Dublin Liberties Distillery, whose whiskey brands include the Dubliner, reported a rise in losses last year.
The distillery reported a €1.17 million loss for the 12 months to the end of March 2020 to bring accumulated losses to €5.4 million.
The company, which has also guaranteed the liabilities of its immediate parent – Quintessential Brands Ireland Whiskey Limited – also had €14.9 million in outstanding loans to Wells Fargo Capital Finance.
The distillery is controlled by Quintessential, a company that sells a raft of drinks including gin, whiskey and Irish cream liquors. One-time investment banker Warren Scott and former Campari chief executive Enzo Vizone founded Quintessential in 2011.
London-listed Stock Spirits, active mainly in the eastern European market, took a 25 per cent stake in the distillery in 2017 in exchange for an €18 million investment.
Dublin Liberties Distillery opened a distillery and visitor experience on Mill Street in 2019. It said that despite the coronavirus pandemic, that sales rose 21 per cent over the year to the end of March 2021 with just under 900,000 bottles sold during the 12 months.
The total number of bottles sold by the distillery since it launched in 2017 now totals more than 2.5 million, it said.
Volume growth of 69 per cent and 51 per cent was achieved in Germany and Ukraine respectively last year while over 350,000 bottles were sold in the US.
Domestic sales also performed positively, with year-on-year growth of 44 per cent. Both Dubliner and Dublin Liberties Distillery whiskies were listed in Tesco supermarkets for the first time during the year, while sales at both Dunnes Stores and SuperValu grew by over 50 per cent.
