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Teeling of Dublin
The city of Dublin was once home to 37 distilleries. By 1976, each and every one of them was lost. When the new Teeling distillery was established in 2015, it was the first to open in the city for more than 125 years. The Teeling story begins long before that, however.
Walter Teeling founded a distillery on Marrowbone Lane in the Liberties area of Dublin in 1782. At that time the city was home to some of the largest and most successful distilleries in the world and Walter’s early success soon attracted attention. His distillery was eventually bought over by Willam Jameson & Co, erasing the Teeling name from the whiskey landscape for generations to come.
Then in 1987, John Teeling, a direct descendant of Walter, bought an industrial alcohol plant and converted it to a distillery. Cooley launched in 1989, becoming the first new Irish distillery of the 20th century. Keeping the business in the family, John was joined at Cooley by his sons Jack and Stephen but it wasn’t long before the big boys came knocking once again. Cooley was sold to Beam Incorporated in 2011 but the family weren’t going to be frozen out this time. 16,000 casks of aged whiskey were negotiated as part of the sale. The stock was put to good use by Jack who used it to launch the new Teeling Whiskey brand in 2012.
Jack was joined in his new venture by brother Stephen and the two got to work on the next phase of the masterplan. By 2015, their new Teeling Distillery was completed on Newmarket Square, a mere stones throw from the site of Walter’s original distillery 233 years before. The Teeling name is once more playing a significant role in the story of Dublin distilling.
Teeling have a core range comprising the Small Batch blend, an excellent Single Grain and a Single Malt, bottled at 46% and available in the UK for around £40 – £45.
The Whiskey
Smell: Vanilla. Buttery Pastry & Dark Chocolate – Pain Au Choc, Caramel, Lemon and Lime, Pepper and Cream.
Taste: Honey, Vanilla, Cream, Salted Caramel, Strawberry, Raspberry, Pepper and Spicy Oak.
Thoughts: This is a well-priced, higher strength Irish whiskey. Something which isn’t as common as you’d like to think.
It’s a very pleasant drinking experience full of bold flavours that you wouldn’t normally associate with the spirit of Ireland. Great stuff, though for me, and somewhat surprisingly, I think I preferred their Single Grain bottling. If Teeling can produce this level of quality at their new distillery, they will be leading the way in the resurgence of Irish Whiskey.
*If the whisky reviewed in this article has caught your eye, you can buy it from Master of Malt here. Please be aware that as an affiliate I can be paid a small commission on any purchases you make after following links from my page. The whisky is also available from several other excellent retailers.
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