Dublin Whiskey Distillery doubles funding target
The Dublin Whiskey Distillery Company has raised more than €400,000 (US$446,887) through a crowdfunding campaign to establish the brand in Europe.
The Dublin Whiskey Distillery Company has raised €433,469 (US$484,256) on Crowdcube from 260 investors, surpassing its target of €175,000 (US$195,500) by 247%. The crowdfunding campaign is now closed.
Lorcan Rossi, a former finance director for Diageo from 1994 to 2004, is behind the revival of Dublin Whiskey Distillery (DWD), described as a ‘once iconic brand in Ireland’.
Established in 1872, DWD was once one of the ‘six great distillers of Dublin’ with the rest having been closed or acquired by multinationals, according to the Crowdcube page.
The funds raised from the campaign will be split between: 44% product, 18% promotion, 14% overheads and 24% cash in bank.
The company owns the DWD global trademarks and the rights to other key IP including the ‘Great distilleries of Dublin’ and ‘The enduring Irish spirit’.
In addition to the crowdfunding amount, the company has secured £150,000 (US$198,510) in investment.
DWD produces the Heritage premium line of Irish whiskeys, as well as its standard range, Dublin’s Own.
The firm claims to have sold 18,000 bottles of whiskey in Germany, Ireland and Ukraine since the first quarter of 2024.
Rossi, founder and CEO of DWD, shared in a Crowdcube update: “The ambition is to build upon this momentum and grow case sales to 13,000 over the next 12 months by expanding our distribution into two or three large European markets including the UK, France and Poland. By doing so we can then clearly demonstrate that the DWD consumer franchise is real and scalable.
“This key milestone will then allow us to bring on board a strategic trade investor to enable the brand breakout across Europe and into the US.”
Irish whiskey is the fastest-growing spirits category in the world with US$8.5 billion in sales in France, UK and Germany alone in 2023, said to be DWD’s key focus markets.
Currently, DWD’s whiskey is produced by a third party, but the company has ambitions to establish a new distillery approximately 3km from the original DWD site as part of a future fundraising round.
Ireland’s capital city is home to distilleries including Dublin Liberties, Teeling, Pearse Lyons, Jameson Bow Street and Diageo’s Roe & Co.
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