Pat Cooney-led Meath distillery to launch first single pot whiskeys

Boann Distillery a family-run Irish whiskey business, is preparing to launch its first batches of single pot whiskey on Friday, four years after embarking on the project at its facility in Co Meath.

The business, founded by former Gleeson Group owner Pat Cooney and his family, is targeting the sale of 10,000 cases of its three new premium whiskeys by the end of the year, Mr Cooney told The Irish Times. It hopes to double sales to 20,000 over the coming years, reaching 70 markets globally, he added.

Boann’s three single pot still products – Marsala, Madeira and Pedro Ximinéz – are part of the Cooney family’s wider stable of drinks brands, including Silks Irish Dry Gin and the Whistler blended Irish whiskey.

The group, which began the process of distilling its single pot whiskeys in 2019, has invested €30 million in the project, Mr Cooney said, through a combination of “family resources, retained earnings and bank borrowings”, including €5 million from AIB.

The first batch of Boann’s single pot whiskey, totalling 12,000 cases, has been matured in casks from Spain, France and the US, giving each of the three brands “a distinct flavour profile”, it said.

“It was always our dream to craft and distil our very own Irish whiskey in the heart of the Boyne Valley,” said Mr Cooney in a statement. “We are ready to grasp this huge opportunity to grow our business beyond the markets we currently serve and bring the essence of the land around us to customers across the world.”

Abridged accounts for Nacuana, a holding company in the group and parent of Boann, showed the group had revenues in excess of €25 million in the financial year to the end of June 2023. The group expects to double annual revenues over the next five years, it said in a statement.

The new whiskeys are available for purchase on the Boann Distillery website and will be released across the State in the coming weeks.

Mr Cooney and his family netted €12.4 million in 2012 in cash from the sale of Gleeson Group, a leading drinks wholesaler and manufacturer behind Tipperary water and Finches orange, to C&C in a deal that gave the business an enterprise value of €58 million, including debt.