Dublin Liberties Distillery increased loss in run up to official opening

The Dublin Liberties Distillery, which officially opened its new facility and visitor centre after a €10 million investment, more than doubled its loss in its most recent financial year.

Recently filed accounts for the Dublin Liberties Whiskey Company Limited show a loss for the year ended March 2018 of €1.13 million while net liabilities amounted to €1.53 million.

The group had more than €3.1 million in the bank and on hand having agreed a lending facility with Wells Fargo Capital Finance worth about €10 million. Some €5.9 million of bank debt falls due after more than a year from the reported year end of March 31st 2018.

Since then the company has gone on to officially open its new distillery at which it is targeting sales of 50,000 cases of whiskey this year and accommodate up to 80,000 visitors.

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Development of the new distillery has seen a complete renovation of a 400-year-old building in an area historically home to Dublin’s distillers, where a raft of new companies have opened in recent years.

The company, which currently sells two brands of whiskey, including "the Dubliner", sells to markets including the United States, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Australia.

A company spokeswoman said the company “is in this for the long haul and our investment both in Irish whiskey and the Distillery reflects this intent”.

Speaking to The Irish Times earlier this year, the company’s master distiller, Darryl McNally, estimated that up to €28 million has been spent on the new distillery.

The distillery is controlled by Quintessential Brands, a company which sells a raft of drinks including gin, whiskey and Irish cream liquors. One-time investment banker Warren Scott and former Campari chief executive Enzo Vizone founded Quintessential in 2011.

London-listed Stock Spirits, active mainly in the eastern European market, took a 25 per cent stake in the distillery in 2017 in exchange for an €18 million investment.