Quintessential Brands raises €28m for Dublin Liberties Whiskey Distillery
New tourist attraction for Dublin's Liberties area due to open in summer 2018, after multi-million investments raised from both Stock Spirits Group and Wells Fargo Bank
Print17 July 2017
Following an announcement last year that a new state-of-the-art whiskey distillery and visitor experience will open in the Liberties area of Dublin, Quintessential Brands has raised a substantial investment for the Dublin Liberties Distillery Company.
Stock Spirits Group Plc will invest €18.3 million investment in return for a 25% equity interest in Quintessential Brands Irish Whiskey Limited (QBIW), which owns The Dublin Liberties and The Dubliner Irish Whiskey brands.
As part of a total €28 million investment in QBIW, a new comprehensive €10 million banking facility has also been completed with Wells Fargo Bank.
Stock Spirits Group is a leading owner and producer of premium-branded spirits and liqueurs that are principally sold in Central and Eastern Europe. Its investment comprises an initial €15 million cash, plus a further deferred cash consideration over a five-year period for the 25% equity interest.
QBIW says it will use the investment primarily to complete the construction and fit-out of the Dublin Liberties Distillery on Mill Street in Dublin 8, as well as to “accelerate advertising and promotional investment in the brands underpinned by significant investment in stock maturation”.
The QBIW senior executive management team of Darryl McNally (general manager and master distiller), Colin O’Neill (chief financial officer) and Sinead O’Frighil (global marketing director) will continue to lead the Dublin Liberties Distillery Company. It will be chaired by Quintessential Brands Group co-founder Warren Scott
The move represents further good news for QWIB as The Dubliner Irish Whiskey was recently confirmed as the fastest growing Irish whiskey globally. In fact, the range of products in The Dublin Liberties and The Dubliner Irish Whiskey portfolios currently sell in more than 30 countries with sales in excess of 32,000 cases (9L) in the 12 months to March 2017.
Quintessential Brands acquired the Dublin Liberties Distillery in 2016 and over the past 12 months has developed designs for the site. Construction started in January 2017, with the distillery and visitors’ centre which is expected to be a significant tourist attraction, due to open in summer 2018.
The new distillery will complement the considerable development under way in the Liberties area. Employing up to 15 people when fully operational, some 40 people are involved in its design and construction.
Stock Spirits chief executive Mirek Stachowicz said it sees “significant potential” for QWIB’s brands globally, “including in our core markets of Poland and Czech Republic,” where the company is “confident they will complement our strong market positions in vodka, herbal bitters, brandy and limoncello”.
Quintessential Brands also owns a portfolio of Irish creams and liqueurs brands together with a production and bottling facility in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois. Its brands include Feeney’s Irish Cream, O’Mara’s Country Cream, Brogan’s Irish Cream and O’Casey’s Irish Cream which, together with a range of other products, sell a total of 700,000 cases across 50 markets globally. In total, Quintessential Brands employs 51 people in Ireland.
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