Teaninich 8 Year Old Daring Rye 2025 Diageo Special Release Scotch Whisky

Daring Rye is a bold, youthful divergence from Teaninich’s usual profile—spicy, lively, and intriguingly hybrid. It flaunts a rye essence integrated into a Scotch framework, delivering a crisp toffee-spice tension backed by herbal complexity. It’s a spirited experiment that challenges convention.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Teaninich’s Daring Rye marks the distillery’s first official single grain release using malted rye blended with barley as the mash — a deliberate experiment born in 2016, using Teaninich’s rare mash filtration. It’s part of Diageo’s 2025 Special Releases under the Horizons Unbound banner, notable as the only non–single malt in this year’s lineup.
After distillation, the spirit is matured for 8 years in ex-bourbon American oak barrels. The release is bottled at natural cask strength (59.3 % ABV), non-chill filtered, with no added coloring. The atypical mash and bold proof make Daring Rye stand apart from standard single grain releases.

Tasting Profile

Nose: Green and herbal in character, with an energetic prickle. Top notes include tart boiled sweet acidity, hints of green apple peel, and perfumed woody cologne. Over time, soft fudge and bakery dough nuances emerge, tempering the initial sharpness.

Palate: Light to medium-bodied with a creamy-smooth texture. It opens sweet with vanilla–toffee tones, then evolves into a herbal complexity—mint, green pepper, perhaps a whisper of sage. The rye presence gives a backbone of spice, but it remains integrated with barley softness.

Finish: Short but incisive. The final moments carry a sharp spice flicker (white pepper, ginger) and a subtle echo of dried coconut or husk in the aftertaste—herbal, clean, and intriguing.

Quick Overview