Technically, Irish whiskey’s annus horribilis started in 2024. Around March last year there were whispers of a slowdown in the US – sales were softening, producers were shipping far less stock to the category’s promised land. The mood was still upbeat, but there was an air of caution in the industry that was unfamiliar to any of the dozens who joined the category in the preceding decade. By the latter half of the year, the clouds had spread, and in what was to become the first sign that this wasn’t just a vibe shift, Waterford Distillery went under in November. For all their beauty, their luxuriant financing, their global reach, Mark Reynier’s big bold vision for Irish whiskey slid into receivership, and was put up for sale, where it still languishes one year on. It was a warning to all – if they can fail, so can anyone. 

In 2025 the Irish whiskey industry entered a pronounced period of contraction and structural recalibration after years of rapid expansion. The most significant factor was the re-imposition of a 15 % tariff on Irish whiskey exports to the United States in August 2025, a key market that accounted for millions of cases and hundreds of millions of euros in export value in prior years. The tariff increase suddenly made Irish whiskey less price-competitive in the US, prompting widespread concern among distillers and intensifying calls for the reinstatement of a “zero-for-zero” trade agreement to remove export duties. But with a combative US President who sought to push an America First agenda – one which he was elected on – imports were the enemy. Irish whiskey sold well in the US, aided by the commercial might of Irish Distillers and their decision to push Jameson as an embodiment of ‘Irishness’ as it was perceived in America – smooth, easy going, approachable, and a counterpoint to the occasionally snooty world of scotch. But the tariffs were not the only crisis hitting Irish whiskey. 

The financial fragility of several craft and independent producers became starkly visible in the first half of the year. In late June 2025, Powerscourt Distillery formally entered receivership, unable to secure additional financing as its lender stance tightened amid broader industry strain. Company filings indicated reliance on a previous €25 million banking agreement, which under pressure became untenable without fresh capital, leaving the distillery struggling to meet its obligations and forcing a restructuring path through receivership. 

Killarney Brewing & Distilling Company — active in both beer and whiskey — entered liquidation in July 2025 after an unsuccessful examinership, resulting in all 54 jobs being lost and its assets wound down. Their sizeable new build outside Fossa near Killarney cost €24 million to build. It is now for sale for €4.8 million.

Major producers adapted to the slowdown. Irish Distillers — the Pernod Ricard subsidiary behind Jameson, Redbreast and other core brands — announced a temporary pause in whiskey production at its historic Midleton Distillery beginning in April 2025, with operations resuming over the summer. The adjustment was described as a routine scheduling review but occurred amid similar global pauses in whisky production by other major spirits companies, reflecting a nervous approach to inventory build-up and uncertain near-term demand. The timing was suboptimal, as the production pause occurred against the backdrop of Midleton’s 200th anniversary celebrations.

Alongside this, the building of the new €250 million distillery project adjacent to the existing facility in Midleton, originally announced in September 2022, was slowed. The new distillery was intended to be one of the largest and most modern in Europe, carbon-neutral and capable of supporting future global demand for Irish whiskey, with up to 800 construction jobs and 100 permanent skilled roles once operational. Early planning and construction were expected to see the facility operational in 2025. However, by May 2025 it was reported that the opening had been pushed back to at least 2027, reflecting the impact of slower market conditions and company decisions to reallocate resources amid the broader industry slowdown. The timeline extension signified a shift from expansion to strategic pacing and risk mitigation by Irish Distillers as it balanced legacy production with evolving market realities. 

Irish Distillers were not the only ones hitting pause. The new Roe & Co distillery in Dublin, owned and operated by Diageo at the rear of their vast Guinness complex, was silenced in June 2025, with no reopening in sight. The company described the move as a way “to optimise resources and support the sustainable future growth of our business”, indicating that the pause was intended as a measured response rather than a permanent closure. But production staff were let go. However, the tourism wing stayed open, and the company continued selling their own stock and their sourced Roe & Co whiskey, which they did not make, and they continued to hold PR events. 

In May 2025, Dublin Liberties Distillery abruptly paused production and closed its visitor centre as part of a strategic response to weakening market conditions. The distillery’s UK-based parent, Quintessential Brands, which said the move was designed to “assess current market conditions” and better align operations with reduced demand and broader industry headwinds. Its Mill Street site had an annual production capacity of more than 700,000 litres of new make spirit, and in earlier years the brand expanded into over 40 export markets with a number of limited-edition releases and international partnerships. Industry analysts pointed to tariff-related export costs, inventory overhang, slowing orders from overseas distributors, and a broader slowdown in premium spirit sales as driving factors behind the decision to halt production. The pause was framed internally as temporary, but no firm timeline for resumption was provided at the time, leaving staff and local stakeholders uncertain about the distillery’s short-term future. 

While there were high-profile collapses, in the background many were either cutting back production or simply switching off the stills. Dr John Teeling’s Great Northern Distillery significantly reduced its production output in response to weakened global demand and broader sector headwinds. The facility, founded in 2015 and known for supplying bulk spirit and contract-distilled whiskey to a wide range of brands, cut back malt whiskey production by around 70% compared with its previous output levels. Industry analysts and insiders noted that Great Northern’s cutback was not an isolated case but part of a wider industry correction. By mid-2025, reports suggested that up to 90% of Irish distilleries had either paused or reduced production in response to oversupply, rising inventories and cost pressures.

If there was self reflection in the industry, it wasn’t immediately apparent. In preceding years, anyone who suggested that the growth in the category – either by number of distilleries or the explosion of non-distilling producer brands – was unsustainable was deemed something of a Cassandra. The good times, we were told, would continue forever. But forever came to an end this year, so the industry scrambled to reframe this as a long overdue ‘market correction’. Cold comfort to anyone who invested in what now appeared to be an overheated category – either in a distillery such as Nephin which never got finished, or one of the others now languishing in various states of sale, or in flipping bottles they now struggled to sell in an equally cold auction market, or in bulk whiskey via the hard-sell boiler rooms that pushed pallets of casks onto people with no clue what they were getting themselves into. A lot of money poured into the category in the last ten years, and not all of it will be seen again. 

This is not all the result of the hubris of the industry – a cost of living crisis, an energy crisis, war on the edge of Europe, a shuddering of the old order and rise in identity politics in our largest market, all helped rattle the bones of the category, and none of these could be helped. But the Irish whiskey category is more exposed than other more mature drinks categories – Scotland has been through this ringer several times over the centuries, Cognac the same. In Ireland we had a lot of heavily financed new distilleries still very much in the early stages of developing their brand, their voice, and their routes to market. Those who had the courage to set up a distillery and actually make something had to compete with often weak brands that offered the same sourced stock as all the rest. A common theme among small producers is that getting shelf space is hard enough without these bland, inconsequential brands backed by speculators in it for a quick buck. We simply have too much white label whiskey – the technical file set a high bar for building a distillery and making whiskey, but there is really no obstacle to setting up a brand, no matter how tepid it is.  While the right number of distilleries for the category could be debated, we have too many brands, but in the current climate it is the former that will fall and not the latter. 

These closures, receiverships, production pauses and investment delays played out alongside broader industry data published in late 2025. The Irish Whiskey Global Trade Report showed that while 2024 had reached a historic high of 16.15 million cases sold globally, the outlook for 2025 and beyond was clouded by export costs, inventory adjustment and slowing growth trajectories outside core markets.

By the end of 2025, the narrative within Irish whiskey has shifted. What only a few years earlier had been an era of almost unbounded growth — marked by new distillery openings, record exports and intense speculative investment — has become a period of consolidation and recalibration. Market attention has increasingly turned toward financial discipline, export diversification, and navigation of trade policy headwinds as the industry seeks a more sustainable footing after a turbulent year.

