Ireland: Irish distilleries want more local malting barley

The surge in whiskey sales may not be having an impact on grain prices but it is delivering increased demand for malting barley, The Irish Independent reported on October 21.

Irish whiskey exports are worth €300 mln a year but Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) grain committee chairman, Liam Dunne, says not all Irish whiskey under production is being made with Irish grain.

"We would like to see that Irish produced whiskey has the maximum amount of native grains in it instead of importing other grains such as maize.

"The guys (distillers) themselves have to make up their own minds about what they want to put into it. That's what decides what the whiskey is going to be like afterwards and we're not in a position to interfere in telling them what should be in their mash.

"We would like to think that if they want to put Irish on the bottle, and it is a growing brand, they should have it as Irish as possible," he said.

Mr Dunne added that Ireland is capable of growing plenty more barley to match the excelling industry.

"Our capacity to grow malting barley is not limited - we can grow a lot more of it," said Mr Dunne.

“So we're nowhere near reaching our capacity to produce it. Of course, the distilling industry here it doesn't use only malting barley - it's using other grains as well."

Jack Teeling of the Teeling Whiskey Company says that the company supports Irish growers where possible.

"When you say grain in a whiskey term it tends to be from maize or corn, and obviously that can't be grown in Ireland to any sort of level to produce a standard of spirits that would be drinkable or commercially viable.

"It's been a tradition in Scotland and Ireland for generations now to source from high quality producers of that and that tends to be of the south of France.

"For malted whiskey, which comes from malted barley, we source locally because it's one thing that we can grow and that's barley here in Ireland and that forms the base of the flavour."

Mr Teeling added that while the industry is booming, distillers must be cautious not to lose customers to Scotch or American whiskies.

"We are in the middle of a golden era for Irish whiskeys, as an industry we cannot be arrogant to think what has gotten us here is enough to keep us on the same trajectory," he said.

There are 16 active distilleries in Ireland with a further 13 in development. Thirteen million cases of Irish whiskey were sold in 2014, with growth expected.

21 October, 2015