Teeling

The roots of the Teeling brand date back to 1782, when Walter Teeling established a distillery on Marrowbone Lane in Dublin's Liberties district – at a time when there were as many as 37 independent distilleries operating there, known as the whiskey triangle. The distillery was successful, but at the turn of the century it was bought by the Jameson family and subsequently closed as the Irish whiskey market faced a dramatic decline.

In the mid-1980s, John Teeling, an academic and entrepreneur, took up the family legacy and broke the monopoly by founding Cooley Distillery (1987), reviving Irish whiskey in its darkest hour.

After selling Cooley to Beam in 2012, his sons Jack and Stephen Teeling acquired 16,000 barrels of mature whiskey – the basis for their own brand. In 2012, they launched Teeling Whiskey, and three years later, in 2015, they opened a new distillery in Dublin, just a few streets away from the original family site – the first new distillery in the city in more than 125 years.

As Jack Teeling said: ‘We weren't here to compete – we wanted to bring something new while respecting the past.’ The Teeling Distillery is built with an emphasis on celebrating heritage while paving the way for innovation. It is located in the historic Liberties district, not far from the site of the original family distillery. It has a capacity of approximately 500,000 litres per year and is equipped with three copper pot stills. Visitors can take a tour and enjoy a tasting experience.

All Teeling whiskeys are bottled at 46 % ABV and are non-chill-filtered, preserving their natural character.

The most famous lines include:

Small Batch – matured in finished rum casks

Single Grain – matured in Californian Cabernet Sauvignon casks

Single Malt – a blend of whiskeys finished in five wine casks (sherry, port, Madeira, white Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon)

Single Pot Still – a blend of malt and unmalted barley, matured in ex-Muscat casks

The Revival 13-year-old – 12 years in bourbon casks and one year in ex-Calvados casks

Vintage Reserve – premium single malt bottlings, e.g. 24-year-old or 33-year-old exclusive editions

Spirit of Dublin Poitín – traditional Irish unstructured spirit (not whiskey), 50–52.5% ABV

Teeling has won significant awards at prestigious competitions, including the World Whiskies Awards: Best Irish Single Malt, Best Irish Single Grain and others.

In 2017, global gin-and-rum giant Bacardi acquired a 40 % stake in Teeling; by 2023, the stake had increased to 79 %, with the company planning to invest approximately €10 million to double production.

In 2025, Teeling will celebrate 10 years as a pioneer of the Dublin whiskey renaissance. It recently attracted attention with the release of a limited edition 24-year-old single malt Teeling Phoenix Legends – ex-bourbon + Rivesaltes finish, only 1,000 bottles at $500, a cult crossover with the American Notre Dame team.