The history of whiskey making in Ireland is almost about as old as the history of whiskey making itself. Amidst the ups and downs of the whiskey industry in Ireland, the Teeling name has emerged as somewhat of a maverick in the playing field, having gone through a series of innovation and renewals. A look at Teeling's core range of whiskeys reveals a spirit of experimentation with different styles, ageing casks and production techniques, and we're about to find out how this distillery stands out as a disruptor and innovator in Irish whiskey making.

Ireland’s Youngest Distillery Is The Story of an Old Revival

If you have a proper look at Teeling’s logo, you’d notice an image of a phoenix emerging from the recognizable pot still. The theme of revival and rebirth is undoubtedly true to the founding story of Teeling, Dublin’s newest distillery in 125 years since its fairly recent opening in 2015.

A phoenix emerges from the ashes in Teeling Distillery's iconic logo

Despite being the newest distillery to open the historic whiskey-making district of Ireland, Teeling’s roots actually go back to the late 18^th century, with the old Teeling distillery having been established way back in 1782 by Walter Teeling, an ancestor of the founders of today’s new Teeling Distillery. The old Teeling distillery eventually shut its doors amidst a collapse in the number of operational whiskey distilleries in Ireland in the early 20^th century as a series of widespread financial difficulties plagued Ireland’s whiskey industry.

(Image Source: Teeling Distillery)

Teeling Distillery was founded by the distillery’s namesakes Jack and Stephen Teeling, the sons of Cooley Distillery founder John Teeling. You could say that Cooley Distillery was somewhat of a disruptor, having broken the monopoly that Ireland’s whiskey distillers had over the market when it was established in 1987 with the launch of the Kilbeggan and Locke’s Whiskey brands. Cooley Distillery was eventually acquired by Beam International in early 2012 and is currently under Suntory since its purchase of Beam in 2014. Beam International’s takeover of Cooley Whiskey Distillery was not without an effort from the Teeling family to hold on to what they could of Cooley Distillery as they negotiated the purchase of 16,000 Cooley whiskey casks. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, it was with these whiskey casks that the new Teeling brand was established, paving the way for the rebirth of Teeling Distillery and continuing the legacy of Cooley Distillery’s whiskey production.

Today, Teeling Distillery finds its home back in the heart of the “Golden Triangle” of the Liberties in Ireland, a part of the city with a deep history of flourishing whiskey making.

Innovation Lies at the Core of Teeling’s Whiskey Production

Following the footsteps of its history and origin story, Teeling Whiskey distillery prides itself on its philosophy of innovation and an unconventional spirit, adapting unorthodox techniques in their pursuit of flavour. The distillery produces a variety of Irish whiskey styles, ranging from single malt, single grain, blended whiskey, the distinctively Irish style of single pot still whiskey, and even a peated single malt Irish whiskey. It’s clear that experimentation and innovation lies at the heart of the conception of Teeling’s product lines, giving us a wide range of flavour profiles and styles to try.  

One of the hallmarks of Teeling Distillery’s Irish whiskey-making technique is the use of pot stills and the occasional adoption of double distillation to produce the spirit. While conventional whiskey production often employs triple-distillation, the Teeling family has been defying this convention since the days of Cooley Distillery by only distilling the spirit twice instead of three times to preserve as much flavour as possible. This process undoubtedly produces a robust whiskey that is packed with flavour.

At present day, Teeling Distillery adopts a triple distillation process in three stills to produce its pot still whiskey – first in a wash still, the second distillation in a feints still, and the third distillation in a spirit still. Teeling Distillery keeps its link to its roots in Cooley Distillery, with Teeling’s Small Batch Grain Whiskey sourced from the previous Cooley Distillery. The distillery uses distillers’ yeast as well as South African white wine yeast, imparting a fruitiness to the whiskeys. The barley used in its production is Irish barley, while corn is imported. Today, the distillery adopts different production methods to produce its wide variety of styles of Irish whiskey in its pursuit of flavourful quality.

We were fortunate enough to have Teeling’s Commercial Manager, Martin Lynch, give us a rundown on the variety of Teeling’s styles with their core range expressions. With all that said, let's have a dig into Teeling's core range!  

Whisky Review: Teeling Single Grain Irish Whiskey, 46% ABV

The style of Single Grain Irish Whiskey can be said to be similar to American whisky styles, produced from a combination of cereal grains and distilled in a column still. Teeling’s Single Grain Irish Whiskey is made of 95% corn and 5% malted barley, column distilled, and aged in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon red wine barrels, the bottled at 46% ABV, non-chill filtered.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Amber 

Aroma: It opens up confectionary with those classic grain aromas of vanilla frosting, candy corn confectionaries, and then some red berry notes begin to emerge in the form of strawberry hard candies and red laffy taffy. The cereal note remains prominent, yet is well-integrated with the red fruits. It's got a good richness and with time more of those red berries begin to come to the surface.

