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.
Triple Distilled Communications 