You will encounter all manner of theory around why some distilleries have now fallen – all had particular weaknesses but chief amongst them was they started big and wanted to be bigger – none of these were small operations getting ready to scale; all carried significant amounts of debt to service and when sales slowed, the weight became too much. There is no point in victim blaming or cherry picking an aspect of any of them and saying this is why this happened, they were all just the wrong size. If they were smaller they could pull down the shutters and ride the storm, if they were larger they would have a parent firm that could sustain them. 

As we depart 2025, three impressive Irish distilleries – Killarney, Powerscourt, and Waterford – are for sale along with all their stock and there is no sign of buyers. In our promised land of America, Jim Beam just announced they are closing their main distillery for the year. People are drinking less. The world is changing. Irish whiskey isn’t doomed, and is facing the same challenges as other spirits sectors – but we are more vulnerable than more developed categories. 

2026 will hopefully end better than it starts, but now in the quiet time we need to consider where the category goes from here – it will be leaner, and hopefully meaner, offering better value to consumers – IDL clearly already got that particular memo, as their limited edition Redbreast 15 and Green Spot 10 retailed at €130 and €80 respectively, the kind of pricing which we had not seen from Midleton in some time. IDL also sold off the Castle Brands portfolio which they had acquired in August 2019 for a remarkable US$223 million (a cash offer of $1.27 per share). In July 2025 they offloaded the brands – including Knappogue Castle and Clontarf whiskeys – to a small startup. The price was not disclosed. 

Looking ahead to 2026, nothing is certain. Since Waterford’s fall in late 2024, not much is – they had financing, incredible branding, a great backstory, and a liquid that was rapidly improving.

But this does not mean the category is doomed, or even that it will go back to where it was with three producers and not much else. We are better off now, even with all the strife, than we were 15 years ago. There may be a little bloating and some resulting contractions but the right level will be reached. If America changes its mind on tariffs and Russia bids farewell to arms, we could be back in black before the end of 2026. Failing that, Nigeria and India both hold promise, and IDL in particular are pummelling the UK market with their sponsorship of the English Football League. In late August, Irish Distillers reported a 2 % increase in global net sales for the 2025 financial year ending 30 June 2025, across its Irish whiskey portfolio, demonstrating resilience in the face of a challenging global economic environment. Jameson was a key driver of this performance, posting 3% net sales growth globally and delivering double-digit increases in markets across Asia (including India, Japan and South-East Asia), Africa (notably Nigeria) and Latin America (such as Brazil and Mexico).

So the machine rumbles on, and if you need to comfort yourself further, pay heed to the rate of distillery closures in the US where the decline is being felt far harder than here. So this isn’t just an us problem; and while the industry talks up resilience, it needs to see this as a time to reflect on where it goes in 2026. Consumers want the usual – authenticity, quality, good stories – but they need value to bring them back. Offering that while managing large amounts of debt is where the challenge lies now for producers.

Things are not great in Irish whiskey right now. After ten years of historic growth, and the number of whiskey distilleries here growing from four to almost fifty, the current crunch has come upon us at alarming speed. Headlines about distillery closures, examinerships, receiverships, extended silent seasons and significant layoffs has caused consternation. The question now is – where do brands go from here?

Enter Ben Odgers, a drinks specialist who has provided his 12 steps to rebuilding spirits brands for the new era.  Odgers began his career in the drinks industry in 2001 at Majestic Wine Warehouses in the UK, where he progressed to head office and attained multiple professional qualifications in wine and spirits. In 2008, he became a founding member of Le Clos – Finest Wines and Luxury Spirits, an Emirates Airlines Group venture based in Dubai. Over the next 14 years, he played a pivotal role in transforming the business into a multi-award-winning enterprise, generating hundreds of millions in revenue and creating over 100 jobs.In 2022, he launched a new venture: Spirits Sourcery, dedicated to sourcing and supplying the world’s most prestigious wines and spirits. 

With more than two decades of experience in the luxury drinks sector, Odgers champions a highly personalised approach, but he also supports producers and retailers by unlocking new markets, optimizing commercial strategies, and enhancing profitability. He recently published his Whisky Brand Owner Playbook: 2025 Edition – 12 Tenets on LinkedIn. It contains a lot of hard truths for whiskey producers – the days of unicorns being chased and flipped at auction are largely gone; gone are the easy sales, the unscrutinised claims about ‘limited editions’. Odgers says this is the time to rebuild both brands and their relationships to consumers. 

He highlights how the whisky market is undergoing a fundamental shift meaning legacy brands must adapt or risk obsolescence; and – in good news for Irish whiskey where most distilleries are modern – modern, agile distilleries may have an advantage.

The paper lays out 12 strategic tenets for survival and growth, and lays the new metrics for brand owners. The old order is, as Odgers sees it, gone – success now is not to be measured by how many days a release takes to sell out, but by customer lifetime value. Auction premiums are no longer the goal, instead it’s market price stability; similarly the number of limited releases a brand can put out is to be set aside in favour of a healthy repeat purchase rate. Auction records are now less important than customer satisfaction. 

Odgers’s guide will be music to the weary ears of whiskey lovers who, in some cases, have become increasingly disillusioned by the way the market was going – ballots being offered simply for the opportunity to attempt to buy a bottle of what was once an standard off the shelf release; limited editions being hoovered up by investors and high net worth individuals, and a general jacking of prices beyond normal inflationary standards. Odgers says that what producers need to do now is listen to customers – when they do distillery tours, their feedback in person and online, via mailing list surveys, or – if the brand can afford it – via market research. 

“I think the most important thing any producer or brand owner can do is listen. Partly the reason the wider whisky market is in a mess is that there was too much too fast. For a long period distilleries had their steadfast supporters both drinkers and collectors which were the lifeblood of the brands. They understood the age statement ranges, buying more entry level ones to drink and older ones as a treat. Once or twice a year there would be a special edition which was relatively affordable and they could stretch to  add to their collection. 

“Things then very quickly began to escalate.  The age statements expanded into territories that the loyalists couldn’t afford and with what seemed like a new special edition every month. The loyalists couldn’t keep up and became disenfranchised. The flipping and assets focused consumer filled the void but with the market correction they can make any money and have moved on.  

“If I was a brand owner I would be looking to the core customers from a decade ago and asking them what they want. These people were originally the best advocates for the brand as they were interested before it was about making money or being seduced by the marketing. There seems to be a feeling in some marketing departments that if they are not releasing a super aged statement they are falling behind. The reality is the queue for some of these releases is very short as it doesn’t fit with the customer base and high end collectors are just not interested.”

I asked Ben where there could be opportunities for growth – either by category or geography: “I don’t see much crossover between the Scotch and Irish whisky consumer. I think the easiest tactic would be to try and grow the overlap on the Venn diagram. I don’t think most scotch drinkers know much about Irish and vice versa. This is far easier than trying to move someone into Irish whiskey who usually drinks wine. The industry probably needs to get together and create an education piece on why Scotch and Irish Whisky’s are similar and different. I don’t see any particular market being a saviour. If I was a small distillery owner I would be concentrating on my own domestic market and consolidating my resources.  The exception to this would be travel retail however these players are not immune to the market conditions,  but if you can get in with a small independent then they can be a great incubator.”

What should Irish distilleries focus on now – RTDs, clear spirits, marketing, rebranding; what are the strengths they should focus on going forward? 

