Teeling Whiskey Distillery

Update 29 Jan 2014: The new distillery was officially announced in a press release today. Here's an artist's rendering of the planned distillery (click to enlarge):

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On a recent Sunday afternoon I took a walk around the proposed site for Teeling's new distillery. It occupies the space between 28-31 Mill Street, to the south, and 13-17 Newmarket Square, to the north, in Dublin's Liberties (or, more prosaically, Dublin 8) (Google Maps).

Newmarket Square is close to Cork Street and Patrick Street, both major arteries, but I'd never seen it before. It's a little residential, a lot industrial and not as pretty or vibrant as it could be, considering its central location and surviving historical fabric.

Newmarket Square

That Sunday, a kite-flying couple were supplying the square's only colour and noise. Until I followed this arrow inside a warehouse, that is:

Almost every Sunday there is some kind of market here, at the Dublin Food Co-op. On "Fusion Sundays", the world comes to Newmarket, bringing its food, crafts, music and dance troupes. This photo doesn't begin to capture the genuinely exotic hubbub:

The distillery site currently shares an unlovely façade with the Co-op. The distillery portion will be entirely reclad in stone with new shuttered windows, a granite-framed archway and various other accenting features. Notable will be a Dutch Billy-style gable, fused with a pagoda kiln roof, and topped by a weather vane in the shape of Teeling's phoenix motif. It is all as visually busy as it sounds but the architects, George Boyle Designs, hope it will "define a new urban edge" along Newmarket.

The existing façade of the distillery building

This remodeled façade will be the entrance to the visitor centre where several floors will host exhibition space, a tasting area, retail, and a café (which will be open to everyone, not just those touring the distillery).

Behind the visitor centre, extending towards Mill Street, will be the working bits of the distillery. The plans describe this as a "micro craft distillery", producing a maximum of 500,000 litres of pure alcohol (lpa) per year, though 200,000 lpa is the short term goal.

There will be three pot stills, the wash still taking a 15,000 litre charge. The intention is to make both malt and pot still spirit. There won't be a column still but Teeling can already source grain spirit from Cooley and, by the time it has whiskey ready to bottle, the Great Northern Distillery should have something available in that line too for blending.

This is a view along the west edge of the distillery, from Mill Street towards Newmarket. The pebble-dashed structure closest is the remains of two old houses. Behind that is the warehouse that will hold the distillery, and behind that again the warehouse that will be converted to a visitor centre.

Mill Lane

Here's a shot along Mill Street. The white building in the foreground is the Dublin Whiskey Company, separated from Teeling by a narrow warehouse. You can just see the entrance to a small yard at the back of Teeling. That's where grain will be delivered and spirit tankered away (there will be no casking on site).

Mill Street

The Teeling planning application makes great play out of the Liberties' long vanished status as a centre for brewing, distilling and malting. With the Teeling distillery, the Dublin Whiskey Company, Alltech, Five Lamps Brewery and Guinness all in the same neighbourhood, the Liberties will soon be able to claim that mantle again.

Writers Tears Cask Strength 2013

Cask strength bottlings from Writers Tears are becoming as reliable a way of marking the passage of years as the annual Midleton Very Rare vintage. Just released is the 2013 edition, the third in the sequence by my count.

The signature style of Writers Tears is a blend of triple-distilled single pot still and single malt whiskeys, with slightly more pot still than malt, matured exclusively in ex-bourbon casks. I'm told there were 7 pot still casks and 5 single malt casks used here. Remember those numbers  - we'll come back to them when The Irishman Cask Strength is released in a couple of weeks.

It's 53% ABV this time around, with a 2,500 bottle run. Of course it's non-chill filtered. The official tasting notes describe it as "a wonderful combination of soft bourbon notes with a light malty subplot. Following through with a creamy oak and spice that gives it magnificent superb complexity which balances its expressive strength."

There are only 200 bottles allocated to Ireland and, for the moment, it can only be had from the Celtic Whiskey Shop at €125. I don't know exactly where the other 2,300 bottles are going but Writers Tears is currently exported to Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Australia, Italy, and Belgium.

Just this week, the company behind Writers Tears renamed itself Walsh Whiskey Distillery and declared its intention to open a new distillery in Carlow, citing the continued growth of the Irish whiskey category. We can perhaps see evidence of that growth in the number of bottles of Writers Tears Cask Strength released each year: 1,200 in 2011, 1,800 in 2012 and 2,500 this year. The company itself grew 35% in 2012.

Walsh Whiskey Distillery

I haven't seen Bernard Walsh, founder of The Irishman and Writers Tears whiskey brands, around of late. At Whisky Live I asked brand manager, Shane Fitzharris, if Bernard was busy working on a new distillery but his perfect poker face wasn't giving anything away.

