The Louth Whiskey Society is thrilled to invite you to an exclusive fireside chat and whiskey tasting with Dr. John Teeling, a pivotal figure in the Irish whiskey industry. Join us on Thursday, September 12th, at 7:00 pm in Russell’s Saloon for an evening of insight, history and fine whiskey.
Event Details:
During this event, we’ll have the unique opportunity to discuss the past, present, and future of Irish whiskey with one of its most prolific entrepreneurs and sample 4 whiskies.
Dr. John Teeling is widely recognized as the father of the Irish whiskey renaissance. While pursuing his doctoral studies at Harvard in 1970, he analyzed the dramatic decline of Irish whiskey, which once held approximately 60% of the global market in 1850 with hundreds of distilleries, only to become a monopoly by 1973 with less than 2% of global sales, overshadowed by Scotch. This research was the catalyst for his journey into the whiskey business.
It took Dr. Teeling 16 years to gather the necessary resources to establish his distillery. In the interim, he lectured in Business Administration at University College Dublin and successfully launched several mining and oil exploration ventures. In 1986, he founded Cooley Distillery, and 19 years later, he resurrected the historic Locke’s Distillery in Kilbeggan. A key innovation at Cooley was the use of both column stills and pot stills, allowing the distillery to produce a full range of whiskeys, from heavily peated to single grain, which quickly found their way onto shelves worldwide.
The Cooley venture was not without challenges—it took 11 years to turn a profit and 15 years to break even. However, shifting consumer preferences in the early 2000s sparked a surge in demand for Irish whiskey, leading to booming sales. Cooley was ultimately acquired by Beam/Suntory in early 2012.
In 2013, Dr. Teeling re-entered the whiskey industry by acquiring the Harp Brewery in Dundalk and establishing the Great Northern Distillery. Today, the Great Northern Distillery is a leading supplier of a wide range of malt, pot still, and grain whiskey.
Dr. Teeling’s academic credentials are equally impressive. He holds degrees from University College Dublin (B.Comm., M.Econ.Sc.), the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (MBA), and a doctorate from Harvard Business School.