“This goes back to the listening point. You have to give the customer what they want in the way they want it.  A bit of malaise has crept in partly down to a lack of transparency. This is often driven by marketing. Saying a release is a limited edition but when that is actually 10000 units it is letting the customer down. A rebrand isn’t going help you re-engage with your existing customer base, I think the producers need to get as close to the consumers as possible. Bottles leave the distillery and they don’t know where they end up. I would be building engagement systems so I can communicate directly with my end consumer, creating loyalty and stickiness to the brand. You then have a conduit to make sure what you are offering is aligned with the customers wants and needs.” 

Odgers ends his 12 step programme on a positive note – he says that whisky isn’t collapsing, it’s maturing; that adaptation based on authenticity and customer partnership will lead to long-term success; and perhaps most important of all, the joy of fine whisky still thrives, it’s just that the industry must re-align to serve it better. 

You can find Ben Odgers’s Spirits Sourcery website here and his guide is available to download from his LinkedIn here.

Achill Island is a landscape infused with loss. Abandoned villages, dried out petrol stations, plaques commemorating those who died in the Famine, or those forced to emigrate in the almost 200 years since; it feels like everywhere you go you are confronted with the act of separation – island from mainland, kith from kin. It’s a place of extraordinary beauty – vast sea cliffs sweep down to golden crescent beaches, plains of bog teem with life, hidden mountain lakes sparkle, roads cling to the hillsides and everywhere you go feels like a discovery for you and you alone. There are also sheep – thousands of them, wandering freely around the hills, down onto the roads, the beaches, the back gardens of the island’s two thousand residents. In spring this means spending a lot of time crawling along narrow roads behind a ewe and various black faced lambs as they totter about the place. Soon they too shall part. 

It takes vision to see the potential here for a distillery. It has the right setting, but the logistics make it a challenge. Whiskey tourism can be big business, if you sit within Dublin’s golden triangle – Jameson Bow Street, Roe & Co, Teeling, Dublin Liberties, and Pearse Lyons Distillery are all within walking distance of each other. It’s slightly different if you are on an island off the west coast of Ireland, 84km from the nearest distilleries. But for John McKay, Achill was the perfect spot, and the journey from mainland to island across the Achill Sound was part of that magic. From Dundalk, he married a Mayo woman and settled in the yew county.

McKay’s background was in construction, civil engineering and property development, but in 2014 he took a notion to launch a whiskey brand.  He had various business dealings in the US over the years and he could see the power of the diaspora and how they consumed products that spoke of the homeland – so when it came to naming his brand, he went straight for the jugular; IrishAmerican Irish Whiskey. He focussed his sales work on the US – specifically Boston – and while the brand also sold well domestically, the US was the land of opportunity for growth. And grow it did. Soon McKay realised that in order to feed the demand, he would need a distillery. Despite being from Ballyhaunis on the Mayo mainland, he set his eye on Achill Island – the site he was looking at had room for expansion, tourism footfall, unique maturation climate, and would also allow him to achieve his goal of producing Ireland’s first island whiskey (aside from all the whiskey made on the island of Ireland already). Speaking to Mayo Live in 2018 he said: “I live in Mayo myself and I didn’t want to open just another distillery in Dublin. I wanted it to be in Mayo and the opportunity arose to locate it in Achill. It is a unique location and will be the only distillery in Ireland and maybe even Europe on an island and as far west as you can go.”

His choice of site was an obvious one; Achill Island Brewery opened in Bunnacurry in September 2014, run by two sets of brothers who were also cousins. They used water from Bunnafreeva Lough – which sits more than 300m above sea level – and Carrageen Moss, a type of seaweed, as an ingredient. In 2017 it was reported that the brewery was in liquidation, unable to pay their electricity bills, and that the relationships between the founders had soured. The building they operated out of was owned by Údarás na Gaeltachta, the regional authority responsible for the development of the Irish-speaking regions of Ireland. After the brewkit was auctioned off, John McKay took over the unit, and with the support of a €174,000 capital investment package from Údarás na Gaeltachta to renovate the building, and another €4 million private investment on top of that, the facility was transformed. The two stills from Speyside Copperworks were brought across the Michael Davitt Bridge from the mainland, led by a bagpiper playing The West’s Awake, and installed. Now all they needed were distillers. 

Ken Quinn had moved from Dublin to the island to work as brewer with Achill Island Brewery, and immediately took to island life – he joined the RNLI, set up Achill Island Boxing Club, and settled down. After the brewery closed, he became lead distiller in Achill Island Distillery. The set up of the distillery was overseen by David Hynes of Great Northern Distillery while Dr Jack O’Shea also provided guidance. 

Drioglann Oileán Acla (the official Irish language name for Achill Island Distillery) was officially opened by the then Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring on June 14, 2019. On the day, Minister Ring paid tribute to John McKay for bringing his vision to life: ““Thank you for your investment here today…To John and your family I want to thank you for choosing Achill because you could have chosen any corner of Ireland and I want to say, on behalf of the Government, thank you.”

John McKay died from an aggressive form of stomach cancer in the last days of February 2020. As the world was plunged into the worst pandemic in living memory, the McKay family – John’s wife Marion, sons Michael and Seán, daughters Kelly Ann and Katie – were plunged into grief, isolated by pandemic restrictions. Two years later, John’s right hand man, fellow founder and distiller Mick Gallagher, passed away suddenly. Mick and John were married to two sisters and were like brothers to each other; without them the project could have lost its focus, but John’s sons were unwilling to give up on their father’s dream, as Michael explains: “It was a difficult and sad time to lose our father just as the distillery dream was finally realised. But we just had to dig deep and carry on, no one knows what life has in store really. Losing our uncle Mick Gallagher as well shortly after was a tough blow to take. Mick was my father’s right-hand man in construction and lifelong friend for 40 years.”

Michael says the hardship of those losses has kept things in perspective as the world stumbled out of the pandemic and into trade wars: “It grounds us in a sense and helps put tariff woes, Covid, and rising production costs into perspective. We have come through a tough few years but it just gives everyone here more drive and resilience to push ahead. These two men put us on a good footing for the future and their legacy is a major part of what drives everyone here to make a success of the distillery.”

Graduating with a BComm in economics from Galway University, Michael worked as a fund accounting supervisor with Deutsche Bank in Dublin before moving to New York to work as a fund accounting manager with HedgeServ for four years before he came home in 2019 to work with the distillery, and he says his background gave him many of the less glamorous skills that are crucial to running a distillery: “There is a lot of work involved in the background to operating a distillery that may not be realised; forecasting long term financial projections, managing cashflow, cask management strategy, production cost analysis. Dealing with Revenue was very intense and paperwork-heavy to get the distillery up and running. Obtaining GI compliance, bonded warehouse licensing as well as manufacturing and sales licensing. This is something that needs constant attention, and fortunately my previous financial skillset was easily transferable to this role.” 

But coming home wasn’t just about the distillery, as he explains: “Like most Irish people you get a stronger sense of patriotism when you are away from, and I had a greater appreciation of the culture and community spirit we have here in Ireland when I returned.”

But behind the widescreen romanticism and John Hinde-esque landscapes of the wild Atlantic way, the logistics of running a distillery on a small island located on the rural and rugged west coast of a larger island are an added complication to any business: “Yes there is an additional cost in shipments getting them this far out, as well as increased waiting times. There is not as much regular courier service in this part of the west. But it’s something we are used to and build into our logistics planning. If we are given two-day delivery time we just assume a week, however it’s a small price to pay for our scenic location.”

