My grandfather repaired watches and clocks. Through him I learned that one of life’s great pleasures is when everything clicks. I first tried this whiskey at WhiskeyLive last year at a tasting led by Alex Chasko, Teeling’s Master Distiller, and I managed to squirrel some away in a sample bottle for later enjoyment. The second whiskey (after Small Batch) that Teeling released was the 21 Year Old Silver Reserve. It was distilled in Sept 1991 in the Cooley Distillery which was formerly owned by the Teeling family. When Cooley was purchased by Beam Suntory the Teeling sons managed to negotiate the acquisition of a large amount of quality aged casks of whiskey. Maturing that 21 Year Old for 3 further years in Ex-Sauternes wine casks yields this 24 Year Old. In 2019 (a year and a half after it was bottled) it was the first Irish whiskey to win the World’s Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards. Chasko admitted frankly that they targeted that accolade. The nose is a dessert of honey, vanilla, oak, chomp bar, light peat, crushed walnut and a jam of marmalade and peach. Tropical fruits too - or more particularly Lilt for those who know that soft drink. The arrival is a somewhat dry and sweet wine (unsurprisingly). It develops into chewy orange and mango, some slightly acidic peat and mineral water, a tannic wood undertone, and a delightful sourness that I can’t pinpoint. Sugared tea and overdone toast linger, and minutes later there are echoes of eucalyptus. Madre de Dios, this is great. World award or no world award, this is a stunning success and deserves the fiery worship of Christians, Satanists, Atheists, Whiskeyphiles and anyone else with a nose and tongue.