Dublin City University lecturer Dr Paul Davis and his wife Jude fell in love with Lahardane in County Mayo from holidaying there, and soon realised that its windswept lakes and rugged landscapes in the shadow of Nephin Mountain would be the perfect backdrop for a distillery. Along with a Ballina native called Mark Quick, they formed Nephin Whiskey Ltd in 2013, and theirs was to be Connaught’s first distillery in a century, with a vision of bringing peat back into whiskey production. In 2014, they lodged plans for a distillery, with Jude moving west to manage the project, and Paul staying in the family home in Swords, County Dublin, so their three children could keep attending school.
Speaking to the Irish Independent in July that year – after Enda Kenny, proud Mayo man and then Taoiseach, performed the official ribbon-cutting on the project – Dr Davis said “We believe it will result in 18 jobs for the area. It’s a 24-hour-a-day operation but it’s a very quiet process. We hope to have 1,900 casks ready to go after three years.” They were due to start distilling by the end of 2015.
By mid-2015 things seemed to be going well – they had acquired the services of master cooper John Neilly, who had overseen the cooperage at Kilbeggan, but distillation seemed a while off. Speaking to Business & Finance in July of that year, Mark Quick expressed frustration that the project had not moved faster but that he was happy with what they done and the way they had done things over the past year: “For example, most start-up distilleries buy bulk whiskey and bottle it, so they have a product on-shelf before they distill and mature their own. We made the decision that this didn’t fit with our core principle of authenticity. So despite the obvious cash-flow benefits that might bring in the short term, I’m delighted we haven’t gone down that road.”
By September 2016, the Business Post was reporting that the trio were close to completing a €5 million fundraising round, with Paul Davis telling the paper that while they had not laid down any whiskey or started distilling, they expected to be able to bottle their own whiskey by 2020.
In May 2018, their master cooper John Neilly died.
A feature in Fora.ie at the end of 2018 said that internal installation was due to begin in January 2019, which would mean production could finally begin four months after that, adding that the distillery had raised around €6.5 million to that point and there were plans to have another funding round in 2019 to raise €1.5 to €2 million.
The business had attracted a small number of private investors, such as Michael Walsh of shoe company Dubarry, through the EIIS tax-relief scheme. Paul Davis was quoted in the piece as saying that he always knew it would be a long-term project: “It’s a tough business, but it’s not a business you go into thinking you’ll make money in the first year or two.” He also spoke about how their tourism plans could draw 20,000 or 30,000 visitors a year:
In October 2019 The Nephin Whiskey Company Facebook page announced a special occasion to mark the arrival of the stills at Lahardane. The same month the Western People newspaper covered Nephin Whiskey Company’s €2.5m investment from the Davy EIIS Fund and upcoming completion of the final works at the distillery, with the front page headline promising that they would be making whiskey in 2020.
Early 2020 saw the Covid-19 virus spread around the world. Nephin still hadn’t started distilling.
By early 2021, they were making headlines for all the wrong reasons:
On March 3 this year the Irish Independent revealed how Paul and Jude Davis had resigned from their directorships, with control being transferred to two Ukranians – Tamara Antonova (aged 70) and Halyna Matiyash (aged 73), who also live in Swords. Paul and Jude Davis remain as shareholders. Nephin Whiskey also officially moved its office address to a unit in Malahide, Co Dublin. The piece also highlighted how a decade on, the distillery in Lahardane was still not finished.
Nephin Whiskey Company Limited’s Abridged Financial Statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 ‘outlined the uncertainly related to going concern which centres around the ability of the company to secure funding from investors to complete the capital expenditure on site and commence production: “As stated in note 3, these conditions indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter.”
The accounts also detailed the issues which arose during the pandemic on the company and the implementation of its business: “In particular, the commissioning of the equipment by Frilli, an Italian company, was postponed in July 2020 due to COVID-19. The company had planned that production would commence in late 2020 but this has not happened at the date of approval of these Financial Statements. In addition, the company anticipated that sales from the Visitor centre and merchandise would materialise following the commencement of production. This income stream has been delayed due to Covid 19.
“The company was committed to capital expenditure of approx €1.1 million at the balance sheet date. This expenditure is necessary for the completion of installation of and commissioning of plant to enable the company to commence production. The funding of this committed capital expenditure and the commencement of production is dependent on the receipt of funds as outlined above. The Company has not at the date of approval of these Financial Statements obtained commitments in respect of the funding required. Based on ongoing negotiations taking place with prospective new investors, the company directors are confident they can secure the funding required.
“In the event the company does not obtain the additional funding required this is likely to have a material impact on the company’s finances and its ability to meet the cost of the capital commitments to allow it to commence production and to meet ongoing working capital requirements.
“In circumstances where additional funding is not obtained in the timescale required, the company would be unlikely to be in a position to continue to trade and to meet its day-to-day expenditure requirements.
“Should the company be unable to continue to trade,
– this may result in the company being unable to realise its assets or discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business.
– the value of their assets would be in question. The ability of the company to realise the book value of their assets would, in all likelihood, be dependent on sourcing another entity who would be engaged in whiskey distilling and would have the desire to set up business at the company’s facility in Lahardane.
– the company may be liable to repay the sales value of pre-sold cask and bottles of whiskey which is material as at the balance sheet date.”
I spoke to one person who bought a cask from Nephin Distillery with a few friends in 2017. It cost them €6,500 at the time, and while he said they bought it as a bit of fun, the amount of money was still not insignificant for them. He said they were in receipt of regular updates about the distillery and its development up to 2019 but they trailed off after that. The last communication was in November 2022 and said that with the litigation settled they would now focus on getting the distillery completed ‘as fast as possible’.
After the piece in the Irish Independent, he emailed Jude Davis again, and this time got an automated message informing him that her relationship with Nephin ended on February 3. The email included a contact email for Herbots, a law firm with offices in Dublin and Brussels. He emailed them and got no response. Similarly, the Irish Independent was unable to contact either the Davis’s or the law firm.
Whether or not Nephin Distillery will be completed is not known.
Triple Distilled Communications 