Teeling Irish Whiskey's Pots O' Gold

A group of bearded, vested New York City bartenders sits in the Dead Rabbit bar in downtown Manhattan on a Wednesday afternoon in February. They’re waiting for Jack Teeling, who, along with his brother, Stephen, owns a small distillery in Dublin called Teeling Whiskey. Jack is here to pitch his product to America’s trendy mixologists. He’s hoping to get in on the growing craft liquor movement, which, among other oddities, has brought bourbons made in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the resurgence of old-timey spirits such as aquavit and vermouth.

Scotch whisky still outsells Irish whiskey in the U.S. by almost 4 to 1, but the Irish are catching up. In the past 10 years, the amount of Irish whiskey consumed in America has jumped 400 percent, from 500,000 cases to 2.5 million, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. This comes in part from a simple generational shift: Drinkers in their 20s are pouring less vodka and more of what the industry calls “brown juice.” Over the same period, sales of Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey have grown by 20 percent, to 18 million cases. Spirit giant Pernod Ricard, which owns Jameson Irish Whiskey, is running an ad campaign in the U.S. around John Jameson, a real Irishman, playing up his mythical strength and will. Jameson sales are up 13 percent in the past nine months.