Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin is eyeing a push into the Asian travel retail market as part of the distillery’s next phase of growth.
Speaking to the Irish Times, Pat Rigney, founder of the Shed Distillery, confirmed that his gin is available in the duty-free area of Hong Kong’s international airport since last month.
Travel Retail Expansion
“The markets that are going to be of interest to us are China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore,” he told The Irish Times.
“Gin is a relatively small category in this part of the world, but it is growing. What’s exciting for us is that all the travel retail operators know our brand and respect it.
“[Hong Kong’s international airport] reordered twice from us already. We are very excited about Asia but it is going to be a long-term play.”
Rigney said that the company has signed up importers for Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, with eyes on China next.
Rigney said that he hopes to reach revenues of €7-€8 million, after almost doubling its earnings last year.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
