Barack Obama Gifted 30-Year Whiskey While Being Honored in Ireland

(Photo: Teeling)

On Thursday, former U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin, the capital’s highest civic honor.

At a ceremony at the Shelbourne Hotel, Obama received two gifts: a first edition of “Ulysses” and a bottle of Teeling 30-Year-Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey.

The Freedom of the City was first approved for Obama and his wife, Michelle, in 2017, with 30 votes in favor and 23 against. The award has historically gone to international figures including former U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, as well as Nelson Mandela.

The ceremony was attended by about 30 people, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported. Dublin’s Lord Mayor Ray McAdam presented the award, and his 6-year-old son gave Obama a hand-made Spider-Man card, according to BBC.

Obama said he accepted the honor with “deep humility,” according to BBC. He added, “These are, undoubtedly, times of great challenge and great change. But it is in moments like these that we are reminded of who we truly are. We are people, the Irish and Americans, who never stop imagining a brighter future for us all.”

Several Dublin councillors opposed the event, citing Obama’s foreign policy record in the Middle East, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy wrote to the lord mayor requesting that the award be reconsidered. Sinn Féin members also declined to attend the ceremony.

The Lord Mayor defended the presentation, telling RTÉ, “No political career is untainted” and “legacies are always contested.”

The gifting of Teeling 30-Year-Old Single Malt was fitting, considering the distillery is based in Dublin. Teeling’s current distillery opened in 2015, becoming was the first new distillery in the city in more than 125 years.

The whiskey is matured in bourbon casks before finishing in ex-Sauternes wine barrels. Teeling says the release is limited to 4,000 bottles per batch, bottled at 46% ABV with no chill filtration. The retail price is €925 ($1,082) per 700-millliliter bottle.

Tasting notes from Teeling describe orchard fruits, roasted nuts and chocolate on the nose; peach, apricot, citrus, smoke and herbal wood on the palate; and a long finish with oak, fruit and smoked sea salt.

The Freedom of the City is Dublin’s most prestigious award. Ancient privileges linked to the title include grazing sheep on College Green and St. Stephen’s Green, avoiding city customs duties, and eligibility to join a city militia.

Environmentalists Greta Thunberg and Duncan Stewart were the most recent recipients in 2023.