Never shy to experiment, Teeling Distillery has developed into a whiskey maker of international standing

Teeling has championed cask finishes since they opened their then-craft distillery in 2012. Thirteen years later the Dublin whiskey makers have conquered the world, building a world-class whiskey brand and attracting major investment. Bacardi now owns a majority stake in the company, said to be around 79%, while the distillery’s family founders retain a minority stake. 

Bacardi’s first public plan is to significantly develop Teeling’s international footprint and manage all distribution of the young brand worldwide. Prepare to see Teeling anywhere that whiskey is sold.

Collaboration and cask experimentation has always been a driving force at the distillery, so much so that some fans struggle to keep up with the cycle of releases from its Dublin home. The Teeling brand continues to jump off the shelves with dramatically fresh flavours and strong personalities. Here are three tasty releases, each with collaboration, experimentation and reinvention at their heart.

Teeling Small Batch Pineapple Rum

This sweet and luscious finish results from a collaboration between Dublin’s Teeling and Barbados-based Plantation Rum. Teeling has worked with the rum makers before, and this blended whiskey gets its finish in a cask that previously held the rum maker’s hugely popular Plantation Pineapple Stiggan’s Fancy Rum. This is a blended white and dark rum infused with pineapple in cask for up to three months. 

Initially matured in ex-bourbon, the Teeling whiskey then gets its 12-month-long touch of the tropics in this pineapple rum cask and is bottled at 49.2%. Part of the distillery’s Small Batch series, it’s a wonderfully tasty pour with layers of dark sugar, pineapple (of course), cinnamon, molasses and spice. A real treat for Teeling fans.

Teeling Galway Bay Imperial Stout Cask

One of Teeling’s early collaborations was with the Galway Bay Brewery in creating their 200 Fathoms Imperial Stout. Teeling would send them whiskey casks to age their stout, and now, in a full-circle moment, those casks have come home to layer their stout flavour into the whiskey.

200 Fathoms is a 10.8% barrel-aged stout, and its notes of chocolate, molasses, coffee and dark sugar transfer beautifully between the whiskey and stout. This release is a triple-distilled blend that is bottled at Teeling’s favourite 46%. As well as all the stout flavour inputs, you can expect a complex and rich whiskey dominated by the Teeling DNA.

Teeling Explorer Series Japanese Edition

This 15-year-old blend is a significant player in Teeling’s award-winning explorer Series, designed to celebrate the journeys taken by Irish people worldwide. This edition is finished in Japanese Mugi Shochu, a traditional Japanese distilled liquor sometimes considered similar in style to barley wine. 

Matured for 11 years in ex-bourbon, the whiskey got an extended finish of four years in the Mugi Shochu barrels, giving it lots of Japanese flavour patterns like lychee and passionfruit. This is a wonderfully aromatic whiskey and is bottled at 46%.

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