Teeling Whiskey Distillery Tour & Tasting

When in Ireland, as a person who likes Whiskey and is interested in the techniques and different approaches to its creation I had several distilleries on my list. The Teeling Whiskey Distillery Tour was the only one I was able to take part in during this trip and it was a great experience to visit the only new Distillery in Dublin (the next older one is 125 years its senior).

Teeling Whiskey Distillery Tour

You can book the different tours on their Website or buy tickets directly at the counter in the distillery, just be aware that you might not be able to get in directly as the tours have limited tickets and sell out quickly.

I had booked my ticket for the Teeling Whiskey Distillery Tour online, but misread the time, so I got there over an hour early. The customer service team at the counter suggested several things I could visit close by, such as the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but when I told her I had already spent an hour in the park near the cathedral and that most museums had closed at 5 pm and it was now 5:15 pm she gave me a wristband, which you normally get after your tour, which allows you to enter the bar upstairs (for one-hour max. during covid, to avoid overcrowding). So I went into the bar through the exit and got an Irish Coffee.

Irish Coffee: A hot drink consisting of coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar, topped with whipped, but still runny cream.

The tour begins with a small museum within the distillery, showcasing the history of whiskey distilleries in Ireland and Dublin in particular, as well as the family history of the Teelings, who opened their first Distillery in 1782 and opened this new Distillery in 2015.

Afterwards, the guide lead the group through the active distillery and explained the process from mixing the grains and water to distillation. Not only how the process works, but also why each step is important and how it affects the end product. You get to see the three pot stills essential to the production of Teeling Whiskey and learn a cute family fact about them as well.

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Through a corridor illuminated by different coloured lights simulating the different stages of ageing Whiskey, through planks from former whiskey barrels, you reach the next room where they put up a display of whiskey casks and bottles to explain how much the whiskey changes inside the barrels during the ageing process and how evaporation and the barrels themselves affect it.

They also have an exhibit made of the different types of barrels they use and have used in the past to age their whiskey. Including Rum, Bourbon, Port, Cabernet Sauvignon and others.

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Teeling Whiskey Tasting

At the end of the tour, we congregated in a tasting space where every small group had their own table, counter or in my case, being there by myself, a whiskey barrel. For every person, they had set up three glasses on a small table mat. On the mat were descriptions of the three different Whiskeys we were going to try: Teeling Small Batch, Single Grain & Single Malt.

Of course, it wasn’t just descriptions on a mat, our tour guide walked us through the process of sampling Whiskey, then through all three whiskeys, explaining the differences and similarities and how to spot them.