Ireland’s new irish whiskey distilleries

[Jono]

http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2014/03/irelands-new-irish-whiskey-distilleries/

I did not realize so many were being built. In a few years we will start to see quite a new selection

from Ireland.

[tanstaafl2]

http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2014/03/irelands-new-irish-whiskey-distilleries/

I did not realize so many were being built. In a few years we will start to see quite a new selection

from Ireland.

It is always a challenge to get the full information on what is happening in Ireland, especially given the tremendous boom that seems to be occurring in Irish distillery planning. A few places this article didn't mention that are discussed in this post include West Cork, Glendalough and the Dublin Whiskey Company. I don't know if any of these three have a working distillery yet but Glendalough and West Cork both produce a sourced whiskey under their label.

But it will likely be more than a few years before we see any new mature whiskey available! For now the big 3 remain the only source available.

[Jono]

It is always a challenge to get the full information on what is happening in Ireland, especially given the tremendous boom that seems to be occurring in Irish distillery planning. A few places this article didn't mention that are discussed in this post include West Cork, Glendalough and the Dublin Whiskey Company. I don't know if any of these three have a working distillery yet but Glendalough and West Cork both produce a sourced whiskey under their label.

But it will likely be more than a few years before we see any new mature whiskey available! For now the big 3 remain the only source available.

I would also expect more "craft presentations", single malts etc.

[tanstaafl2]

I would also expect more "craft presentations", single malts etc.

That is already happening with the new releases from Teeling which are rebadged variations on the Cooley stock they kept when they sold Cooley to Beam. Various extra finishes have been evident on the single grain, the blended whiskey and especially the single malt they have released. The Teeling single malt, not yet available in the US, is one of my targets during my upcoming trip across the pond. it is a blend of various malts that includes barrels that are over 20 years old and have been finished in Sherry, Port, Madeira, White Burgundy and Cabernet Sauvignon. Talk about overkill!

In addition some of these new distilleries have already indicated that they intend to primarily provide whiskey for the NDP market which I suppose would make them the Irish equivalent of MGP!

[Jono]

Right, Teeling will have two operations...."The Great Northern Distillery will be committed to providing liquid to supply the private label and bulk whiskey sectors, as well as to the “emerging craft distilling sector”.

[tanstaafl2]

Right, Teeling will have two operations...."The Great Northern Distillery will be committed to providing liquid to supply the private label and bulk whiskey sectors, as well as to the “emerging craft distilling sector”.

It does seem a bit hard to decipher the involvement of the Teeling family in these two operations. The father, John, is the lead for Irish Whiskey Company which will operate the Great Northern Distillery while the Teeling Whiskey Company, supposedly a separate entity with no direct connection the other company, is owned and run by his sons, Jack and Stephen. But the sons also apparently have a part ownership, at least as investors, in the Great Northern Distillery. Don't know how or if the father is involved in the new Teeling Distillery now getting up and running in Dublin.

From what I have read the new Teeling distillery in Dublin has no column stills, only pot stills. So if they continue to do a blended whiskey they will need grain whiskey from somewhere. Like Great Northern perhaps...

[brockagh]

The Teeling stock also includes double distilled Bushmills... The Great Northern and the Teeling Distillery are very different operations. The former will eventually have pot stills too... Mark Reynier, formerly of Bruichladdich, is opening a distillery in Waterford too. And there are lots more on the way.

[tanstaafl2]

The Teeling stock also includes double distilled Bushmills... The Great Northern and the Teeling Distillery are very different operations. The former will eventually have pot stills too... Mark Reynier, formerly of Bruichladdich, is opening a distillery in Waterford too. And there are lots more on the way.

Does Bushmills put anything out under the Bushmills name that is double distilled? As far as I know the regular line from the White label blend to the 21yo single malt is all triple distilled.

[brockagh]

Not so far as I know. They may have sold all the double distilled stuff to the Teelings. It was produced when Frank McHardy was distillery manager at Bushmills.

[tanstaafl2]

Not so far as I know. They may have sold all the double distilled stuff to the Teelings. It was produced when Frank McHardy was distillery manager at Bushmills.

OK, interesting. Probably hard to pick out since most all Cooley whiskey made during the Teeling era was double distilled. Don't know if that has changed under the new management.

And we won't have anything of real interest (other than curiosity about the new mashbills and how they are developing!) from these new operations for years to come.

[brockagh]

OK, interesting. Probably hard to pick out since most all Cooley whiskey made during the Teeling era was double distilled. Don't know if that has changed under the new management.

And we won't have anything of real interest (other than curiosity about the new mashbills and how they are developing!) from these new operations for years to come.

Actually, I think most of the stuff they have is from 1988 or 1991... The 1988 stuff was distilled before Cooley officially opened. They have some older stuff too. I am not sure how much Cooley stock they have at all - and maybe the Cooley stock they have is very, very young. The younger whiskeys they've been releasing are 11, 12, 13 years old. This could be Bushmills too, but I'm not sure.

The Irish stuff from the independent bottlers from 1991 and 1998 you see is likely the double-distilled Bushmills too.