Achill resident Heinrich Böll noted the same effect when he said that when God made time he made plenty of it – Böll wrote often of the fluid nature of scheduling on the island, such as when the screening of a film was delayed so all the local priests plus other members of the clergy holidaying on the island could take their seats. Another frequent visitor to the island was Graham Greene, who engaged in an illicit affair with Catherine Walston, the wealthy socialite wife of a British MP; her island residence was an old fisherman’s cottage, with tin roof and no electricity. It feeds into the romanticisation of island life – waves smash upon the rocks, storms roll in off the Atlantic and pummel homes, lovers entwine on a horsehair mattress and come undone when the real world comes calling – the island offers beauty and brutality, comfort and cruelty, the purity of nature and the grubby business of human desire. Greene’s novel The End Of The Affair – which detailed the disintegration of a doomed romance between a married woman and a writer – was dedicated to his island lover. 

But all this romance, all this lore, this useless beauty isn’t a whole lot of good when trying to build a brand around a distillery that few can visit. Having an incredible location meant nothing during a pandemic which killed tourism for almost two years; now the world faces a cost of living crisis which is also impacting travel and tourism. Coupled with this the tariffs inflicted on American consumers by their current commander in chief.

But Achill Island Distillery has an ace up its sleeve – while pricey Irish whiskeys have been making headlines for years now, Achill have quietly been making some of the best bang-for-your-buck spirits in the category. A bottle of their core single malt is under €50, usually €47, and almost half that in the duty free at Mayo’s Knock Airport. Their special edition single pot still releases – complete with wooden box and all the trimmings – retails for only €123. In a scene where brands are charging significant sums for sourced product and wild prices for their own young whiskeys, it’s quite the feat. I asked Michael how they do it: “It’s something we prioritise – giving customers a premium whiskey experience and good value for money. We want our whiskey in as many people’s hands as possible and to experience and enjoy what we are making here.I can’t speak for other distilleries but we have a very efficient production process and get maximum LPA return from our mash thanks to Ken’s methods.

“Our focus over the last five years has been mainly on production over marketing and ensuring we produce high quality spirit and we won’t release anything unless we are completely happy with it. To quote our sales director Paul McKay, we let the whiskey tell us when it’s ready to be released. We have been in no rush to release our whiskey and we have slowly built up our core range of three single malts and soon to be released single pot still. Now we feel we have a solid core range behind us we can push our products more and give it the marketing backup it needs.” 

The core releases are the bourbon cask matured single malt, a bourbon cask matured single malt with Bordeaux red wine cask finish, and what they call their peated single malt which is actually an unpeated single malt finished in a peated cask courtesy of another island distillery, Laphroaig. They wanted to have a nod to the island’s extensive peat bogs, but didn’t want to run the risk of tainting future spirit runs with peat, so they used a peaty Islay quarter cask instead. The peat was too soft if they released it at 44% – as they did the other two core bottles – so they left it at a robust 60%. 

Their two Scottish-made 5,000 litre stills are used mostly for triple distillation – they worked with double distillation but felt what it added in initial impact it lost in finish. They run seven days a week production and perhaps reflecting the slower pace of island life, Achill distillery runs their seven fermenters on a very long fermentation – seven days in winter and five days in summer. Although having a former craft brewer as a distiller probably helped steer this decision. They fill between 800 and 1,200 casks per year, and are coming to the end of their cask programme which offers bourbon casks of single malt or pot still on a seven year hold with all labelling and bottling included in the €6,000 price. Their warehouse is on site also. 

Alongside the whiskey they also make Akill Vodka, Keem Bay gin, An Bodán high-proof poitín, and a number of contract spirits for The Confession Box pub in Dublin. They also brought out a special sourced whiskey called JJ Devine’s named after the fictional pub in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin, which was shot on numerous locations around the island. 

They plan to continue the IrishAmerican brand their father started, transitioning over time to their own stock: “There is no plan to phase it out, quite the opposite actually. IrishAmerican is the brand that got us started and has been going from strength to strength in recent years, especially the emergence of the global travel retail sector for us. The sourced stock element of IrishAmerican is the part that will be phased out as our own stock matures. The current five-year IrishAmerican is Achill Island Distillery liquid and in the coming years all the IrishAmerican will be our own Achill Island spirit.

“With the exception of course being our IrishAmerican Founders Reserve series the 21 year plus range. This stock was our father’s vintage collection which we release every couple of years as it ages; the series will run expressions of 25, 28, 30, and 32 years plus. It’s a series we released to honour his legacy featuring his signature on the bottle and something that is very special to us.

“In terms of what’s coming next, we are always looking to develop each year and we currently have an Achill Island Aged rum in the pipeline. This is rum that we made ourselves from imported molasses, distilled and matured here for a minimum 18 months. It’s been an exciting project and we are looking forward to releasing it soon.

“Our San Patricios 7 Anos has just won Gold at the San Francisco World Spirit competition along with silvers for IrishAmerican 21 year and Achill Island Bordeaux Cask. This will help us in our drive to promote these three brands as this is our main focus for the next 12 months.”

They are also looking beyond the American market for sales, pushing into Europe and Asia, with Michael telling Mayo Live, “It is not like America is the only show in town.”

But their pricing may well see them survive where others fail. Distillers that operated with great fanfare or spent tens of millions on distilleries will struggle to compete with Achill on the shelf. The Achill team are fighters, and they know when you have to roll with the punches. When I call to the distillery in April, it is closed, and asking why in a nearby shop I am told ‘they are all boxing mad and are off in Portugal for a tournament’. I pass later in the day and they are back open, with Kenneth Quinn – son of head distiller Ken – fresh off the plane from Porto and visibly exhausted. His brother Ben also works in the distillery, and both are All Ireland boxing champions. Another distiller, Matthew, is also a keen boxer and won a recent bout in Westport. The island has an indirect link to a tradition of boxing – Johnny Kilbane, once considered to be one of the world’s greatest featherweights, was the son of an Achill emigrant and an Achill-American mother. He is commemorated with a statue outside the boxing club where Ken coaches.

Achill distillery is the plucky underdog in Irish whiskey – their releases are smooth and pleasant, young but polished, and at under fifty euro, they punch above their weight. Maybe it’s time they had a shot at the title.

When the American drinks giant Sazerac bought Lough Gill Distillery three years ago, it was probably inevitable that they would change the name. A quick scroll through their brands will show you that they like plain, simple names – easy to pronounce, easy to say. Lough is not the easiest word for anyone who has no familiarity with the Irish language – even the scots have one up on us there, as their version of the same word – Loch – happens to be known to people worldwide due to the fact there is a lake in Scotland with a mythical beast living in it (it’s Loch Ness, btw). But with lough, will the average American know how to say that? Loaf? Lounge? Log? And Gill, like on a fish or is that a soft G, like Gillian? You want a brand that has no obstacles to a sale – no consumer should have to pause and try to get their mouth around a word that they are unsure of. Yes that means a world filled with homogenised brands, but sometimes that is what it takes – most consumers like simplicity. 

Where Sazerac have bought legacy brands, the names went unchanged because they were buying a heritage associated with the brand, although even then they are not afraid to execute a bold rebrand. When they bought Paddy from Irish Distillers Ltd for an undisclosed fee in 2016, they changed the branding to Paddy’s and gave it a makeover that was far more Irish-American than before – with his bowler hat, the cartoonish caricature of Paddy O’Flaherty was now more ‘top of de marnin to ya’ then the proud Corkman he was. But given they paid an alleged €90 million for the brand, they could do with it what they wanted. 

But Lough Gill Distillery was not a heritage brand. In fact, they had no product on shelves in any capacity, with their adjacent Athrú brand being entirely sourced. There was heritage to build on – the distillery, although built into the front of a giant factory, sat behind the historic Hazelwood House on the edge of a lake in County Sligo. And much like anywhere in Ireland, there are a million stories to be mined from the history of the place – legends, myths, historical anecdotes, poetry, prose, and simple geography. And somehow with this incredible, rich tapestry from which they could pull any thread to weave their own brand, they went with Hawk’s Rock Distillery. 

