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West Cork Distillers recorded a €6m boost to its pre-tax profits last year as sales surged almost 50pc following high demand for its alcohol ingredients in the US ‘ready-to-drink’ industry. Sales at the Skibbereen-based alcohol group, known for its whiskeys, vodkas and gins, soared to over €77.1m in 2023, up from above €51.
7m the previous year, according to its recently published financial results. Pre-tax profits at West Cork Distillers grew to over €7.2m last year, a considerable jump from €1.
36m in 2022. John O’Connell, who co-founded West Cork Distillers in 2003, said it had been a super year for the business, noting sales of its ingredients for the ready-to-drink sector in the US and North America had helped drive growth. It also secured new distribution agreements for its whiskeys with France’s second-largest spirits group, La Martiniquaise, and Nordic spirits and wine company Anora.
Despite the strong performance last year, O’Connell said 2024 had been challenging for the whole sector. Maintaining the status quo would be a positive. Earlier this year, West Cork Distillers acquired Donohoe Drinks, a Waterford-based contract bottling and blending company “My own feeling is that the sector got a huge boost during Covid, which was quite exceptional.
People, including ourselves, the penny didn’t drop with us that the Covid boost was not sustainable. We were all using the Covid couple of years as a base point for further growth. “In Covid, you couldn’t make it quick enough.
Covid set the spirits sector off on a hugely upward trajectory. People, including ourselves, thought that was the new norm. It wasn’t the new norm.
It was just a blip. It makes sense: People during Covid weren’t going to restaurants, they were buying premium products because they had more disposable income.” Earlier this year, West Cork Distillers acquired Donohoe Drinks, a Waterford-based contract bottling and blending company, saving around 105 jobs following a period in examinership.
O’Connell said the business had been performing well, noting customers had felt the benefits of synergies realised through the deal. O'Connell says he isn't worried about US president-elect Donald Trump's threatened trade tariffs. Photo: Getty While O’Connell was confident about 2025 for West Cork Distillers, he added that there were concerns, particularly if tariffs were to be introduced on sales to America.
US President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to hit imports with new tariffs. Despite the trade threat, O’Connell is ready to get on with the job. “West Cork Distillers has seen a lot of challenges over the years, this would just be one more.
” In Covid, you couldn’t make it quick enough. We thought it was the new normal. But it was a blip West Cork Distillers also distils spirits for other Irish and international brands.
Its latest distillery on Marsh Road, Skibbereen, opened in 2020 on a 12.5-acre site. O’Connell co-founded West Cork Distillers alongside friends Denis and Ger McCarthy.
In April 2023, Thin Lizzy and the Philip Lynott Estate revealed plans to launch a ‘Thin Lizzy’ whiskey brand in collaboration with West Cork Distillers. In 2015, it also released a whiskey in collaboration with The Pogues..
