Teeling Whiskey, run by brothers Stephen and Jack Teeling, is the first distillery to produce the liquor in Dublin in more than a century. Dublin hasn’t produced whiskey since 1942, and hasn’t had a distillery open in over 125 years.
“When you're younger,” says Stephen, “the idea of working in a family business is the last thing you ever think you're going to end up doing. It's not until you leave and do other things that you realize how good you had it, and that there'd be nothing else that you would have more passion for.”
“Our whiskey is about quality, but it’s more about challenging the perception of what Irish whiskey was. It’s about higher alcohol content and distilling innovations. We’re not another $19.99, entry-level Irish whiskey or large multinational brand; everything we do is in small batches, and we hand-select casks of malt and grain which we then marry in a rum cask. People get that. They want choice and breath of a flavor profile.” says Stephen Teeling, the younger of the two brothers.
"We are respectful to the past but confident enough to forge ahead with our own interpretation of the way in which Irish whiskey should be produced."
“We’d seen this curiosity around chefs and restaurants in Dublin that wanted bold flavors that could match with our whiskeys, and so we have worked with some of the best restaurants here,” explains Stephen.
Photos via Teeling Whiskey and Flickr