The cat's out of the bag now though. From the press release:

In early spring 2014, Walsh Whiskey Distillery will submit a planning application for the development of a distillery, maturing warehouses and a visitor centre on 40 acres of pastoral land bounded on one side by the River Barrow at Royal Oak in Carlow. The estate includes an 18th century country house that will be restored as part of the development plan. 

The plan is for the distillery, with capacity to produce 400,000 cases annually, to become operational in 2016. It will have two production lines using both pot stills and column stills which will facilitate Walsh Whiskey Distillery producing all four types of Irish whiskey, namely; pot, malt and grain and blended. The distillery will also have the capacity to distil whiskey under contract for selected private labels most of whom have no means of production. 

The planned distillery visitor centre will cater for 75,000 'whiskey tourists' by 2021.

It's a €25m investment, with significant funding coming from family-owned Italian drinks company, Illva Saronno Holding S.p.A., based in Saronno, near Milan:

Illva Saronno’s CEO, Mr Augusto Reina, travelled from Milan with several of his colleagues to attend the announcement in Dublin. With 17th century origins, Illva Saronno’s portfolio is led by Disaronno, the world’s second largest premium liqueur, and Tia Maria. It also includes Artic Vodka, Isolabella Sambuca, Zucca, and Aurum and Sicilian Wines Duca di Salaparuta, Corvo and Florio among others. These brands are distributed in 160 countries worldwide. Illva also has a significant interest in China’s largest winery, Changyu, and a growing foothold in India, the world’s largest whiskey market (280 million cases annually).

There is some interesting info on the senior team at Walsh Whiskey Distillery...

Founded in 1999 by husband and wife, Bernard and Rosemary Walsh from Carlow, over 14 years they have built a range of international award winning drinks brands including a portfolio of six Irish whiskeys under The Irishman and Writers Tears brands, the Hot Irishman Irish coffee and The Irishman Irish Cream liqueur. 

In addition to the founders, Walsh Whiskey Distillery has built a highly experienced Board and advisory team comprising seasoned executives from the global wine and spirits sector, including:

• Pat Rigney (Managing Director of Fastnet Brands Ltd and Chairperson of The Dalcassian Wine & Spirits Company; founder of Boru Vodka Company and formerly of  Baileys Irish Cream where he was a leader in the development of the Baileys brand and the creator of Sheridans liqueur); 

• John Kickham (Group Managing Director of J. Donohoe Beverages Limited, one of the leading beverage importation, wholesale, distribution and manufacturing group of companies in Ireland); 

• John Chamney (a former C&C International director who played a key role in the development of Tullamore Dew taking it from number 5 to be the number two Irish whiskey brand in the world) and Carolans, the number 2 Irish Cream Liqueur.

... and on the current and projected markets for Walsh whiskey brands:

...the Walsh Whiskey leadership team has overseen revenue growth of 300% in the last 5years. With 95% of sales generated by exports, the Walsh Whiskey Distillery Irish whiskeys are distributed in 30 countries. Five key markets currently account for 70% of sales, these are: the United States, Russia, Scandinavia, France and Germany. In partnership with Illva Saronno and its existing distribution partners, the company plans to gradually expand its network taking in major Asian markets, including India and China, where Illva has significant operations. In anticipation of this expansion the company undertook a comprehensive brand audit earlier this year with the support of Bord Bia.

There is something new here: a multinational drinks company portfolio that includes Irish whiskey brands but not Scotch. Irish whiskey hasn't seen much action in China and India, I suspect because other multinationals prefer to spearhead their efforts there with Scotch blends. I look forward to Irish whiskey gaining more of a profile in those markets.

I wish the best of luck to Bernard and Rosemary Walsh, and to the staff of the Walsh Whiskey Distillery. They have already given us some of the best Irish whiskeys of the last ten years. Here's to many more!

Drinking for your country

It's less than a year since excise duty on a litre of alcohol was hiked from €31.13 to €36.85. Now the Minister for Finance has done it again. From midnight tonight, it rises to €42.57/litre. What does it mean for a bottle of whiskey? Let's see the effect on a typical 700ml bottle of whiskey with an ABV of 40%. We'll include VAT (23%) because it's applied on top of the duty.

Yesterday
Tax = €36.85 x 0.7 x 0.4 x 1.23 = €12.69 

Tomorrow
Tax = €42.57 x 0.7 x 0.4 x 1.23 = €14.66

The typical bottle of spirits, then, will be €1.97 more expensive tomorrow than it was yesterday.

