Vision for Irish whiskey

Availability of skilled graduates
Irish whiskey companies have a long history
of employing graduates as brand ambassadors
globally and in technical areas such as distilling.
Many Irish graduates have started their careers
with Irish whiskey companies and have gone
on to take leadership roles in global companies.
This is a tradition we would like to continue. The
following are some areas for focus:
Technical expertise: To drive the sector’s growth,
it is crucial that Ireland’s third level institutions
integrate courses or modules on distilling into
existing curriculums. Currently Ireland’s third
level colleges and institutes do not offer courses
in distilling. Recent graduate intake has been from
the areas of food science and process engineering.
Companies wishing to up-skill employees use
either the certificate/diploma distance learning
courses offered by the UK-based Institute of
Brewing and Distilling or the degree and masters
options through Heriot Watt University in
Edinburgh. There is an opportunity to develop
targeted Degree level qualifications in Ireland
to support the industry’s technical requirements
both at a manufacturing and research level.
Companies will actively mentor the new graduates
in the traditional skill and craft of making Irish
whiskey by providing a number of placements
for undergraduates studying industry-approved
courses.
Sales and marketing expertise: Many of the
companies in the industry have used programmes
such as the Ibec Export Orientation Programme
or the Bord Bia Food Marketing Graduate
Programme. Access to these highly-talented
graduates has proven to be invaluable to
companies of all sizes. However, by their design
the current programmes are broad in nature. The
industry would like to see ring-fenced funding for
an Irish whiskey focused graduate programme,
using the EOP model of 50:50 Government/
company funding. Such a programme would place
graduates as brand ambassadors, promoting Irish
whiskey in international locations. Being branded
and marketed as a whiskey-focused programme
would provide the industry with the opportunity
of promoting itself as a career-opportunity for
graduates.
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