In their defence I will say this – better to change the name now than when there is any real brand allegiance to Lough Gill Distillery. Locals might have a great sense of pride in the local lake having a distillery named after it, but outside Ireland, nobody cares. Also the fact there is a distillery named Lough Ree might have influenced them, but they are very small and I get the sense that Sazerac might not even know they exist. Changing the name before there is any real brand loyalty is a good move – I can still recall the conniptions that came when the new look Paddy’s oirish whiskey was revealed, but if we want brands to live on, they have to grow and change. Sazerac knew what they wanted to do with that brand, and they did it (although as far as I know, it’s still Paddy in some markets, including Ireland).

With Hawk’s Rock they also move on from the initial founder’s vision – David Raethorne’s Lough Gill Distillery is no more, from here on in it’s Sazerac’s Hawk’s Rock Distillery. Per Business Plus, at the end of 2021, Lough Gill Distillery had bulk whiskey stocks valued at €6.3m, capital investment in the land, premises and equipment totalled €10.6m. The risk capital invested was €16.8m. You’d have to assume that Sazerac covered all that and a good chunk more when they bought it, and with that comes the right to call it whatever they want. 

The press release fills in the blanks – 

The name change reflects Sazerac Company’s vision for the future of Irish Whiskey – the art and science of blending, innovation and respect for Sligo’s rich heritage. Named after a prominent outcrop in the Ox Mountains that inspired Nobel Prize winning poet William Butler (W.B.) Yeats’ play “At the Hawk’s Well”, Hawk’s Rock Distillery aims to become a global hub for Irish Whiskey, while offering a gateway to explore the rich traditions of Sligo and the surrounding region.

“The renaming of Hawk’s Rock Distillery marks a new, yet familiar, frontier for us,” says Sazerac President and CEO Jake Wenz. “Sazerac is known for its balanced approach to honoring tradition while embracing change in constant pursuit of crafting the world’s best spirits at our distilleries in America, India, Canada and France. Our mission holds true for Ireland, and we are excited to reveal how we are blending time-honored traditions with bold innovation to advance the art of Irish whiskey-making.”

Piggybacking on WB Yeats makes sense – the region is known for its links to Ireland’s pre-eminent emo. But At The Hawk’s Well is a pretty deep cut to claim a reference to – premiering in 1916 it saw Yeats explore his usual themes of Irishness, identity, age, and mythology but in the style of Japanese Noh theatre. The play is only around 40 minutes long, and has mentions of hawks, and of rocks, but precisely zero mention of Hawk’s Rock, a stony outcrop in the hills near Lough Gill. Does any of this matter? Not really. They could have plucked any number of easy-to-prounce anglicisations of local placenames, but they happened to choose one which is distinctly American. 

Hawk’s Rock does not evoke the waters and the wild of the west of Ireland; as many have pointed out, it sounds like an American bourbon. Hawk’s Rock is perhaps closer to Eagle Rare, which, incidentally, is also owned by Sazerac, than any Irish whiskey brand. I can understand that they might not want a brand name that is hard to pronounce, but Hawk’s Rock doesn’t sound Irish, although perhaps most grating will be seeing that apostrophe come and go depending on who the copywriter is. 

But to look beyond our discomfort with change of any kind in the Irish whiskey category, this is a vote of confidence in the Sligo distillery. From what I can gather, Sazerac are running it full throttle since they took over and have big plans to redevelop Hazlewood House as a visitors centre. And the real test here will not be whether the name on the distillery is Irish enough to appease the guardians of Irish identity (myself included) but whether they make good booze or not, which we will all get to determine in June when their new whiskeys are released. 

Update 06/06/2025 – their first new whiskey ‘from the distillery’ is not from there at all – it’s a sourced 20 year old single malt, presumbaly from Bushmills, and they expect you to pay €199 for it. Press release here, which makes zero mention of the fact it was sourced.

At the end of last year I wrote a piece about Irish whiskey’s fortunes – good and bad – in 2024 and where the category was headed in 2025. The piece was published in American Distiller Magazine, but was edited for length. Here are the quotes from the people I spoke to in full. 

Jennifer Nickerson, Tipperary Boutique Distillery 

How has the last 12 months been for you – what are the challenges you have faced as a craft distiller, how have your costs been affected by the economic crisis? Are smaller distillers like yourselves better placed to survive the current crisis in whiskey sales? 

“The past 12 months have been a time of both challenge and opportunity for Tipperary Boutique Distillery. As a craft distiller, we’ve had to navigate significant hurdles, particularly due to rising costs which have affected every area of our business, from raw materials like grain and glass to energy prices and transport. This has meant that our margins are being squeezed, which can be especially challenging in a sector like ours where we already face long maturation periods and high production costs. Inflation has certainly been a key factor influencing decisions, and we’ve had to adapt our strategy while ensuring that the quality of our whiskey remains uncompromised.

“As a smaller distillery, we’re certainly not immune to these pressures, but we do believe that our flexibility and focus on quality allow us to better navigate these turbulent times. We may not have the scale of larger producers, but we can be more nimble in adjusting to market shifts and responding to consumer demands. The direct relationship we maintain with our customers is a significant advantage, allowing us to create unique whiskies that speak to our customers’ specific needs. We actually have an exciting project coming later this year that should allow us to look at the needs of individual customers.”

What trends do you see coming in 2025 – both in terms of whiskey styles and consumer habits? What markets are you focussing on? 

“In terms of trends for 2025, we see several exciting developments on the horizon. There is a rise in demand for sustainable practices, with more drinkers seeking out brands that emphasize eco-friendly production methods. We expect a continued shift with younger consumers leaning towards more eco-conscious choices such as ‘quality over quantity’ and more experienced consumers experimenting with different cask finishes and innovative aging techniques.

“We have just bottled some new exciting single malts which we have finished in Mezcal and Sake casks respectively. These are already causing an interested stir amongst some of our customers who are ‘in the know’!  

“We’re also seeing a growing interest in Irish whiskey in Asian markets. We will continue to focus on growing our presence in these key markets while also nurturing the domestic market, which has shown tremendous support for our products.”

Is single pot still whiskey still a contender or has that moment passed? Will the reworking of the technical file affect you? 

“We certainly believe that Single Pot Still remains a contender in the world of Irish whiskey. While the industry continues to evolve, and we have largely focussed on Single Malt whiskies, we continue to lay down some Single Pot Still each year as this remains one of the cornerstones of Irish whiskey heritage. 

“The reworking of the technical file will certainly have implications for the industry, and we welcome any expansion of the category, particularly with regards to maintaining historical relevance. However, until the IWA publishes proposed wording, it is hard to discuss how individual companies will be affected. 

“We would say that as a distillery which prides itself on producing traditional styles, we are well-positioned to embrace any changes that come our way, as long as it supports the long-term growth and sustainability of the category.

“Whilst there are undoubtedly challenges in the current economic climate, we believe that our approach of small-batch, premium production, with a focus on innovation and sustainability, positions Tipperary Boutique Distillery well for the future. We’re excited for 2025 and beyond, and we look forward to continuing to share our passion for Irish whiskey with the world.”

Pat Rigney, The Shed Distillery 

How has the last 12 months been for The Shed – what are the challenges you have faced as a craft distiller, and how have your costs been affected by the economic crisis?  

“The last 12 months (celebrating a decade of distilling on December 21st, 2024 at The Shed Distillery) have been challenging as inflation & high interest rates took their toll on consumer sentiment globally. Thankfully with the strength of appeal & affection for Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin across key markets we grew sales strongly in the 2nd half of  2024 with our strongest October – December on record. The decision to absorb input cost increases and not pass on to our consumers served us well throughout the year. The addition of Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin with Brazilian pineapple expression during 2024 was a huge success. Our Drumshanbo Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey had a record year of growth due to its authenticity & high quality being entirely distilled, matured & bottled in Drumshanbo at The Shed Distillery. The Marsala expression was particularly well received in 2024.”