Looking at it from another perspective, if a bottle of whiskey costs €20, how much of that is VAT + excise duty?

VAT = €3.74
Duty = €11.91
Total = €15.65

In other words, 78% of the cost of a €20 bottle of whiskey is tax. Of course any profits that the manufacturer, distributor and retailer make on that bottle are also taxed. There is nothing fair or reasonable about this. It isn't social policy, it's the theft of hard-earned money from citizens and businesses to compensate for our politicians' inability to run an efficient state.

More and more over the last year I've been researching and writing about startups in Ireland's spirits sector. This government just kicked them in the teeth. Again. "Jobs budget", my ass.

Whisky Live Dublin 2013

I was around at the Lord Mayor's pad at the weekend for the third Whisky Live Dublin. Good times. The room was full of people who had carved out a day to chat about nothing but whiskey and there was more tasty liquid than you could shake a Glencairn nosing glass at. What's not to like?

I didn't do any masterclasses this year so I can't comment on those but around the floor these were some highlights for me...

New whiskeys

I got to try a couple of recent whiskeys that I've written about but had yet to sample, like the Teeling Silver Reserve 21yo (slightly peaty, to my surprise) and Palace Bar Fourth Estate (really smooth with a spicy punch at the end), both single malts, both excellent.

Then there were the previews of whiskeys that are about to be released. I'll write about them fully later as they hit the shelves:

• Teeling Single Grain
• Celtic Casks Trí, Ceathair & Cúig (the Celtic Whiskey Shop's latest single cask releases)
• Irishman Cask Strength, Writers Tears Cask Strength
• Irish Whiskey Society Teeling Blended Whiskey (exclusively available to members shortly)

Kilbeggan Distilling Co (KDC) (formerly Cooley, now part of Beam) has a 12 year old single malt on the way, though I'm not sure when exactly. Traditionally, Cooley reserved the Tyrconnell label for its unpeated single malts but this one will be a Kilbeggan to associate it more clearly with the distillery. That's understandable but it can't bode well for the Tyrconnell brand. (Last year, the 250th anniversary of the 1762 date on the label passed without a fuss.)

Palace Bar whiskeys, old and new

On the non-Irish side of the Beam portfolio local distributors Barry & Fitzwilliam had Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Makers Mark and Canadian Club (and perhaps more that I don't recall). All good stuff but it would create a bit of a talking point if they sourced something unusual from the back pages of the Beam catalogue, like Bookers (or even Red Stag Spiced, which I'm keen to try). Even if there is no plan to distribute them here.

Irish Distillers put on a great display again with its expanding range of pot stills. Announced just before Whisky Live, Redbreast 21yo was still causing a lot of buzz.

Something I'm still thinking about days later is the RubyBlue Chilli Pepper Liqueur. It's grain spirit infused with chillies (which are still in the bottle when you buy it). It has a very clean, fresh flavour and a fairly hot kick behind it. RubyBlue's Barbara Hughes recommends a splash in hot chocolate. You might know RubyBlue under its previous incarnation, Boozeberries. The three original infusions - blackcurrant, wild cranberry and blueberry - are still available, along with the new Chilli Pepper.

The horse's mouth

Noel Sweeney, KDC's Master Distiller, was on hand and as wonderfully illuminating to talk to as ever. Shane Fitzharris, Global Brand Manager at The Irishman, filled me in on the thinking behind the new bottle designs and the differences between the new cask strengths. I met Willie McCarter for the second time (the first time being at the Irish Whiskey Awards) and talked about the work of the Irish Spirits Association.

I often refer to Heidi Donelon's Ireland Whiskey Trail site for hard-to-find information about Ireland's whiskey history, pubs, etc. There is something new and very useful on the way from Heidi. I look forward to seeing that.

I discussed Riedel glassware, the relaunch of CHQ and the availability of Yellow Spot this Christmas with Jonathan and Robert Mitchell from Mitchell & Son. No hints about Red Spot though!

The new guys

Dingle Distillery shows up at every event where fine Irish craft foods and drinks are showcased, building anticipation for their maturing whiskey. Of course they have their gin and vodka to please palates with in the meantime.

Alltech are also filling a warehouse with maturing Irish spirit at the moment but they were pouring their bourbon barrel-matured Kentucky Ale, and Town Branch Bourbon and Pearse Lyons Reserve Single Malt. There was a permanent crowd around the Alltech stand so I didn't even get to say Hi to them on the day.

I caught up with their news at the Irish Whiskey Awards though. I've already posted about the new Alltech Dublin distillery. The barrel reuse sequence at Alltech is also interesting. As the laws governing bourbon require, Town Branch bourbon is matured in virgin oak casks. Once emptied, those casks are used for up to 6 weeks to mature the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. They are then rinsed out and either used to age the Pearse Lyons Reserve single malt or they are sent to Ireland to mature the spirit that is being made here.

