Teelings Goes Green
In June, the whiskey distillery opened its doors after months of renovating and building. Teeling’s Whiskey is the first distillery in Dublin to open its doors in over 125 years. The Teeling family first set up their small craft distillery the Liberties back in 1782 owned by Walter Teeling. The small distillery was located on Marrowbone Lane, not far from where the present Distillery has opened (Newmarket Square). The present Teeling Whiskey Company was founded in 2012 and is co-owned by the Teeling brothers (Stephen and Jack Teeling).
The Teelings’ invested €10 million in the new distillery, joining a whiskey industry which sells more than 60 million litres of Irish whiskey each year. Irish whiskey is in high demand worldwide recovering ground originally lost to Scotch at the start of the 20th Century. Of all the exported beverages that Ireland supplies the rest of the world with, whiskey accounts for 28% of that amount, making €350 million per trading year.
But the distillery is not only a place where good whiskey is made, there is also a visitor’s centre where whiskey lovers can go on whiskey tasting tours. The visitor’s centre also hosts a café, a bar and event space for private events. The tour details how whiskey is distilled, matured and blended. It is affordable to visit, entrance will only set you back €14, but you also have a choice of tours that allows you to taste from the different malts and vintage selections that Teeling’s produces.
In August, Teeling Whiskey Distillery signed a deal with Vayu Energy who will supply the distilery with natural gas and 100% green electricity that will cost Teeling Whiskey €250,000 per year. The deal will see the distillery operate an environmentally friendly enterprise.
They also have installed a rainwater harvesting system in the distillery. There is a well onsite, to help save water and the heat from the distillery is being applied to the visitor centre to keep the centre heated. The company is making effort to reduce its carbon footprint, which of course aids in saving the environment.
In a recent business article Jack Teeling was quoted saying: “We take a very hands-on approach across every aspect of our production process to ensure that each bottle of Teeling is crafted to the highest standard possible. As a local craft producer, environmental sustainability is at the heart of our business model and expansion strategy. This is reflected in our partnership with Vayu which will help us minimise our environmental footprint by providing us with green electricity with a 100% renewable rating. Not only does the deal provide our business with significant cost benefits through direct access to wholesale energy prices, but we are partnering with a company that has demonstrated a deep understanding and expertise of Ireland’s energy market.”
Green concerns aside Teelings Whiskey is well worth a visit.
