horizons and can lead us away from the big brands that can be charging a fortune for rather underwhelming options. 

So for today we have a distillery that is relatively new to the site, Teaninich. I have reviewed another Teaninich recently from the Thompson Bros that was a stout cask finish. Today’s is a PX cask finish, a finish that I’ve moving away from more and more as unless it’s judiciously used, can completely overwhelm a distillate.

This was an exclusive release for The Whisky Barrel distilled on 1st July 2008 and bottled July 2021. It’s from cask no 1808 that gave 322 bottles at a healthy 55.8% abv. It cost £87 on release and is sold out. Thanks to Rob Halford for the sample.

Let’s Taste.

Nose: All bout the sherry - syrupy sweet raisins, prunes and figs. Underneath is fresh pear and stewed apple. Some menthol plus nutmeg and clove. Milk chocolate. Time brings some blueberry muffins too.

Palate: Like the nose it’s all about the sweet, sweet PX. Brown sugar, cinnamon glazed danish pastry and sugared almonds. Raisins….lots of raisins. Clove and chilli infused chocolate. That blueberry note is there again along with a smidgen of oak tannins.

Finish: A decent medium length with menthol, some new leather and chocolate covered raisins.

Score: 6 out of 10

Overall: Essentially PX sherry with some whisky added. I mean it’s an enjoyable dram if PX sherry is your thing but it’s about as nuanced as a punch in the face. Raisin juice lovers will find it delectable but if you want to feel some distillery character from Teaninich I suggest you look elsewhere.

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