I have been wondering if the current trend for oak-ageing beer was going to interfere with the availability of ex-bourbon casks for the Irish whiskey industry, or if beer would, perhaps, render subsequent reuse impossible. It seems we don't have to worry, that the casks can accommodate this new use. Will it influence the flavour of the whiskey? We shall see in a few years' time.

None of the other new or upcoming distilleries were there. Perhaps it's expensive to rent space at Whisky Live, and of course they have yet to generate a positive cashflow. If any of them are concerned about not having spirit to pour, I would suggest bringing along a heap of chocolate, crisps, or something from the distillery's locale to share, set them atop an upended cask and engage passers-by in conversation. There was a serious dearth of nibbles among all the drink so it would be very welcome. It's never too early to get to know your customers.

Showing how it's done, Brooks Hotel were there. We know the guys from Brooks very well at this stage because the Irish Whiskey Society holds its monthly meetings in one of their rooms. They have a huge selection of whiskey in their bar but for Whisky Live they brought along cookies made by their chef, flavoured with elderflower that he foraged himself. How classy is that?!

Roll call

Whisky Live did seem a bit muted this year. Notable by their absence were Bushmills (Diageo) and Tullamore Dew (William Grant). (Aside: I was shown around the Mansion House proper by the Lord Mayor a few years ago. If I recall correctly, there is a small bar there for functions, sponsored by Diageo.)

Perhaps it's the size of the market, or the cost of exhibiting. Or whiskey show fatigue (Whisky Live Paris was the previous weekend, while The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show was happening simultaneously in London.)

Even is it's only Irish distillers, bars and sellers that turn up, I'm happy. I always leave far better informed about Irish whiskey than when I arrived.

Alltech distillery moving to Dublin

The Alltech stills that have been producing malt spirit in Carlow for the past year are moving to Dublin. Dr Pearse Lyons, Alltech's owner, has announced he is buying a former church on James's Street (view on Google Maps). I took a few snaps of the location yesterday as the sun was going down.

It's a small Gothic Church, built in 1859-60. The tower looks truncated because its spire was removed in 1948. Once Church of Ireland, it was converted to commercial use some years ago.

Redevelopment as a distillery depends on a successful application for planning permission. Since the site directly abuts the enormous Guinness brewery, it must surely stand a good chance. Also James's Street is the continuation of Thomas Street, which was formerly home to two distilleries, George Roe and Powers, the last of which only closed in 1976. It will give efforts to regenerate Thomas Street a hefty boost.

It's only a stone's throw too from the Guinness Storehouse, Ireland's most popular tourist attraction, getting over a million visitors a year.

Alltech have yet to name the whiskey that they are currently laying down in Ireland. At a couple of recent events they have been soliciting suggestions from the public with a case of the spirit as a prize. I can't find any mention of the competition online but if it appears I'll post the link on Twitter.

The former St James Church, with the Guinness brewery in the background

Irish Whiskey Awards 2013

Twice this year I've been in a room where you could feel the energy and excitement of the growing Irish whiskey industry. The first time was at Alltech's Craft Brewing and Distilling Convention. The second time was on Friday evening at the first Irish Whiskey Awards, held at the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin. Imagine makers and marketers, enthusiasts and journalists, barkeeps and traders renewing acquaintances, forging new ones, swapping gossip and tips, hinting at secret plans, inventing new cocktails^*.

Such gatherings are creating a real community which will contribute to the success of the industry as a whole, I'm sure.

There is nobody better placed or more trusted by that community to initiate an annual awards ceremony than Ally Alpine, owner of the Irish whiskey nexus known as the Celtic Whiskey Shop. It's time, as Ally says, to celebrate the diversity and quality of Irish whiskey. It's truly a new Golden Age.

To judge, Ally drafted the members of the shop's Celtic Whiskey Club who were able to sample the contenders in the shop or at a formal, blind tasting. Irish Whiskey Society members were guest judges for the Single Malt category.

Ally modestly excluded his own whiskeys from contention but warned that was only for the first year. Next year he is totally bringing it.

Here are the 2013 winners. Many of the categories were closely fought which is testament to the quality of Irish whiskey across the board.

Best Blended Whiskey (under €50): Writers Tears
Some day there might be a Pot Still Blend category for whiskeys that are vattings of pot still and malt, like Writers Tears and Irishman Founder's Reserve. Until then, though, Writers Tears competes like a heavyweight in the welterweight general blend category.

