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Irish Bottling Company launches with 5m bottle capacity
Origen X has launched an Irish bottling business with the capacity to produce up to five million bottles annually, called the Irish Bottling Company.
The Irish Bottling Company was originally established to support Origen X’s own brands, which include Kinahan’s Irish Whiskey and Ukrainian vodka Mikolasch. Origen X revived the Mikolasch brand earlier this year.
Now, the facility has increased production to support third-party premium Irish spirits.
Origen X described the operation as the ‘most modern bottling line of its size’, which is housed in a 35,500-square-feet space.
The facility boasts five large blending vats, and two large bulk intake tanks with a 168,000-litre total capacity. Furthermore, the bottling site is currently equipped to handle 17 spirits categories and five bottle sizes.
Origen X has the ability to export to more than 35 countries, which it credits to its ‘key geo-location’ being just 30 minutes from Dublin International Airport and 30 minutes from the second biggest distillery in Ireland (Great Northern Distillery).
Origen X CEO Zak Oganian was inspired to create the bottling facility after recognising a shortage of large bottling options in the Republic of Ireland, which challenged the growth of craft Irish spirits brands.
Speaking to The Spirits Business during a trip to the Origen X brand home and bottling facility in October, Oganian shared his insights into the bottling challenges facing the industry.
He said: “It always seemed that Ireland was one of the most underdeveloped territories for bottling service providers. Now, I hear from some of the other parties that there are problems as such in other jurisdictions, even in the UK.”
He continued: “In Ireland, what I found is this: you have a handful of big, professional, fully automated bottling service providers that – rightly, not wrongly – want to cater to their business, and so they are interested in facilitating simple, high-volume, high-speed bottling operations, which is great for established brands. But for new brands, it’s completely impossible to keep up.”
The Irish Bottling Company will focus on addressing the ‘bottleneck’ in bottling services in the Republic of Ireland to ‘help sustain the growth and success of Irish craft brands’.
New distribution for Origen X products: Kinahan’s and Bagots whiskeys
In additional news, Kinahan’s Irish Whiskey secured a number of new distribution deals in 2024, taking its market reach to 45 in total. The brand’s sales to December 2024 surpassed 60,000 cases for the first time.
New distribution markets for Kinahan’s in 2024 included Turkey, Bulgaria, France and China.
In Turkey, Kinahan’s and Bagots are distributed by Maddox Group, while Selected Brands looks after Kinahan’s in Bulgaria.
In France, one of the top three whiskey markets in the world, Kinaha’s and Bagots are imported by CBH. Kinahan’s also gained its first major retail listing in France this year with E.Leclerc, which has more than 720 stores in France, plus an extra 85 outside of the country.
In China, Origen X appointed Shikar Shine as the importer and distributor of both Irish whiskey brands. In 2025, the brands will be part of key trade events in Hainan and Shanghai.
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