Taste: Wow! It's got a deep berry sweetness of raspberries and strawberry jams, along with some vanilla and yogurt gummies that's giving a light tartness and acidity. Really nice sweeter richness that's met with a light yogurty sourness. There's more of that strawberry laffy taffy and strawberry candies, with some runny honey flowing through the base. It's really cohesive with a good richness, giving the body a fullness where it's doesn't feel light nor are the grains apparent. Medium bodied, with great integration between cask and spirit.

Finish: Those strawberry candies persists, here some graininess begins to come through, along with vanilla frosting and honey. It's rich and confectionary into the finish, yet clean, giving a nice and deep warmth. Really tasty mulled wine lingers on the finish.

My Thoughts

Damn if that's an impressive single grain! It starts off pretty standard with those vanilla and cereal confectionaries - this run of the mill type thing lasts for all of 3 seconds, and then at first very subtly these strawberry hard candies begins to emerge, and then before you know it on the nose it's all these red fruit confectionaries. It's like being a kid in a candy shop!

On to the palate it's more immediately apparent all these red berry confectionaries, and yet what is most impressive is how cohesive and natural feeling it is - it avoids with such ease the typical wine cask traps of being overly tart, thin, tannic or plasticky, you don't get any of that here - here it's just supple and rich red fruit jams. This carries into the finish with all the same cohesion, and again very pleasantly, it ends with a superbly clean finish, without any of it staying on longer than it should nor being cloying. To finish off, there's even a burst of mulled wine richness and sweetness that lingers on aromatically.

This is an absurdly awesome single grain that is so impressive in how it bonds the cask to the spirit perfectly - and for how available and where it's priced at as an entry whiskey for Teeling, it's an absolute stunner. 

Whisky Review: Teeling Single Malt Irish Whiskey, 46% ABV

Single Malt Irish Whiskey, by definition, has to be made entirely of malted barley and produced in a single distillery. Teeling’s Single Malt Irish Whiskey is produced from 100% malted barley and aged in five different wine casks – Virgin American Oak, Ruby Port, Caravelos White Port, Madeira and Bourbon. This whiskey is triple distilled, bottled at 46% ABV, with no chill filtration.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Light Gold

Aroma: Really candied and vibrantly fruity with maltose candy, honey, and big on those kiwis and pink guavas. It's super aromatic and intense with those green fruits. More on gooseberries as well. It's incredibly fresh and fruity, and with that candied texture, it's giving tanghulu (fresh fruits in maltose candy).

Taste: Medium-bodied here, it's on to runny honey and maltose candy, and of course there are those intensely vibrant green fruits of gooseberries, pears, green apples, with a tropical quality to it as well of candied pineapples. That's all wrapped up over a core of syrupy maltose and honey. More on fruit cordials and tinned fruit syrups that burst out in streams, with also musky green tropical fruits coated in honey. Really great richness too.

Finish: Alittle more muskiness of gooseberries and mangosteens, some starfruits too, all upon a backdrop of honey. There's some aromatic pepperiness here too, along with some savouriness at the back. A long finish that lingers on pink guavas.

My Thoughts 

The fruitiness here is on full blast, candied and vibrant, this feels like a modern retelling of those legendary 60's Scotch with all those kiwis, pink guavas, pineapples - at a fraction of the price, I should add - where here it also comes in more firm and concentrated, bolder and more reinforced in its structure. It's definitely more intentional as well, and isn't as airy or as waft-y. What's probably of most critical concern here is that this isn't one of those whiskies where it noses amazing and then none of that gets on to the palate, here it's fully carried over with great intensity, vibrance and in that same candied fruits character.

Perhaps for me what's most impressive here is that this feels like its all the doing of the spirit - the spirit itself feels incredibly fruity - and it doesn't feel all that much the result of the cask, which somehow evokes this sense of wonderment, like "wow! how'd they do that?!" Regardless, what a fruit bomb!

Whisky Review: Teeling Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, 46% ABV

A distinctively Irish style of whiskey, Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey has to be made in Ireland, and contains a minimum of 30% malted barley and 30% unmalted barley, distilled in a pot still. Interestingly, this style of whiskey was actually created in the 18^th century as a way to avoid a tax on the used of malted barley that was introduced in 1785. This style of Dublin single pot still was so well-received and famous, that it even became beloved by royalty in the United Kingdom, cementing its place as an enduring style of Irish whiskey long after the taxation law was repealed in 1855.