Best Blended Whiskey (over €50): Midleton Very Rare 2013
I haven't tried this latest Midleton VR but I'm inclined to rate Jameson Gold and Kilbeggan 18 ahead of the the Midleton vintages in general.

Best Single Pot Still Whiskey: Redbreast 15 Year Old
Only Irish Distillers makes single pot still whiskeys at the moment so they were guaranteed to walk away with this one. All the pot stills are good, each has its dedicated fans and any of them could justifiably have won. I'm a little surprised that Powers John's Lane didn't end up in the top three, however. The Redbreast Cask Strength wasn't considered in this category since it was already included under another heading.

Best Irish Single Cask Whiskey: Tyrconnell 14 Year Old Cask 204/96
I confess I missed this whiskey when it came out. The days of regular Tyrconnell single casks are gone but this one somehow escaped the warehouse, with the full allocation going to the Celtic Whiskey Shop.

Kilbeggan Distillery Co.'s Master Distiller Noel Sweeney (right) accepting the award from Ally Alpine (left) and Willie McCarter, Chairman of the Irish Spirits Association 

Best Irish Cask Strength Whiskey: Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength

Best Irish Single Malt: Bushmills 21 Year Old
The members of the Irish Whiskey Society were asked to vote on this one so I had a small hand in the selection. I chose the Bushmills 21 year old and, trying it again on the night, I think the right whiskey won.

Irish Whiskey Bar of the Year: L. Mulligan Grocers, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7
There was a danger that Mulligan's and WJ Kavanagh's in Dorset Street - under common ownership - would suffer from a split vote but as it turned out Mulligan's won and Kavanagh's was runner-up. A large number of attendees felt one more round of judging might be in order and so relocated proceedings to Mulligan's after the ceremony.

Irish Poitín of the Year: Teeling Whiskey Company Poitín
It's marvellous that there are enough poitíns to make this a real competition. This one should perhaps be judged by mixologists in future years. The successful poitíns will be those that create the best cocktails, in my opinion.

Overall Irish Whiskey of the Year: Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength
It was a really good showing for the Redbreast range, even without the most recent addition, the superb Redbreast 21 Year old.

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^*I was inspired on the night to invent the Pink Poitín cocktail! Same idea as a pink gin. Swill a few dashes of Angostura Bitters around in a glass, then add a measure of 40% Glendalough poitín. It's like a cool mulled wine. Delicious! I need to experiment with chilling and exactly how many dashes of bitters is optimum. The pink gin, by the way, was invented by the Royal Navy. Willie Murphy, a bartending colleague from the whiskey society, was telling me of its enduring popularity among ex-military types.

The Palace Bar Fourth Estate Single Malt

Many Dublin pubs still proclaim themselves "whiskey bonders" on their signage, a throwback to the days when they could buy loose whiskey from distilleries to bottle themselves and serve to their customers. That practice had died out by the 1970s as the distillers took bottling and branding in-house.

One of the great Dublin pubs, The Palace Bar, revived the tradition in 2011 with a Palace Bar 9-year old single cask single malt from Cooley. It's a good whiskey and still stocked behind the bar.

Today the pub has announced a new collaboration with the Teeling Whiskey Company. The Palace Bar "Fourth Estate" Single Malt is the first in a series of exclusive releases. The whiskey was selected by third-generation owner, Willie Aherne, and bar patrons, and hand-bottled and labelled by Willie along with his father, Liam.

There are 1,000 bottles at 46% ABV (non-chill filtered, of course). It's a combination of several casks, of which the press release reveals few details except that it includes some whiskey over 21 years old. In this it sounds similar to The Gathering from a few months back, also created by Teeling. I haven't tried the new whiskey yet so I can't offer an opinion on the family resemblance.

As a single malt, it all comes from the one distillery, and I don't think it's giving away any state secrets to say it's not a Cooley this time around.

The name, "Fourth Estate", refers to the Palace's status as a watering hole and "office" for Dublin's journalists and newspaper workers in the 1940s and 50s. (It's a nice coincidence that the bar's address is Fleet Street, which is another catch-all term for the press in the UK.) The label reproduces a 1940s illustration by Alan Reeves of the denizens of the Palace's back lounge. The original still hangs there and you can have fun picking out Smyllie of The Irish Times and various other well-known journalistic and literary wordsmiths.

It's a nice, unforced homage to Dublin history and to the Aherne family's role as host and lubricator. The journalists may have dispersed or sobered up but it's good to know you can still order a measure of something special at the bar.

There will be more exciting whiskey news from The Palace in a couple of weeks' time, so stay tuned.

Palace Whiskey bottled by Willie Aherne's grandfather in the 1950s or 60s