“Irish Distillers also actively mentors new Irish whiskey companies, inviting them to Midleton Distillery and providing advice for them on technical issues. At the heart of everything that Irish Distillers does is a desire to see Irish whiskey grow on the global stage,” states Pernod Ricard

It goes on to brands that have been launched thanks to the wholesale market in recent years:

• Hyde
• Connacht
• Writers Tears (Walsh)
• The Irishman (Walsh whiskey)
• Slane Castle
• Glendalough
• Quiet Man (Niche Drinks)
• Prizefighter (West Cork Distillers)
• West Cork (West Cork Distillers)
• Clonakilty
• JJ Corry (Chapel Gate)
• Tipperary Boutique

IN SUMMARY

As to what’s ahead, Quinn says: “In the past few years we launched Tullamore Dew Cider Cask, Tullamore Dew 15 Year Old Trilogy, Tullamore Dew 14 Year Old Single Malt, Tullamore Dew 18 Year Old Single Malt and now Tullamore DEW XO Rum Finish. That’s a lot to be going on with but in truth we have some really interesting new projects in the works – sadly only a few of us are allowed to know about them at this stage.”

Walsh says: “We will be unveiling our 2018 edition of Writers Tears Cask Strength at Prowein. Also this year we will see some new finishes arising from our cask finishing programme to go with the Marsala wine cask finishes we introduced last year.

“In the first week of January in Royal Oak we distilled the world’s first ever certified organic single pot still Irish whiskey for our Writers Tears portfolio. However, it will be at least five years before we release it.

Buckley says: “An ongoing challenge for Irish Distillers is ensuring that we are constantly investing in our capacity to keep pace with the growth of our whiskeys. That’s why we have invested more than €220m in Midleton Distillery since 2012 and last summer we installed three new copper pot stills in the Garden Stillhouse, which has increased single pot still capacity by 30%.

“Thirty years ago, having studied the market and predicting a rise in demand for Irish whiskey in the future, we started to lay down significant single pot still stocks, allowing us to craft the exciting new Irish whiskey expressions appearing today, such as Redbreast, The Spot Range and Method and Madness as well as the Jameson Family.

“This approach continues: we are laying down stock that will be used decades from now as we instigate even faster growth of the Irish whiskey market in the future. This will allow us to offer consumers further opportunities to trade up with new, innovative styles of Irish whiskey.”

“Our commitment to developing exciting new concepts that ignite the creativity of bartenders and industry leaders will see the launch of Jameson Wild Seaweed Bitters, which is an innovative cocktail ingredient crafted using wild dillisk seaweed, created to inspire elite bartenders to experiment with Jameson in new and exciting ways,” says Buckley.