Over the last 5 years I've been traveling to Ireland and have used some of that time to dig into Irish whisky and its production. I thought I would share what I've learned so far as it took quite a bit of digging due to the rapid growth of the industry and the significant use of sourced and branded whisky. There are in excess of 40 whisky distilleries in Ireland. The majority of the distilleries are relatively new with only 45% having mature stocks (versus sourced). Midleton (Jameson, Redbreast, Midelton, Powers, Paddy's) continues to dominate current mature producers with approximately 61% of estimated total capacity. Other large producers include Great Northern, Bushmills, Cooleys, West Cork and Teeling. Other good sized producers include Powercourt (Fercullan), Waterford, Ballykeefe and Royal Oak (Busker). Some larger ones currently using sourced product include Tullamore, Slane, Boann (Whistler) and Clonakilty. What this all means is that you really need to search to find some of the smaller producers’ products and their products may only be available in Ireland. It also means that branding and use of sourced whisky is huge with many popular names sourced from Great Northern, Cooleys, Midelton and Bushmills including the Spot series (Green, Yellow, Red, Blue, Gold), Kilbeggan, Connemara, Tyrconnell, The Irishman, etc. Depending on the strength of sourcing contracts, brands can start and stop quite quickly and can vary in flavor if they need to change sources. -30-

Posted by tyrone.cotie at 2023-01-22 12:57:17 UTC