1009868 Teeling Whiskey Distillery

Teeling were the first of the tourist-places-with-pub-licences out of the traps to reopen after lockdown, resuming tours on the first allowable day back on the 29th of June. As I wanted to go to at least two places if bothering to mask up and head in to the city, I waited for some others to join them.

They have put significant effort in to providing a socially distanced setup for the tours; with a limited number of places on each tour and marked off "pods" to stand/sit with those you have come in with at each stage of the tour and in the tasting bar at the end. 

As the only people on our tour (the one after had a healthier number), this pod system did not become particularly important except in locating where our pre-poured tasters were in the tasting bar afterwards.

The distillery was very much in action, with both open top fermenters bubbling away and two stills pouring in the spirit safe - this is no museum tour; and the tour guide was well informed on the topic in general as well as the Teeling specifics. 

You can decide what level of tasting you want afterwards, with cheaper and dearer options available - we went for the Trinity level which is their main Small Batch product, the Single Grain and the Single Malt; but there is both a cheaper (Small Batch & a cocktail) and dearer (Small Batch, Single Malt, "Distillery Exclusive" and Single Pot Still) level available. I've never been great at writing tasting notes for whiskey, but I'd rate them in the order of Single Malt -> Small Batch -> Single Grain; with even the Single Grain still being decent. I believe these are all still distilled elsewhere, as the distillery has only been operational for 5 years.

Distillery and mainstream brewery tours rely heavily on tourist traffic, both bus tours and walk-ins from those visiting the city. With none of the former and very little of the latter at the moment now would be a good time to head in