What trends do you see coming in 2025 – both in terms of whiskey styles and consumer habits? What markets are you focussing on? 

“The consumer in 2025 will be seeking value in their purchase of Gin & Whiskey brands. Brands with an authentic story that is honest & with a twist will do well. Overpriced brands, celeb brands or brands with a weak back story may come under pressure as consumers reset their preferences for quality, excitement & value. We believe we are well placed to take advantage of this trend.”

How concerned are you about potential tariffs on Irish spirits under the Trump presidency? 

“The irony of potential tariffs is the EU and the US are each other’s largest export markets when it comes to spirits and therefore it is in neither sides’ interest to see tariff escalation. Spirits from both sides of the Atlantic have enjoyed and benefited from tariff-free trade for several decades & we hope this continues well into the future. The spirits category has many products that have distinctive regional identity, with many EU & US spirits protected by geographical indications and distinctive product status such as Irish Whiskey & Bourbon. These products are not commodities, nor can they be produced elsewhere so it would make no sense.”

Michael McKay, Achill Island Distillery 

How has the last 12 months been for you – what are the challenges you have faced as a craft distiller, how have your costs been affected by the economic crisis?

Are smaller distillers like yourselves better placed to survive the current crisis in whiskey sales?

“An unprecedented increase to the cost of production (Barrels Malt and Energy) in 2024 was a challenging period to negotiate. But this was a universal problem for all distilleries.

Malt and barrel prices, while still high are showing signs of coming down in 2025 which is welcome. Having been in the Industry for over ten years we were in the fortunate position of having mature stock to lean on. If we were just starting out as a craft Distillery during this volatile period things would have been a lot more difficult to sustain.

“Outside of the cost increases, 2024 was great year for the Distillery in terms of brand development & sales. We released over 13 new products across our Achill Island Distillers & IrishAmerican range. Single Malt Whiskeys, Single Pot Still Whiskey Vodka, Gin & Poitín.

“Sales – while the fanfare around Irish Whiskey has calmed somewhat and the appetite for high priced craft releases has softened, we had our best year in sales in 2024.

We began export of our Achill Island line of products into Europe and started airport sales in Ireland.  The Distillery established a new partnership with the Waldemar Behn Group in 2024 which brought our IrishAmerican range of products to travel retail on a global scale.

The tourism trade, given our location has been a massive plus and we are seeing sales recover back to pre-Covid levels this year on Achill Island.”

What trends do you see coming in 2025 – both in terms of whiskey styles and consumer habits? What markets are you focussing on?

How are your peated products received given the perception that Irish is unpeated?

“We expect to see the continued emergence of Pot Still Irish Whiskey in 2025. This style has gained increased recognition over the last few years & with more distilleries contributing, the choice is is expanding. I think consumers will be more price sensitive and it will be age statements that will encourage people to spend on premium whiskeys.

“I believe the popularity of Peated Irish Whiskey is increasing all the time. We started a Single Malt peated expression at cask strength as a small side project to see how it would go and it’s quickly become one of our best sellers. Our Cask Strength Peated Irish whiskey has ”a romantic smell and feels like Ireland in a bottle” to quote one customer.

“In 2025 we are focusing on international travel retail our USA Market and also the Asian market. We will be releasing our Founder’s Reserve IrishAmerican 21 Year old Single Malt in the next few months. This is the 2nd instalment of our Founders Reserve series. Named after our Founder and Father John McKay, all the whiskeys from this Series are from his personal collection of vintage Whiskey casks. This 21 year old Single Malt is aged in Bourbon casks for 21 years and finished in Olorosso Sherry, bottled at 47% abv.

“We have also been developing a new brand for the USA market over the last couple of years – San Patricios. This is an exciting new concept we launched in Boston Jan 2024.

San Patricios is a seven year old Single Malt Irish Whiskey finished in Tequila and Mezcal Casks and bottled at 50% abv. Inspired by the 200 Irish Volunteers who fought for Mexico in the Mexican-American war of 1846-48 known as the San Patricios. These 2 nations are joining forces once again in this remarkably smooth Irish Whiskey with a Latin influence.

A unique 7 year old Single Malt Irish Whiskey aged in Bourbon, Tequila and Mezcal Casks. Finished in the finest Anejo Tequila & Mezcal casks from the regions of Jalisco and Oaxaca Mexico. The perfect marriage of Tequila and Whiskey. San Patricios is a full bodied Single Malt Irish Whiskey, sweet cinnamon Bourbon notes. Developing herbal Agave flavours & balanced with a delicate smokey Mezcal finish.”

With your focus on America are you concerned about the possibility of tariffs under a Trump presidency?

“Yes it is a concern, but the last time there was tariffs imposed Irish Whiskey was lucky enough to dodge the bullet. Hopefully it is the same this time.”

Morgan Ging, Ballykeefe Farm Distillery 

How has the last 12 months been for Ballykeefe, has the distillery been protected from the cost of living/cost of distilling crisis by virtue of being a farm distillery, or has that made it harder? 

“The past year has been a year of expansion to new markets particularly the USA. We have invested considerable time and resources building relationships in the on and off trade with our phenomenal partner MISA imports. The old adage of the necessity to get “liquid on the lips” of as many as possible is starting to show results, as more and more people get to taste the “Wow factor” of our field to glass spirits. Being an on farm distillery we have been protected from many inflation costs on inputs such as cost of barley, however we have not been spared the soaring increase in energy costs of gas and electricity. Being a small family business, we are spared many of the costs of the big corporates and to protect our value for money reputation in the market place we have not raised pricing to our customers, preferring to cut marketing budgets and rely on awards and word of mouth and social media instead. Economically it is a tough time for all families and as farmers we have a lot of practice in surviving the lean years, as our grandmother so often said “live horse and you will get grass”.”

Where do you see the next 12 months taking the Irish whiskey category as a whole and Ballykeefe in particular – what trends are you keeping an eye on, if any? 

“We feel very lucky to be part of the Irish Whiskey category which has been on an impressive growth trajectory and which the experts predict will continue. We take nothing for granted for ourselves, we are on a long journey with modest resources to build our brand in a very competitive marketplace. But we knew this from the outset and have remained faithful to our original vision of creating whiskies that add value to the category, not just in ultra-premium quality, but also as a uniquely 100% field to glass family farm distillery. We see a clear trend where many consumers are not only looking for a great tasting whiskey, but are also focused on the source of the ingredients, environmental credentials and the degree of craft involved in the production. At Ballykeefe we love what we do, therefore we enter 2025 with a lot of excitement and anticipation. One of the most exciting and visible changes this year will be our first branding refresh to better communicate our story though the labels on our bottles. We also eagerly anticipate another very busy year of visitors to our distillery, building a network of new friends from across the globe is most definitely one of the highlights of being in this business.”

Comment from the Irish Whiskey Association

How has the last 12 months been for IWA members? 

“We were heartened to see the recent Bord Bia report which saw the export value of Irish Whiskey recover well in 2024. That said, there are significant headwinds for all Irish Whiskey producers at home and abroad. Our membership still has to contend with inflation, increase in the cost-of-living and cost-of-business, supply chain pressures and changes in consumer preferences and behaviour. Irish Whiskey is a high-quality, premium product and our increase in export value is testament to the hard work and innovation of our Irish Whiskey companies. Looking to 2025, we need to ensure government support and continued investment in state agencies, along with facilitating a business and policy environment conducive to growth to copper-fasten the achievements our sector has made.”

