This week we visit Teeling Whiskey Distillery in Dublin, Ireland. A fan of Whiskey, Jeff was excited to here that Teeling’s was the first distillery to start in Dublin city limits in over 125 years. Actually, he found out, the new company has old roots. In 1782 Walter Teeling’s built a distillery located in an ancient market square called Newmarket, This whole area was the center of an brewing and distilling at one time. Now it’s back, and they are distilling in three copper pot stills in the traditional style of Dublin whiskey distillation.
COPY:
Welcome to the Savory Road. Donna and I are currently enjoying a European gastronomical tour and look forward to sharing our food finds with you. Our first stop was Dublin and we beelined to a hopping section of town called the Temple Bar where we enjoyed the obligatory pint of Guinness in a classic Irish pub. We had a several hours to kill before check-in and thought we should spend them – some place other than a pub – so what to do?
Donna sort of wanted to see the ancient book of Kells at Trinity College and I really wanted to tour the Jamison distillery. Irish whisky has always been a guilty pleasure I’ve enjoyed – in spite of enjoying it among the turned up noses of my Scotch drinking friends. Donna kindly gave in, so I hailed a cab and instructed our driver to take us straight to Dublin’s most famous distillery. “Jamison’s closed for renovation” he told us, but recommended another place – one that’s actually distilled in Dublin. (What?) Jamison – we discovered – distills all their whisky at a mammoth plant in south Ireland.
We made our way to an historic neighborhood called the Liberties, which during the industrial revolution bustled with manufacturing efforts including 35 distilleries that provided the world with premiere whisky. Newmarket is a renovated shopping area characteristic of the current trend in the Liberties. It’s also the location of Teelings distillery.
I was a bit confused as we signed up for a tour in this newly renovated building. I’d never heard of this brand, in fact I could only think of two Irish whiskies. What happened to all those other distilleries?
Peter Warren is head tour guide at Teelings distillery. They, along with a few other small-batch distilleries are bringing whisky-making back to Dublin. So, what killed a once-thriving industry? The hardships started hitting in the early 1900’s. It started with Ireland’s independence from England, as a result, Irish whiskey was banned from British commonwealth countries – a huge chunk of their market. Thankfully they still had a big customer left – the United States – but – that changed too. Wow, I never realized that our prohibition pretty much nailed the coffin shut on Irish whisky.
Meanwhile Ireland’s neighbor to the northeast was perfecting the blending process using new technologies. By the time Americans started paying attention to Irish whisky again in the 1970s, Scotch had taken over as the world’s premiere whiskey. Only a few large Irish producers survived. But thanks to the current craft distillery movement…things are changing – including the consumer themselves. Peter explained how Irish whiskey drinkers were once viewed as 40 to 50 year old men sitting by a fireplace smoking cigars, but currently a large percentage of whiskey drinkers are females aged 25 to 35.
I found their craft whisky to be smooth and palatable as expected. I agreed with Peter and his peers who believe Irish whisky should be savored and not shot. He told us that when Americans come in and order whiskey on the rocks, they get a shot of whiskey in one glass and a glass of ice in another. He recalled an old saying “Two things you never do in Ireland – sleep with another man’s wife or water down his whiskey. One will get you killed and the other gets you beat up.”
Bring whiskey distilling back to Dublin!
Tour
Mash room
A bit warm in here, is the tasting room next?
Irish whiskey is triple distilled
Your basic copper pot still
Smooth. Don’t shoot it, don’t add water please.
product line
Peter Warren head tour guide will be featured on the next Savory Road feature.