Teeling Whiskey Distillery has welcomed 25,000 visitors to date

The Teeling Whiskey Distillery is reporting that it has had 25,000 visitors since opening its doors to the public in Dublin in June.

Teeling Whiskey Company founder and managing director Jack Teeling, who runs the facility with his brother Stephen, said the number of visitors "surpassed all our expectations". The distillery welcomed its 10,000th visitor in September and numbers have grown through word of mouth.

Previously, Cooley Distillery, which was founded by John Teeling, the father of Jack and Stephen, ran the Kilbeggan Distillery as both as a visitor attraction and a working distillery before it was taken over by Jim Beam.

The Teeling Whiskey Distillery in the Liberties cost €10 million to build and consists of a distillery with a capacity to produce 500,000 litres of whiskey on an annual basis, along with a visitor centre.

“The majority of our visitors have been walk-up tourists who have come and sought us out,” Jack Teeling said.

Grain to spirit

“Our unique offering is that visitors can come here and see the full process from the grain to the spirit, the smell, touch and feel. We have had a good average spend per visitor.”

The Teeling Whiskey Company is expecting between 50,000 and 75,000 visitors next year with 15,000 to 20,000 already booked in through tour groups.

“It’s been a crazy year,” said Jack Teeling, “it feels like it has lasted 112 months not 12 months. We look forward to 2016, growing our branded sales both domestically and internationally while ramping up our production in Newmarket coupled with hopefully a landmark year for us in terms of visitors through our doors.”