What is the current status with the technical file and any planned edits – how will these change the way Irish whiskey is made? 

“In terms of the Technical File, the Irish Whiskey Association is among the stakeholders currently in consultation with the Department of Agriculture regarding the proposed edits to the File. It is envisaged that these changes will be referred for public consultation this year, which will inform the Department’s consideration of the matter.  The main proposal is to expand the definition of Pot Still Irish Whiskey to allow for higher levels of oats, wheat or rye to be used which will greatly enhance the Pot Still category by broadening the potential grains’ taste profile and allowing more of a unique Irish Pot Still selling point. This will also align the current definition with the true history of Pot Still Irish Whiskey.”

Cork Whiskey Festival 2025 was a roaring success – three days, two brand expos, dozens of masterclasses, 1,500 tickets and every event sold out. If there was a downturn in the Irish whiskey category, the festival showed no signs of it – it was a celebration of a diverse and vibrant industry. In fact, the only sign that all might not be well in the category was the people condemning anyone talking down the industry. Several people I spoke to said that really, everyone should stop focussing on the industry’s current struggles and instead focus on the great success of the Irish whiskey category in the last 15 years. Channelling Bertie Ahern in his pomp, the message being delivered to my ears was that those talking down the industry need to simply stop talking, and we should continue to only speak in glowing terms about Irish whiskey, and that the same unblinking, relentlessly positive press it has been given – which led many investors to charge headlong into the industry – should be allowed to continue. Of course, once people were finished dishing out a good old fashioned scolding about negativity (or any coverage of very real struggles of many distilleries), they did admit that yes, things were incredibly hard right now and yes many distilleries were cutting production, or staff, or simply shutting, but still – good news only please. 

The strangest part of this was the complete lack of empathy with those who work in the industry who have been let go – it veered from an everything-is-awesome, head in the sand attitude, to a kind of laissez faire capitalism approach to how the challenges were spoken about; that it was natural that some distilleries would not make it, this was simply how things were always going to play out. ‘Look at Scotland’ they say, look at how the Scotch industry expands and contracts over the decades. But given we had our first expansion of the industry for a century  in the last 12 years, our first contraction is going to hurt quite a lot. Plenty people were simply not expecting this. But to many others who will not survive, there was not a lot of sympathy. The message was clear – some must make this sacrifice so the industry can thrive; blood for the blood god, job cuts for the greater good. 

We had a decade of fluff, talking up distilleries that didn’t exist (yet) winning awards for products they didn’t make; tales of multi-million euro deals where brands and barely operational distilleries were sold, an endless sea of glowing praise and headlines about how great everything is. If you want that to continue, this era is not for you. Nobody is talking down the industry – the facts are the facts, and the media is simply reporting them. Taking it personally when a publication highlights that multiple distilleries are either now silent or facing complete closure, as though reporting the hard truths of whiskey is an act of treason, is rather silly. Either you think the category is big enough and strong enough to survive its current woes (spoiler alert, it is), or you think we all need to keep backslapping and everything will be fine because the category is a timid little child that needs to be shielded from the truth.  

The industry continues to do its thing. Last week, Irish Distillers Limited released the last of their Silent Distillery releases, a bottling of 50 year old stock from the old Midleton distillery, which shut in 1975 and has been the tourism wing of the operation for decades. If anyone at the launch was aware of the irony of the fact that all of Midleton’s distilling operations are silent at the moment, then they didn’t say, but looking at social posts of the guests in their black tie it had the air of a well-heeled wake. One week later, parent company Pernod Ricard announced a 3% decline in third-quarter sales, missing forecasts. The Business Post contacted IDL to ask about the potential impact of Trump’s tariffs, and did not get a response. 

The following day, the Irish Examiner reported that Killarney Brewing and Distilling Company had entered examinership in an effort to save the business. The company said it faced severe challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic, including rising raw material costs, supply chain disruptions, delays in opening their distillery, excess whiskey inventory, and geopolitical uncertainty, all of which hurt revenue and profitability. Earlier this year, the company had a preliminary merger agreement with a U.S. partner, but that deal has since fallen through. I spoke to a couple of reps from Killarney at the recent Cork Whiskey Festival, asked them how everything was going, and they were full of positivity. Because everything is always great, until it isn’t. 

But it is not all bad news – of the four largest distilleries who have announced production slowdowns, there have apparently been no job cuts. Smaller and midsized distilleries have let production staff go, but these are in limited numbers. It’s still a terrible time for them – not so long ago people were being encouraged to train in whiskey production as there was a shortage of skilled workers here, and now many of those making cuts are in rural areas. Losing your distillery job in Dublin isn’t too bad – losing it in Ballynowhere is a bit harder to bounce back from. But pretending this isn’t happening will not help anyone – not the category, not the workers being laid off, not the investors.  

This is not investment advice. It isn’t even advice in what not to invest in, just a series of observations based on my own experience of buying and selling whiskey casks. It’s important to get that out front and centre because while the Irish whiskey category has generated a lot of buzz and drawn in a lot of speculators, a whole bunch of people threw money into things they didn’t quite understand – bottles, distilleries, and casks. I’m not about to contribute to that, because if there is a bubble in Irish whiskey, it’s deflating, and those who were drawn in by the promise of riches are about to enter their finding-out phase. 

Seven years ago I had a few quid to spare. We had been struggling for a few years, but while we were asset rich we were cash poor. We sold a house, poured money into another one, and then had a couple of quid left over. I spotted an opportunity to join the West Cork Distillers cask co-op. It offered casks at wholesale prices to ordinary punters like me – there would be buybacks and cask swaps, along with an online marketplace where you could trade casks with other members. The most appealing part of this was that I knew the distillery, knew the owners, had been through the whole site and had written extensively about them. They had mature product on the shelves so I could try their existing whiskey, and they also had a thriving clear spirits range and a sideline in ingredients. They were, from their foundation well over a decade before, aiming to be Ireland’s MGPi; a hardworking distillery that just wanted to make good booze, and not rip people off. Buying casks from them was not without risk, but overall, it was a solid proposition. But bear in mind, I did this knowing that I could lose all my money. I had set aside €10,000 or so to play with, and so I put most of this into nine casks. Here is the breakdown: 

I paid €8,827.76 for nine casks of whiskey – four single malt, four single pot still, and one grain. The new make malt cost €3,343.88; the new make single pot still spirit cost €3,263.85; and the new make grain came in at €712.53. The casks themselves cost €1,215 in total, and the cost of purchasing them worked out as 9 X €135. Casking cost €292.50 as the cost of filling each of the nine was €32.50. All casks were held at the WCD bonded warehouses and covered by insurance policies in the name of WCD for an amount up to the original price paid for the purchase of the cask certificate representing that cask. So should something happen to the casks, I get the initial purchase price back, not the value at time of loss. I pay annual storage charges, the most recent of which was €216 for all nine casks. 

Buying the casks was a bit of fun – it was not part of any kind of investment, or plan, just something I thought might be a bit of craic. At the most recent valuation by Hilco for the distillery, the casks were worth a total of €18,171. I opted to free up some cash last summer so I sold two casks of five year old single pot still back to the distillery for €1,985 each. The other two casks of five year old single pot still I opted to swap for four casks of new make, this time opting for single malt. So I had my bit of money, and still had nine casks, albeit with a lower total valuation. It should be noted that five of the casks are for my four kids and my godchild so I can’t cash in the lot or they would lynch me. 

