An Interview with John Teeling of the Cooley Distillery,
Ireland By Jim Clarke
Jim Clarke: Given Irish Distiller Group's monopoly
of Irish whiskey at the time, what motivated you to start up the Cooley Distillery?
John Teeling: The decision to set up Cooley originated at Harvard in
1971 after I wrote two papers as part of a doctoral program in business. The
papers dealt with the decline of Irish whiskey from a prominent position in
the world in the 19th century to a position where its sales were only 2% of
Scotch whiskey sales.
The number of Irish distilleries had fallen to two by 1970
from over 100 in 1886. In 1974 the industry became a monopoly when Seagrams
sold Bushmills to United Distillers of Ireland. The monopoly remained until
Cooley set up in 1987.
Having completed the two papers, I was sitting in the Plough
and Stars Bar, 952 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge, with my friend Willie McCarter,
currently a director of Cooley, when I realized that I could create a distillery
and do a better job than the current distillers. In 1971 I was a student with
no money. Sixteen years later with experience, some money, a wife and kids,
I set up Cooley.
JC: When you began distilling were you aiming for a
certain style of whiskey? JT: The original plan called for two whiskeys to meet modern tastes.
The older products, Jameson, Bushmills, etc., were perceived as heavier and
stronger than Scotch. I proposed to innovate by producing a pure pot-stilled
single malt and a lighter, sweeter blend. Believe it or not, 33 years later
we still have these products: Tyrconnell Pure Pot Still Single Malt, and Kilbeggan
Premium Blend, both distributed by Heaven Hill out of Kentucky.
JC: Which of your labels did you produce first, and
how did you market it? JT: Originally I thought that I could finance the 8 - 10 years from startup
to revenue by selling the new whiskey to companies like Diageo and Allied Domeq,
who had no Irish whiskeys in their portfolio, but I decided not to do that.
Instead, I raised cash and laid down a huge inventory of whiskey. The money
ran out before the whiskey matured, and I almost went bust; I was saved in part
by Heaven Hill taking a US distributorship and buying 5 years of inventory in
advance.
I have been through about 4 marketing strategies: from 1993
until 1995 we tried to market Kilbeggan & Tyrconnell as brands. I had 14 million
bottles in inventory and was selling 250,000 bottles. I had 56 years worth of
inventory! The banks were not happy. In 1995 we introduced Retail Own Label.
We now sell Own Label whiskeys to the top 25 European retailers - Asda (Walmart),
Tesco, Carrefour, Aldi, Lidl. Then in 1999 we began to sell whiskey to companies
who launched their own Irish [whiskey], and from 2002 through to the present
we are trying to focus once again on our own labels.
JC: Your company's beginnings coincided with the rise
in popularity of the clear liquors - vodka most notably. How did you address
this as you promoted your products, and has this changed now that whiskeys as
a whole seem to be on an upsurge again? JT: The rise of Vodka. Of course the decline in brown spirits in the
Anglo/Saxon world was a concern. US consumption of Scotch whiskey has halved
in 25 years. I had two strategies. The first was to target the new whiskey markets:
France, Japan, and now Spain, and the second was to be an alternative to Scotch.
Children tend not to consume the drinks their parents like.
This explains the recent rise in whiskey in the U.S. Vodka is now a mature drink
for older people. A whiskey and coke is the young drink of choice in many countries.
Irish whiskey sales have doubled in the U.S. in eight years to 450,000 cases.
Sales grew by 15% in 2003, and there is more to come.
JC: Your website includes some descriptions of whiskeys
in general, especially as regards the whiskey-making process. How important
is this kind of consumer education to promoting your own brands? JT: Education is vital, not only to explain the whiskey process, but
to identify the different processes that go into making malt whiskey, grain,
pot-stilled etc. It is a big task. We need to show the unique properties of
our whiskeys.
JC: Americans may find it strange to hear that France
is a strong consumer of Irish whiskeys - it is, in fact, Cooley Distillery's
main market. With such a strong tradition for wines and brandies, what seems
to be the special attraction of your whiskeys for the French? JT: Why France ? Simple. Beginning in the mid '80s, French consumers
moved from Pastis, their native drink, to an international drink - whiskey.
While the U.S. declined, France grew. Spain followed in the '90s. Spain and
France, at 10 million cases of Scotch a year each, are the biggest Scotch markets
- bigger than the U.S. in 2002. Irish did not really sell in France until 1987
when Pernod-Ricard bought the only other Irish distiller - the makers of Jameson
and Bushmills. Pernod, with 1,000 salesmen in France, grew Irish sales over
30 times in 15 years. France is currently second only to Ireland in consumption
at six million bottles. We have about 15% of the Irish whiskey market in France,
mainly Own Label. Spain is the "Next big thing" for Irish whiskey; sales are
growing at 30% annually.
JC: What new tastes or experiences can your whiskeys
offer to Americans who are more accustomed to Bourbons? JT: We have three wonderful products available on the U.S. market. Each
of them has aged for years in 200-year-old granite warehouses in Kilbeggan in
the middle of Ireland. Bourbon is a top-class product but it differs from Irish.
We are the original. Whiskey is a Gaelic name (the Water of Life). The Irish
have been making whiskey longer than anyone else. Why? Because Ireland is perfect
for whiskey: we have pure, clear, cold mountain water; our grain grows in fields
that have been worked for thousands of years; our soft, damp climate and pure
air are perfect for maturing. Sleeping in oak casks, the whiskey breathes pure
air and is not upset by harsh changes in climate. We mature VERY SLOWLY.
Finally, and I think that this is important, our whiskeys
take on the personality of the Irish, light hearted, friendly, sociable, but
behind it all, solid and dependable.
Your readers should try an Irish - preferably one of ours.
They will enjoy the experience.
The three whiskeys we sell in the U.S. are very different:
Tyrconnell is an aged single malt distilled in pots. It is a mellow, slightly
sweet single malt. Kilbeggan is a premium blend. This means it has a high percentage
of malt. Kilbeggan is very different in taste than most Irish - it is mellow
rather than harsh and tending to sweetness rather than bitterness. Both the
Tyrconnell and the Kilbeggan have pedigrees going back 200 years.
Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish is unique because it is
a peated Irish single malt -there has never been such a product. Some Irish
was peated in the 18th and 19th century - don't mind what the opposition says
- but there was no peated single malt. Connemara, distributed in the U.S. by
Henry Preiss out of California, is a whiskey drinker's whiskey; it challenges
you. The 12-year-old version is regarded by experts as one of the world's best
whiskeys.
JC: Any special plans for yourself or the company for
St. Patrick's Day? JT: Plans for St. Patrick's Day - most of us are working. We have teams
in New York and Philadelphia and in Switzerland. I'm almost afraid to tell you
what I'm doing - playing "Over-45" rugby against a visiting team from Treviso
in Italy.
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