Few events this year have been as anticipated as the release of Teeling’s first Single Pot Still Whiskey, but wait no more, the whiskey is up for sale… at auction!
As I’m sure you all know, Teeling Whiskey’s spirit has just hit three years allowing it to be legally described as “Irish Whiskey”. Their first barrel that they are releasing to the general public is a very interesting, 50/50 (50% malted and 50% unmalted barley) Single Pot Still that has been aged exclusively in Muscat barrels.
Aside from the excitement of being the first whiskey released from a Dublin distillery since the close of Powers back in 1975, Teeling has truly crafted a mastermind of marketing for the launch of their first own distilled Dublin spirit. The unique approach for this launch is centered around putting the first 100 bottles of their first barrel up for sale on the UK whisky auction site, whiskyauctioneer.com.
In this speculators market that we find ourselves in, this auction was hotly anticipated. People are heralding this edition as the next whiskey to receive the Dingle Distillery fever. Adding to this fever was the mystery surrounding the details of the post auction sales of this pot still whiskey. In fact, it was unknown, until today, how many more bottles existed from this first cask (the answer is 150, whether they will be sold or are to be gifted is another matter) and what the retail price will be once the auction ends and Teeling Single Pot Still becomes a staple in the collection.
Never the less, this is shaping up to be one of the most successful marketing launches this year and possibly one of the most successful launches I’ve ever seen. Team Teeling were challenged with finding a way to not only release a new whiskey to the world, but also communicate that the distillery has finally got its own juice on the table. In a brilliant move the marketing team in Teeling whiskey seemed to have come up with the ultimate win-win-win solution to this conundrum.
Any high-profile release such as this will attract large scale attention from the dedicated whiskeyphiles, although as we have seen with other releases, restricting the access of the release to a few can harbour ill feelings by those who were not lucky enough to be in the correct geographic location to scoop up the latest release.
This brings me to the first win of the launch, the dedicated consumer wins. This auction format tears down all the barriers to entry and grants consumers from any corner of the globe the ability to bid on this new release. They can be a part of the fever and if they are lucky enough they can also own a part of Teeling whiskey history, no matter if they are in North Dublin or Nairobi.
The second win of this launch must be awarded to the Teeling whiskey company themselves. This launch has encompassed all their whiskey fans from across the globe. As I previously mentioned, this format does not exclude by geography which works to only strengthen the admiration by their whiskey advocates worldwide. Secondly, with such a historic bottling going under the hammer in such a speculators market, we have seen word of the auction sweep through online forums, facebook, twitter and Instagram. The whiskey community is watching and by god are they talking.
The auction will run for ten days, giving the community of enthusiasts ample time to spread the fever and excitement to digital and physical communities in every corner of the world. Teeling has found its advertising force and they are mobilised. There will hardly be a whiskey drinker in the world that will come out of these ten days without learning from a friend, bartender, blogger or ambassador that Teeling has finally launched their own spirit.
Finally, the big winners of course are the local Dublin 8 charities that surround the Teeling whiskey distillery. All profits from the bottles will be donated to these nearby good causes to better the people of the liberties in Dublin. Teeling really embodies the ‘help local, drink local’ mantra. So, go ahead and feel good about that auction bid… its helping charity after all!
Fever is spreading, and the bottle prices are only climbing. Whether you are planning on cracking that wallet and bidding on a piece of history or simply sitting back with some popcorn to watch the madness unfold, the next ten days will be interesting.
I look forward to seeing what their mainstream expression of their Single Pot Still will look/taste like. Teeling has put in a lot of work over the last number of years towards becoming one of the brands to be reckoned with in the Irish industry. They have put out great whiskey and surround themselves with a great team, I’m sure their own spirit will follow suit.
Let’s just hope that the auction price doesn’t reflect the future RRP or else it will be a long time before any of us get a chance to taste Teeling single pot still spirit.
The auction will run from August 31st to September 10th on http://www.whiskyauctioneer.com and is expected to raise thousands for local charities.
If you want to get in on this auction and see how its processing just click, here.