John Teeling is probably the most influential figure in the modern Irish whiskey industry. In 1987 he bought a potato ethanol plant off the Irish government converting it into what is now the Cooley Distillery. When it opened in 1989, it became just the second operational whiskey distillery in the Irish Republic. Including Bushmills in Northern Ireland, it was one of only three distilleries on the Emerald Isle. The Irish whiskey industry had hit rock bottom a few decades earlier, having suffered a precipitous fall from its perch as the most respected producer in the world at the end of the 19th Century. John Teeling saw and opportunity and he took it. In turn he sowed the seeds of the explosion in Irish Distilling taking place today.

The Teeling family’s connection with whiskey making goes to at least the 1780s. Walter Teeling established a distillery in the Liberties area of Dublin in 1782 on Marrowbone Lane. Dublin was an epicenter for distilling in the 19th century, with no fewer than 37 operating distilleries. The Liberties was known as the Golden Triangle. The Teeling Distillery was sold to William Jameson & Co., a distant relation to John Jameson, who had their own distillery also on Marrowbone lane. The Marrowbone Lane Distillery was one of Dublin’s big 4, it covered 16 acres and had more than 200 employees.

The turn of the 20th Century and its first couple of decades were not kind to the Irish whiskey industry. The Irish were stubbornly traditional, and didn’t adopt some of the new technologies and techniques that their Scottish neighbours did. The Irish industry was already in rapid decline when the War or Independence and Civil War brought it to its knees. Prohibition in the United States was the straw that finally broke its back. Marrowbone Lane Distillery closed in 1923. In 1966 Ireland’s three remaining distilleries joined forces to form Irish Distillers, and moved production to the massive new Midleton Distillery in Cork.

John Teeling’s Cooley Distillery was a breath fresh air to an industry where almost every single Irish whiskey brand was coming from just one distillery, Midleton. Cooley opened with both column and pot stills. Notably for its single malts Teeling opted to double only distill his whisky like the Scots, instead of the more traditional triple distillation historically favoured by the Irish whiskey industry. Teeling believed the triple distillation removed too much of the flavour. The Cooley distillery and its brand made quite a name for themselves, and in 2011 the distillery was purchased by American whiskey giant Beam Inc. Beam Inc. was in turn purchase by Suntory of Japan in 2014, becoming the World’s third largest whisk(e)y company.

John Teeling & his Sons left Cooley with not just the €71 million Beam paid to acquire the distillery, but also a significant proportion of the maturing whiskey

stocks. Jack Teeling, John’s son, used the 16,000 casks acquired from the sale to start Teeling Whiskey in 2012, bottling whiskey under the family name for the first time in over a century. Jack was joined a couple years later by his brother Stephen. Together the current generation of Teelings has gone on to found the Teeling Distillery in Dublin in 2015. Located in Market Square, not far from the original distillery on Marrowbone Lane, the new Teeling Distillery is first to be built in Dublin in 125 years. As with Scotch and Canadian whisky, the spirit must mature at least 3 years in oak before it can be called Irish Whiskey. The new distillery’s first official whiskey, distilled in Dublin, just came of age late last year! The Teeling family’s place in the pantheon of Irish Distillers has never felt more secure.

The new Distillery is walking distance from central Dublin, and has a wonderful visitor center. It will still be a few years until the whiskey distilled in the heart of Dublin is of sufficient age and quantity to be regularly bottled and exported, though you may find some at the distillery. In the meantime the Teeling family’s legacy stock will continue to grow the brand’s renown around the world. The Teeling Single Grain ($67) watered in California red wine barrels is a lovely entry point to the range. Soft, fruity and elegant. The Teeling Single Malt ($72), married from a combination of 5 different cask types, is round, full bodied and complex. The Teeling Small Batch Blend ($54), finished in ex-Rum barrels is amazing value. And if you are really lucky you might stumble across the odd independent bottling of “mystery Irish single malt” from independent bottlers like Cadenheads or the more obscure like Sansibar, The Whisky Agency and Maltbarn. These whiskies are almost all Teeling stock distilled at Cooley, and bottled under different labels. They are spectacular!