Drink

How West Cork went from distilling at home to global brand

Three old friends from Union Hall now focus mainly on whiskey and export to 70 nations

John O’Connell, Denis McCarthy and Ger McCarthy of West Cork Distillery

John Wilson's face
John Wilson
Wed Mar 10 2021 - 06:00

West Cork Distillery was formed by John O’Connell and his childhood friends Ger McCarthy and Denis McCarthy, all from Union Hall. I first interviewed O’Connell in 2013, when they were distilling various spirits in a small room in one of their houses. At that time they had raised a few eyebrows with Drombeg, a lower-alcohol liqueur designed to taste like whiskey. “It still tips away, but Irish whiskey is our focus now,” says O’Connell.

A year after we met, they moved to a 12.5-acre site in Skibbereen with a capacity to distil four million litres of alcohol a year. They now employ 120 people full time, making them one of the larger employers in the town. “The still works seven days a week, 24 hours a day. We are proud of the fact that everyone who works here lives east of Clonakilty,” he says.

Their own brands include Two Trees vodka, Garnish Island gin, “a very special gin using 17 botanicals”, and no fewer than 13 whiskeys under the West Cork Whiskey brand, including a range of single malts finished in various casks. They were the first to release the range with specific partners named on the label. They export to 70 countries around the world.

As well as these, they distil spirits for a host of Irish craft producers around the country and a number of international brands. At one stage, UK drinks producer Halewood had a share in the company, but they were bought out for €25 million in August 2019, with help from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.

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More recently, O’Connell, a science graduate who once worked with Unilever and Kerry Group, picked up an award for EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020. “It has been a good, exciting, challenging few years,” he says. “WCD is different to other spirit companies. We are not on the marketing carousel; we stand for good liquid. Initially this worked against us, as people saw us as contract managers. More recently, they see the authenticity of the brand – I hope so anyway.”

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