Irish Distillers has recently announced its full-year financial results for 2021/22 (ending 30 June 2022), with the business experiencing strong growth in the financial year, led by Jameson, which surpassed the ten-million-case milestone for the first time.
Jameson, which is the fastest-growing Irish whiskey in the world and one of the top five international whiskey brands, sold 10.4 million cases in 2021/22 – up from 8.6 million cases in full-year 2021.
Irish whiskey was the third fastest-growing category in the US in 2021, selling roughly 5.9 million nine-litre cases, with sales of Jameson representing more than 70% of total Irish whiskey sales. This success continued into FY22, with sales of Jameson outdoing previous records, selling 4.5 million cases to the end of June 2022 and setting a new record for the brand in the US.
Global Travel Retail
The return of travel in this period saw the resurgence of Global Travel Retail (+157%), coupled with strong growth in other key markets, such as South Africa (+43%), the UK (+16%), Ireland (+20%), Poland (+43%) and Spain (+94%).
The continued globalisation of the Jameson brand is also reflected in the brand’s growth in emerging markets, including India, Zambia and Bulgaria, all of which surpassed the 100,000-case mark for the first time.
In recent years, consumer demand has been trending in the direction of premium products.
The global growth of Irish Distillers’ Prestige Range (+16%), which includes Redbreast, Midleton Very Rare, Spot, and Method and Madness, reflects the increase in consumer appetite for premium and super-premium Irish whiskeys. Redbreast, built on a loyal following of ‘those in the know’, is the largest-selling single-pot-still Irish whiskey in the world, and in FY22, it exceeded the 100,000-case mark for the first time.
‘Immensely Proud’
Nodjame Fouad, chair and CEO at Irish Distillers, said, “We are immensely proud of the strong performance of our full portfolio of Irish whiskeys. As evidenced by our results today, our whiskeys continue to go from strength to strength in markets around the world, led by the success of the Jameson brand, which surpassed the incredible ten-million-case milestone in the 2021/2022 financial year.
“We continue to develop our historically strong markets, such as the US – which reached the 4.5-million-case mark in this financial year – while also strengthening Jameson’s brand affinity in new and less traditional Irish whiskey markets, such as India, Zambia and Bulgaria – all of which broke the significant 100K-case mark in FY22,” she added.
“The growth that we are seeing in these non-traditional Irish whiskey markets is the result of consistent focus and determined brand-building and development. Our strategy has been laser focused on growing the Jameson brand and awareness of the Irish whiskey category more generally. As the results today show, this has been incredibly successful and has solidified Jameson as a truly global brand.”
© 2022 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more drinks news, click here. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
