Teeling Distillery Exclusive Irish Virgin Oak

This is the 2021 distillery exclusive, only sold at the Teeling distillery or their online shop. For each exclusive in this series, they take their Small Batch whiskey and finish it in a different cask. Previous exclusive releases were finished in Hungarian virgin oak or Chin-kapin American white oak, and I previously reviewed the chestnut finished version, which was an intriguing but (in my opinion) unsuccessful experiment. For this release, they took their Small Batch (a blend of 75% corn and 25% malt, aged for about 6 years in ex-bourbon casks) and applied a 9 to 15 month finish in Irish virgin oak casks. Cream and warm fruits are detected on the nose, reminiscent of a Solero Exotic ice cream with prominent vanilla, peach, pineapple, and mango. There are also some subtle herbaceous and floral undertones. This is unchilfiltered, which might explain a more substantial mouthfeel than expected. It's not chewy or oily, but it also isn't thin. Some of the same warm fruits are present in the taste, along with "a warming oak spice," as the official notes from Teeling suggest. However, they've significantly understated that spice! My tongue feels like it's been activated when rolling this whiskey around, and a dry pepper dominates the finish. It's good. It's intriguing. It's distinctive. And I'm quite taken with it.