Perhaps you are reading this and thinking, wow, all those ads you saw on Facebook are right – there is money to be made in whiskey casks. Well, kind of – it is a tradeable commodity, not an especially liquid one, and for most people, it is confusing, complex, and ultimately a very, very risky way to spend. I did so knowing I could lose every cent, but also knowing a little bit about the industry and about the vendor itself. I dealt directly with the distillery and they have been great, every step of the way. But those ads on Facebook, or at the top of your search results when you google certain terms, are horribly misleading. They misuse stats and research that has nothing to do with casks – the Knight Frank luxury index tracks niche investments and while it measured how whisky had grown in value, it was whisky bottled under brands that was being followed, not casks. These entities – which misused these stats to the point that Knight Frank had to distance themselves from them – lure ordinary people in with the promise of great riches, get their phone numbers before they even vaguely outline the costs of the deal, and then pummel the phones using hard sell tactics to force casks of new make from often-unremarkable or unproven distilleries onto consumers who have no idea what they are doing. Worse than this, they often sell these by the pallet of six, and at prices upwards of €2,300 per cask, it will be a long, long time until those casks even come close to turning a profit, and that is before we even consider the global downturn in whiskey consumption, an ongoing cost of living crisis, or any number of trade wars or the ongoing, actual war in Ukraine. The slowdown in the production by Bushmills and Great Northern, and the halting of production for three months by Midleton may be based on future predictions about sales but it has a cooling effect in the short term. Irish whiskey, as a category, will find its equilibrium eventually – but casks may not rise in value as mine did. 

So where do these mom and pop investors who bought pallets of casks sell their white elephants? Not on the open market anyway. I asked Revenue about a few issues around casks and this was what they told me in relation to selling casks of whiskey: 

“The sale of whiskey casks may only take place in a premises and by a person licensed for such sale.  The statutory provisions governing the sale, supply and consumption of intoxicating liquor in licensed premises are set out in the Licensing Acts 1833 to 2018 and are the responsibility of the Department of Justice.  Revenue’s role is confined to that of a tax administration i.e. the collection of the relevant taxes and duties and the issue of the relevant excise licences. Under this licensing code, persons who sell, take orders, or deal in intoxicating liquor are required to hold the appropriate Liquor Licence in order to trade legitimately. It is an offence under Section 50 of the Finance Act (1909-1910) Act 1910, to make, manufacture, deal wholesale, or sell by retail, any intoxicating liquor without the appropriate excise licence.

“There is no restriction on the purchase of whiskey casks by persons for non-commercial purposes however, it is not legal for a private unlicensed individual, investor or otherwise, to sell a cask of whiskey on the open market.” 

As for the oft-touted claim by the investment set that casks are capital gains tax free, this is what Revenue told me: “Alcohol sold within the State is subject to of Alcohol Products Tax (APT) and Value-Added Tax (VAT).  The application of excise duty on alcohol is governed within an overall EU legislative framework.  The primary directives are Directive 92/83/EEC (as amended) and Council Directive 2020/262/EU including the control and movement of excisable products.  The corresponding national legislation can be found in Part 2 of Finance Act 2003 and Part 2 of Finance Act 2001.

“Liability for APT arises either when product is imported into the State, or if a duty suspension arrangement applies, when the product is released for consumption from duty suspension arrangements in Ireland.  These duty-suspended movements are controlled by Revenue and all other tax authorities within the EU to protect tax revenues using the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS).

“It should be noted that the Northern Ireland protocol ensures that the abovementioned EU excise law and thus the above administrative controls continue to apply in Northern Ireland.

“Profits arising from the carrying on of a trade are chargeable to tax under Case I. Whether the profits from the sale of whiskey casks is carried on in the course of a trade is a question of fact having regard to the particular facts and circumstances of each case and also having regard to the ‘badges of trade’ and case law.

“Should the purchase and sale of whiskey casks take place other than in the course of a trade, i.e. as a form of investment, the disposal of such whiskey casks may be subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

“In general, CGT is chargeable on a gain arising on the disposal of an asset at the rate of 33 per cent. The first €1,270 of chargeable gains of an individual in any year are exempt from CGT. All gains are chargeable gains unless otherwise provided for by Capital Gains Tax Acts, and any such gains are liable to CGT, subject to any reliefs and/or exemptions which may be available in the context of the disposal giving rise to the gain.”

Given that a number of cask investment operations claim to have sold thousands of casks of Irish whiskey to ordinary punters as investments, I asked Revenue what their stance was on CGT: “It appears from the details supplied that whiskey casks may be considered an asset for the purposes of CGT, and so any gains arising on the disposal of whiskey casks, other than in the course of a trade, may be considered a chargeable gain. Any CGT liability arising in respect of such a gain may be relieved or exempted in accordance with current legislation.”

If it is the case that there are thousands, or tens of thousands of casks being held in warehouses on the island of Ireland in the names of private individuals who purchased them as investments, then Revenue are going to be interested. This isn’t quietly trading old Lego sets or stamps or sneakers on eBay – this is trying to shift massive wooden containers of hard liquor and unless you are a semi-professional bootlegger I would suggest that Revenue will track you down eventually. If, within the next five years, all those casks start getting shoved onto the market via auction sites, the great glowing eye of the State will swivel towards every auction site in the country. 

As for me, my casks will sit there doing not much. They may go up in value, they may go down. As I said at the outset, this isn’t investment advice because the casks weren’t an investment, more an experiment by someone who likes whiskey. In whiskey there are no shortcuts and anyone thinking they can get rich quick in it would really be better off just studying the secondary market and speculating on bottles rather than casks.

There has been a significant knock on from the rise of the investment set – many distilleries here hoped to replicate Dingle’s founding fathers programme which saw them sell casks to private individuals, not necessarily as investments, but more as a fan club membership, with an annual gathering in the distillery and the chance to bottle your cask down the road. But whereas most of these cask clubs had offerings from €6,000 to €10,000 per cask, the hard-sell crowd offered a lower price – so there is at least one distillery I know of that faced a seven million euro gap in their business plan because they couldn’t shift casks. They then attempted to hire someone specifically to flog casks as investments. But the moment has now passed. 

Aside from this there is the reputational damage to distilleries – one Irish distillery has been named repeatedly in the press as being the source of casks which were mis-sold or which are failing to sell at auction. The knock-on from their name being tarnished could then impact the value of all the other casks they have allowed to be sold to these uninformed investors. 

In the UK, this issue has seen the Scotch Whisky Association take a firm stance, offering advice on their website about things to look out for when buying a cask. The UK press also has been giving coverage to the crisis, and tonight, BBC Scotland runs a Disclosures special investigation titled Chasing The Whisky Bandits, followed by a podcast series on the topic. Even Reddit has done some leg work in warning people off seeing casks as an investment. 

There is a distinct lack of alarm in Ireland about the issue or any potential fallout from it – but if we get painted as wheeler dealers who engaged in and facilitated widespread cask investment fraud, then we will only have ourselves to blame. Irish whiskey’s reputation is in a delicate state – a lot of young, very expensive whiskey, a lot of old, also expensive whiskey from one of three sources, a lot of misleading messaging on labels and around sourced brands, and a dangerous level of hype; all this make us an easy target for scammers. All those witless headlines about ‘the Irish whiskey boom’ made useful fodder for anyone promising that a cask from some unproven distillery would only rise in value. The glory days, however, are coming to an end, and all those casks will need to be six to ten years old before the ‘investors’ can even break even. And even then, who will they sell to? 

The CWF25 Sunday March 23rd events I made it to and pictured above are:

2PM Midleton’s Method Madness – The Blue Room at The Dean

2PM Vintage Irish Bottle Tasting – The Shelbourne

4PM Killowen Distillery Charity Tasting – The Macau Casino

4PM The Wine Buff Grand Cru Wine Tasting – Cask

6:30PM Redbreast Cask Masterclass – The Blue Room at The Dean.