Liquid Gold- William Lavelle Irish Whiskey Assoc

LIQUID GOLD

William Lavelle, director of the Irish Whiskey Association, shares his insights on the global growth of Irish whiskey and why it’s crucial to continue to protect the quality and reputation of the product. Irish whiskey has seen enormous growth in recent years. What do you think is behind that growth? Over the past decade, we’ve seen about 180% growth in terms of global sales, so just under 5-million cases in 2010 to over 14-million cases in 2021. That growth didn’t materialise overnight. It’s the outcome of many years of hard work and investment in the Irish whiskey category, both from multinational companies who’ve entered the Irish whiskey scene as well as a pioneering new wave of Irish entrepreneurs who want to bring distilling back to their communities. All those people and the investment and ambition they’ve brought with them, that’s all come together to drive the industry. Of course, the other big players are the consumers. We’ve seen that globally, consumers have moved to spirits, and whiskey in particular, and Irish whiskey has benefited from that.

The market has never been so diverse. Is worldwide demand enough to sustain the 40-plus distilleries for the foreseeable future? Absolutely. We’ve gone from four distilleries to over 40 in the last ten years. Just as there’s a diversity of whiskeys, there’s also a diversity of distilleries, large and small. And I’m confident that those distilleries will find enough markets around the world because they’re all making very different types of whiskey in very different types of ways. And that’s all contributing to the depth and diversity of the category, which consumers are excited about exploring. They’re looking for new expressions all the time. It’s not an easy industry, but with the right product and business plan, there’s definitely a market for it.

With rising costs, what sort of challenges do distilleries face this year and what supports are there to balance that out? Like any other sector, distilleries are facing the challenges of higher energy costs. The Irish Whiskey Association is part of Ibec, and we’ve been calling on the government to support businesses, particularly SMEs, through this challenge we’re facing. And it’s not just energy. Since the pandemic, we’ve seen significant pressure on global supply chains. We’re seeing increased lead times, for example, for deliveries of glass bottles and that impacts production. It is a challenging time, but we’ll be talking to government about the issues facing our members and how we can help support them.

What’s being done by Ibec to ensure the integrity of Irish whiskey as a product?

Irish whiskey is recognised around the world. To qualify as an Irish whiskey, it must be produced and distilled within the island of Ireland and matured here for at least three years. There are various other regulations but those are key factors. Anyone who claims to be making Irish whiskey has to go through a very rigorous verification process with government authorities to make sure they are making Irish whiskey in the correct and appropriate way. If the consumer wants Irish whiskey, we want to make sure they’re only getting the real authentic Irish whiskey. It’s really important that we protect distilleries, consumers, people’s investment, and the reputation of Irish whiskey globally.

What do you think would surprise people most about your job? There’s an amazing level of solidarity and collegiality that exists within our industry. There are so many great people who’ve helped to turn Irish whiskey into the world’s fastest growing spirit. And it’s really brilliant working with all of those people. I’m five years in the job now and it’s great to see what everybody is doing, and it makes me very ambitious for the future.

GW 280722 Editorial PRINT .pdf 1 28/07/2022 21:05:08

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