Walsh slams Irish gov support for whiskey

Bernard Walsh, founder of Irish whiskey brand Walsh Whiskey, has claimed that if he had set up his company in Scotland he would have got “five times as much government support” than he does in Ireland.

Bernard Walsh, far right, launching the Irish Whiskey Association (Photo, Walsh Whiskey)

Walsh, whose flagship brand The Irishman was relaunched in 2013, commended the growth of Irish whiskey through the recession despite the “very expensive” local taxes and lack of government support.

He said, “Support in Ireland is nowhere near as good as in Scotland. This is despite the fact that Irish whiskey is four times larger than the country’s much-flaunted dairy industry, which receives all kinds of state funding.”

“If we were in Scotland, we’d get five times as much government support,” said Walsh, who is also chairman of the Irish Whiskey Association.

Speaking to db at ProWein last month, Walsh reported the success of The Irishman brand following its relaunch at Vinexpo Bordeaux two years ago.

He said that the “focus on the whiskey as a family business, and it being a field-to-bottle product with quality label cues” has allowed the brand to have a successful “global” outlook. It has since been given a full listing in UK high-end supermarket Marks and Spencer as well as on- and off-trade listings in the US and Canada.

The Irishman is also seeing “great export growth” in ex-USSR countries, where Walsh reported it being in the top 5 spirits brands in several of these states. “There just aint enough Irish Whiskey to go around,” said Walsh.

Commenting on the state of the Irish Whiskey market as a whole, Walsh said that it was a sign of confidence in the industry that so many new distilleries are emerging in the country and that more variety is on offer. He said, “Every parish in Ireland will one day have a distillery. It’s like it was 150-200 years ago.”

Walsh is planning to open a new €25 million distillery in January next year, which will have the capacity to produce two million litres of pure alcohol (LPA) a year, or six million bottles of whiskey.

An artist’s impression of the new Walsh Whiskey distillery to be completed early next year (Photo: Walsh Whiskey)

The site in County Carlow will also feature two maturation houses with capacity for 60,000 barrels plus a visitors’ centre, which it is hoped will attract 75,000 tourists by 2021.

Walsh Whiskey partnered with Disaronno owner Ilva Saronno on the project, which is expected to expand its global distribution footprint from 30 to 100 countries.

On the day work began at the site in September last year, Walsh said, “We are now 15 years in business and we are very grateful to the thousands of people across the world that choose our whiskies and also to all of our international partners who make sure that Irishman and Writers Tears are available in 30 countries and growing.”