Vision for Irish whiskey

Executive summary
Irish whiskey has been distilled in Ireland since
the 6th century and is one of the oldest spirit
drinks in Europe. It has deep roots in Ireland and
is a product of which we can be proud.
Industry investment and consequent production
grew rapidly in the late 18th century. At its height
in the mid-19th century 88 licenced distilleries,
producing more than 12 million 9-litre cases
annually, made Irish whiskey the largest
global spirits category of the time. However
a combination of events led to the industry’s
demise and by the mid-1980s only two Irish
whiskey distilleries remained, both owned by
Irish Distillers. Scotch, Bourbon, and Canadian
whiskey had all surged and left Irish volumes far
behind at about 1% of global sales.
The late 1980s marked the beginning of Irish
whiskey’s comeback. In 1988, Irish Distillers
(IDL) became a member of Group Pernod
Ricard, which provided massive distribution
opportunities for Jameson, and the other IDL
Irish whiskey brands, through its well established
global sales network. In 1987, Cooley Distillery
was established and was the first independent
distillery to begin distilling Irish whiskey in over
100 years.
Moderate at the beginning, the recovery has grown
at pace in the past fifteen years. As the potential of
Irish whiskey became apparent Diageo, William
Grant and Sons and Beam Suntory all entered
the category by purchasing Bushmills, Tullamore
DEW and Cooley respectively.
By 2013, there were four distilleries in Ireland in
operation producing and selling Irish whiskey:
• Cooley Distillery (est 1987) – producing
Connemara, Michael Collins, Tyrconnell,
and others
• Old Bushmills Distillery (est. 1784) –
producing all Old Bushmills, Black Bush,
1608, Bushmills 10-, 12- and 16- and 21-yearold
single malts
By 2014, the industry was firmly in expansion
mode:
• Irish Distillers completed a €110m
investment programme that doubled capacity
in Midleton
• William Grant & Sons brought distilling back
to Offaly, officially opening the Tullamore
Distillery in July
• Walsh Whiskey broke ground on its distillery
in Carlow
• Teeling Whiskey Company broke ground on
its distillery in Dublin
By the end of 2014, there were eight working
distilleries:
• Irish Distillers
• Bushmills
• Cooley Distillery
• Tullamore Distillery
• Echlinville Distillery
• Alltech Distillery
• Dingle Distillery
• West Cork Distillers
And a number of projects in various stages of
planning – see Irish whiskey investment map:
www.irishwhiskeyassociation.ie/map
• Kilbeggan Distillery (est 1757,
recommissioned 2007)
• New Midleton Distillery (est 1975) –
producing Jameson, Powers, Paddy,
Midleton, Redbreast, Green Spot and others
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