{"id":10088,"date":"2024-02-10T14:46:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-10T14:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/irish-festive-fun-with-teeling-and-a-rather-strong-poitin\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T10:18:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:18:56","slug":"irish-festive-fun-with-teeling-and-a-rather-strong-poitin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/irish-festive-fun-with-teeling-and-a-rather-strong-poitin\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting The Teeling Whiskey Distillery In Dublin: Tour And Tasting Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Straight after our afternoon sampling, all the Guinness storehouse had to offer (see part 1 here<\/a> and part 2 here<\/a>), we headed back to the hotel which was understandably rather festively decorated.<\/p>\n

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Maybe I’d just been away from London for so long and missed it but it definitely seemed like the Irish (or at least Dubliners) take Christmas a lot more serious than back in London. Everything everywhere was done up to the nines – and I mean everywhere.<\/p>\n

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With a foiled attempt at napping (thanks to this post<\/a>), we put our glad-rags on and got ourselves ready for what was promising to be a rather exciting party!<\/p>\n

First stop, though, a trip to the Teeling Whiskey distillery<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Our friend Niamh had been invited over and we just decided to tag along – after all, a trip to Ireland is incomplete without a little sampling of whiskey (right?).
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We weaved our way through tempting cake shops and signs that seemed to call our names (case in point below) as we headed in search of whiskey… and with any luck – some mince pies.<\/p>\n

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The fact that I thought about mince pies on the walk over somehow meant that by the time I arrived, all I could think about was mince pies.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, there were loads on hand and literally all my manners flew out of the window as I proceeded to scoff my way through the lot.<\/p>\n

I even got some extra for Lloyd who’d just popped to the loo but they were just so heavy I had to eat them.<\/p>\n

Okay, fine they weren’t heavy at all but it’s not my fault for prioritising eating pies over popping to the loo – we all needed the loo, some of us just stuck it out till we had our pies.<\/p>\n

And with that, I now realise that I’ve been talking about mince pies for far too long so awkwardly and swiftly moving on…<\/p>\n

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…we made our way through the distillery…<\/p>\n

…where a trio of carollers serenaded us as we checked out the distillery.<\/p>\n

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I’d no idea tours of the distillery were even going on at this point, I was a slave to the hunger in my tummy so with that beast slightly sated, I paid a bit more attention and realised we could go on a guided tour.<\/p>\n

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I don’t even know where I got that candy cane from. All I know is that I found 3 more in my pockets the next day.<\/p>\n

The tour was fascinating but in truth, I don’t think I’m any wiser about how to make whiskey. I think I was just so enthralled by the machinery and work that goes into what a lot of us no doubt would refer to as a ‘fun night in a bottle’. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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The one thing that did stick in my memory was this bottle below. See, it a bottle of Poitin which is an alchol made of potatoes. I say alcohol rather than specify what sort of alcohol it is as I think it’s its very own drink. Even wikipedia refers to it as a an Irish distilled beverage.<\/p>\n

Now what’s interesting about Poitin? Well back in the day, Poitin was made so strongly, that it was almost pure alcohol! We’re talking 90% ABV here – it was one of the strongest in the world. So strong that the government banned it. This ban has only been recently lifted, as long as (if I remember correctly), it not allowed to go above 80% ABV. The version below is 61.5% ABV which is tame by Poitin standards but pretty strong by today’s standards!<\/p>\n

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I knew I had to sample a little bit to see what it tasted like.<\/p>\n

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…and no, that’s not it above! \ud83d\ude42
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We made our way to our own booth, where the whiskey tasting and education started.<\/p>\n

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Partway through though, I couldn’t resist it anymore and had to ask to taste Poitin. Oh boy, does it pack some punch! I had the tiniest sip to start and could still feel it long afterwards.<\/p>\n

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Eventually, we had to say our goodbyes and head off to our party to celebrate the 15th birthday of the Guinness Storehouse.<\/p>\n

Read more: Best places in Ireland to see<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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19 Best Places In Ireland To Visit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n