The 2010s were the decade of Irish whiskey’s grand return. At the start of the period, there were just four working distilleries on the island; over the next decade, that number would increase tenfold. Whiskey’s sleeping giant had reawakened. But just a few years later, the outlook seems less bright. Until now, Ireland’s export story has had a distinctly American accent. According to data from Ireland’s Food Board, Bord Bia, the US accounts for 40% of total whiskey exports, so when the 15% import tariff was introduced last summer, naturally the category suffered and exports fell by 5%.
When the sun was shining, a lot of hay had been made – with the introduction of tariff s and with general consumption trending down, the category had widespread oversupply. In 2025, according to reporting by The Irish Times, as many as 90% of distilleries paused or reduced production. The multinationals weren’t immune to the downturn; Irish Distillers temporarily shut down production in April, while reports out of Dublin indicate that Diageo’s Roe & Co distillery has been mothballed. The gold rush had to end sometime and, as it transpires, many contributing factors to this decline were present from the outset.
“Around 2012 people were starting to see craft spirits growing, and that was especially significant in Ireland,” says whisky writer Mark Jennings.
“People saw that owning a distillery didn’t seem like a lot of money. They could put three million euros in and give it a go. The problem is, there were a lot of them. A thousand flowers were blooming, and we went from four distilleries to something like 63 in some form of liquid production, early build, or planning permission, over a period of about a decade. And all of them had very much the same belief they were going to make traditional-style, pot still whiskey and hope to sell it on the East Coast of the US.”
This new wave of producers began laying down casks and, three years later, Ireland had its first influx of new whiskey businesses in a generation. The first obstacle for the newcomers was that suddenly they were competing for shelf space with Jameson, Redbreast, Bushmills, Tullamore Dew and several other legacy brands that held more stock with more age.
“If we look back 10 years, most of the established distilleries in terms of production quality, quantity and brand recognition already existed,” says Richard Ryan, co-founder of Drinksology Kirker Greer, which owns Kirker Irish Whiskey.
“This meant that new entrants started with a high threshold regarding consumer quality expectations. Unlike other spirits categories where new entrants might compete on novelty or price point, new Irish distilleries had to compete with the old guard shoulder-to-shoulder in terms of benchmark technical and liquid quality, a de facto minimum requirement.
“It wasn't until 2016 that other meaningful production became available via Dingle, followed by Teeling and Great Northern Distillery. The old guard has maintained high production standards and competitive pricing to this day – everyone else must follow and compete.”
Great Northern Distillery has been one of Irish whiskey’s greatest success stories. Created by John Teeling, who established Cooley Distillery, rebuilt Kilbeggan Distillery and whose sons founded Teeling, it’s the country’s largest independent distillery, dedicated to producing bulk whiskey for contract and private-label bottlings both in Ireland and overseas.
In 2018, the distillery’s first three-year-old Irish whiskey came of age, giving whiskey entrepreneurs access to an affordable, readily available source of Irish whiskey. “I will die on the hill saying that John Teeling is the smartest man in the spirits industry,” says Jennings. “And he had the smartest move of everybody in the category, which was to build a kind of MGP in Ireland. Through Great Northern Distillery, anyone – not just in Ireland, but the US too – could buy in good liquid, stick some Paddywhackery on the label and bring it to market faster and at a much lower cost than a startup distillery.
“Now, you could argue that MGP has a higher existing consumer base. Bourbon is a bigger, more established category than Irish whiskey. And while Great Northern came along as a bulk producer that could help people bring things to market a lot cheaper, Irish whiskey was getting to a level of being considered as a premium spirit. Great Northern has done a lot to democratise the category, but in a decade, we might look back and see a lot of distillery businesses hit the bricks simply because of the volume of competition that could bring something to market at a lower cost.”
Sustainable growth
From its home in the shadows of the Mourne Mountains, Killowen has taken a different approach. Founder Brendan Carty operates Ireland’s smallest distillery, which has quietly built a reputation for producing some of the country’s most highly acclaimed whiskies. Today, limited-release runs of Killowen don’t stay on shelves for too long and often fetch high prices in the secondary market.
“There’s a downturn at the moment in the industry, but we’re very privileged that we’re still growing,” he says. “I think a lot of businesses were a bit greedy. We try to keep ourselves level headed and avoid the Shiny Ball Syndrome. It can be very tempting to produce cheap whiskey and go to more markets, but for us, our centre of gravity is flavour-led quality spirits. Killowen is consumer-led quality whiskey for the right people, and we just love what we do.
“We want slow, sustainable growth. When we first put pen to paper a decade ago, we knew there would be ups and downs. The industry was always going to see an economic curve, so we braced for it from the beginning.”
While Killowen is proving to be a success story for forward-thinking Irish whiskey production, the category isn’t without its cautionary tale.
In 2015, Mark Reynier, the man behind the revival of Bruichladdich, launched Waterford Whisky out of an old Guinness Distillery in south east Ireland. The project immediately struck a chord with whiskey fans; the concept was terroir-led liquids that would focus on the influence of barley on the final spirit. When the business entered receivership at the end of 2024, it sent shockwaves across the whisky world.
“Waterford connected with people in a huge way, and it did a lot of things right,” says Carty. “Unfortunately, I think there might have just been a hole in the science. It was probably dictating to people what science meant, rather than listening to the consumer. It was tragic because I really wanted to see that project succeed.”
Jennings continues: “Waterford was totally incredible, but really bizarre. Single-field barley, unaged when it first came out, it was a weird-edge case and the jump was probably too high for the Irish market.”
Waterford was a sad casualty of a category that is still finding its level. The current period of transition will see more brands, many undeserving, fail as the market finds its balance after a decade of excitement. “A decade ago, the fact that a whiskey was new and Irish was enough to secure a conversation. Today, that novelty has evaporated,” says Ryan.
“We are entering a shake-out phase where the defining trend is no longer the opening of distillery doors, but the maturation of inventory and business models. The most significant trend shaping our trajectory is the move toward transparency and provenance. As consumers become better educated, they are looking past the story and scrutinising the liquid’s origin, especially as more distilleries transition from selling sourced liquid to their own house-distilled spirits.”
And while businesses adapt to current trading conditions, both at home and in the export market, whiskey stocks that were laid down by the new wave of distillers a decade ago are gradually reaching their potential.
“In a few years’ time, we’ll be at the most exciting place for Irish whiskey in 200 years,” says Jennings. “We’re going to have lots of really interesting stock that’s going to have good enough maturity to be a 10-year, 12-year, 15-year-old release. Consumers are going to be able to taste some of the most interesting whiskey in the entire world, and it’s going to be available at a better price point. We’re going to be in a place where Irish whiskey is going to be able to deliver upon the promises of the last decade.
“On the back of that, the weird and the wonderful stuff is going to come more to the fore. People are going to have more of a gateway to discover Irish whiskey and then start to discover that sometimes it’s peated, sometimes it’s made with weird ferments. We’re going to see another generation of drinkers and makers coming through who could deliver, not just premium Irish whiskey en masse, but deliver contemporary Irish whiskey which is unlike anything else.
“It’s going to be super inspirational and an amazing time for anyone who loves Irish whiskey.”
