Vision for Irish whiskey

Competitive supply base
Given the international context of the spirits
market and the global nature of the competitive set
in which Irish whiskey competes (Bourbon from
US, Scotch from UK, etc), Irish manufacturers
must compete at the most aggressive level in
terms of labour, energy, transport and the overall
cost of doing business in Ireland versus the rest
of the world.
Being less than 5% of global premium whiskey
sales, Irish whiskey does not have economies of
scale. There is only one Irish whiskey brand in
the top 100 global spirits brands. If the category
is to achieve its potential (and ambition) then it
is imperative that Government ensures that cost
of doing business in Ireland is competitive when
compared with our international competitors.
Case study: Energy reduction initiatives at Midleton Distillery
By Tommy Keane, Production Director at Irish Distillers
Pernod-Ricard
Midleton Distillery is home to Jameson, Powers, Paddy,
Redbreast and Green Spot as well as the eponymous Midleton
Irish whiskeys. Recently the distillery has been expanded. The
€100m project had three core principles at its heart.
1. To ensure the expanded distillery could continue to distil
and mature whiskey with an identical taste profile as before
2. To ensure that the required capacity increase could be
handled within the existing site, and,
3. To take advantage of new technology to improve the
sustainability of operations
Approximately 10-15% of the investment was spent on improving the environmental footprint
of the operation. The key outcomes were:
• The energy input per litre of grain whiskey has been halved versus the existing distillery
• The energy input per litre of pot still whiskey has been reduced by one third
This has been part of an on-going commitment over the past ten years to reduce the energy
requirement of distilling at Midleton. The same three boilers installed in 1975 supply a distillery
distilling in excess of four times the original rated capacity.
In addition water consumption per litre of whiskey distilled has been reduced by 20% as part
of the expanded design.
These initiatives put Midleton at the top of global whiskey distillation design and will have a
significant bearing on the cost and environmental sustainability of Irish whiskey production
for many years to come. Enterprise Ireland’s support for these initiatives was essential to the
projects overall viability.
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