The Teeling Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey is produced using a unique Irish mash bill, comprised of 50% malted and 50% unmalted barley, triple distilled in a pot still and matured in a combination of American Virgin Oak, Bourbon and Sherry casks, then bottled at 46% ABV with no chill filtration.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Light Gold

Aroma: Bright tropical fruits and honey here, this leans alittle lighter and brighter, more elegant as well. It's on those green fruits - some tropical - of pink guavas, kiwis, green grapes, and gooseberry jams. It's incredibly honeyed, spiced up alittle with some candied ginger. With time it opens up more to some grassiness and some peaches begin to emerge as well. It's got a very crystalline and delicate quality to it that makes it very graceful.

Taste: Light to medium bodied here, honeyed, more of those tropical green fruits, gooseberries, guavas, kiwis, green grapes. It's also lightly musky. Here it's again brighter and alittle more high toned, yet keeps a good richness about it with more honey at the base.

Finish: More savoury here, and then it's back to the vanilla, honey, big dollops of that maltose, throw in the whole basket of tropical green fruits. There's a touch of that yogurty sourness, also alittle bit musky here with some lingering langsat fruits. Interestingly some Sherry rancio emerges right at the end as well, with alittle bit of flor yeastiness, dried sour plums and leather.

My Thoughts

This held all those vibrant green and tropical fruits that we know Teeling is capable of by now - here it's rendered in a lighter and more elegant manner, more ephemeral I'd say, where it's softer - no less vibrant - less dense, and therefore higher toned. It's almost like the brisk morning air as you walk through a fruit orchard. It's less jammy in that sense, and this seems to reveal some fresher and brighter tones of grassy meadows and peaches that now begin to show up. Make no mistake, it's still got a good richness about it, it's just less heavy and brighter, which I do find makes this a good fit for a day drink or a summertime dram, a more lunch time whiskey really.

The fruitiness here is just as persistent and powerful, carrying all the way through to the finish with no stopping it, big, big baskets of green and tropical fruits, with touches of yogurt. Interestingly, all the way at its tail end some Sherry begins to emerge, bringing with it a more umami note of rancio that pops out.   

Whisky Review: Teeling Blackpitts Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey, 46% ABV

Just like Single Malt Irish Whiskey, Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey is made from 100% malted barley, which has been dried with peat smoke to give it its distinct smokey and peaty flavour. The Teeling Blackpitts Peated Single Malt gets its name from the historic Blackpitts area in the Liberties in Dublin. During the malting process, smoke from peat is used to dry the barley. The whiskey is triple distilled and matured using ex-bourbon and ex-Sauternes white wine casks, bottled at 46% ABV with no chill filtration.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Light Gold

Aroma: Aromatic and soft herbaceous smoke, there's a touch of salinity and seaweed, lots of honey too. It leans sweeter with more on grilled pineapples and vanilla frosting. It has a good richness on the nose, with just a gentle peatiness, which isn't screaming Islay but does have some of that coastal qualities with none of that iodine. It still leans mainly confectionary.

Taste: Those confectionaries make their way to the palate with more on honey, vanilla frosting, really aromatic and sweet grilled pineapples too. There's a slight herbaceous quality here with some salinity and seaweed again, yet still mostly leans sweeter. It's medium-bodied, rather precise and concentrated with its richness and sweetness.

Finish: The tinned tropical fruits persists, here showing some gooseberries, still lots of honey. With time more assortments of green tropical fruits. It's lightly ashy, really aromatic, ending off clean, honeyed and fruity. There's some lingering menthol and ash on the finish, which seems to find itself catching a second comeback of lots of honey and green fruits that seems to never end.

My Thoughts

This should be given the title of gateway peated whisky - the peat's there but here it's not overly dominant and plays a more balanced and supportive role to the classic Teeling profile of green and tropical fruits. It's well integrated to the richness of the whiskey, and does a good job of adding some complexity and newer aspects to the whisky without breaking that cohesion. Those grilled pineapples will most certainly be a crowd favourite, along with the menthol on the finish that gives the whiskey a nice ripened sweetness as well as a more refreshing finish.

I think this is well executed take on a peated whiskey - it's an Irish peated whiskey in its truest at that - and should be included in any lineup of peated whiskies. This has that ability to even turn some peat naysayers around - I'm definitely one such example.

Till next time, happy sipping!

@ChopstickPride