High spirits as The Dublin Liberties Distillery achieves record sales – Irish Whiskey News
High spirits as The Dublin Liberties Distillery achieves record sales
The Dublin Liberties Distillery (The DLD) today announced it achieved record sales growth over the past 12 months, as global sales of its Dubliner and Dublin Liberties Irish Whiskey brands grew year-on-year by 21% for the April 2020 to March 2021 period.
Despite the temporary closure of licenced premises due to Covid-19 impacting the on-trade market, combined sales of both brands for the year topped 900,000 bottles for the first time, taking the total bottles sold since their launch in 2017 to over 2.5 million in more than 25 markets.
Volume growth of 69% and 51% was achieved in Germany and Ukraine respectively, with Dubliner placing amongst the top four selling Irish whiskey brands in Germany, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Over 350,000 bottles were sold in the key US Irish Whiskey market, as sales of Dubliner benefited from the introduction of new-look bottles and branding this year.
Domestic sales also performed positively, with year-on-year growth of 44% generated. Both brands were listed in Tesco supermarkets for the first time, while sales at both Dunnes Stores and SuperValu grew by over 50%. Further new listings were secured with the Carryout Off Licence Group, bringing Dubliner Whiskey & Honeycomb Liqueur directly to Irish consumers for the first time.
Welcoming the performance, Fergus Murphy, General Manager at The Dublin Liberties Distillery said: “Despite an extremely difficult and fluctuating environment, we had a very strong 12 months, with global sales of Dubliner and Dublin Liberties Irish Whiskey showing great resilience. We sold just under 900,000 bottles this year, driven mainly by sales in our key markets of the US, Germany, Ukraine, Ireland and Australia, while we also saw encouraging growth in emerging markets despite the pandemic.”
“Since 2017, we have sold over 2.5 million bottles of premium Irish Whiskey globally and expect to continue to break sales records driven by our ambitious 10-year growth plan. There are exciting times ahead for our brands as we look to focus on new international markets and reimagine brand identities to target a wider spectrum of consumers.”
The DLD opened its state-of-the-art whiskey distillery and visitor experience on Mill Street in Dublin’s Liberties in 2019. It is majority owned by Quintessential Brands Group, in partnership with Stock Spirits.
Over the past 18 months, The DLD has appointed a new leadership team to support the growth of its key brands, with Fergus Murphy taking over as General Manager in November 2019, while Bronagh Hunt stepped up to the role of Global Brands Director last November.
Master Distiller Darryl McNally will shortly move to a new consultancy role within the business, as he pursues other opportunities in the global whiskey industry. Since joining The DLD, Darryl has expertly trained a team of distillers to continue to produce quality single malt Irish whiskey.
ABOUT THE DUBLIN LIBERTIES DISTILLERY
The Dublin Liberties Distillery opened its doors for the first time in February 2019. A working distillery in the heart of the Dublin’s Liberties district, Ireland’s historic whiskey capital, The Dublin Liberties Distillery is majority owned by Quintessential Brands Group, in partnership with Stock Spirits.
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ABOUT QUINTESSENTIAL BRANDS GROUP
Established in 2011, Quintessential Brands Group is one of the most successful spirits companies to emerge from the UK in the last decade. The company offers a complete range of services and products to its customers across the world; producing and distributing some of the world’s most-loved spirits brands, including Greenall’s, the Original London Dry Gin, Opihr Spiced Gin and BLOOM Gin, as well as developing and producing some of the most commercially successful retailer brands of recent years for trade customers, and co-packing for some of the world’s most well-known spirits brands.
Recognised by the industry as International Spirits Challenge Gin Distiller of the Year five times in the last six years, Quintessential Brands is renowned for its unrivalled gin distilling capabilities heritage dating back to 1761 and is emerging as one of the most dynamic new entrants in the Irish whiskey market with the Dublin Liberties Distillery. With world-class product development and manufacturing at four world-class production sites across Europe and an award-winning premium brand portfolio comprised of English Gins, Irish Whiskeys, Irish Creams and Liqueurs, Quintessential Brands is committed to being the indispensable spirits partner of choice to its customers across the world, with customers and insights at the heart of everything we do.
Headquartered in London, Quintessential Brands Group distributes its brands and services through regional business units and distributors internationally.
