Capital idea aiming for Kerry gold in move south"
New Celtic Whiskey Shop to open in Killarney"
BY Leanna Byrne Sunday Business Post on November 1, 2015

A new Irish Whiskey Experience and Celtic Whiskey Bar and Larder is set to open in New Street, Killarney in March 2016, ahead of St Patrick’s Day and in time for the 1916 Commemorative Celebrations.

It aims to bring in 25,000 customers in its first year.

The 186 square metre-venue will host masterclasses, workshops and tasting events daily. It will also run private tastings, tours and corporate events where visitors are guided through the distilling process from the raw ingredients through to tasting the whiskey.

The bar and larder will stock craft beers, spirits, wines and a selection of Irish, Scottish and international whiskeys.

Ally Alpine, owner of the Celtic Whiskey Shop, said the new franchise could be the first of many.
“We’ll see how this goes first. I want to do it perfectly,” he said.
“Long term we would love to expand with either Whiskey Experiences, whiskey bars or whiskey shops.”

The Celtic Whiskey Shop opened on Dawson Street in Dublin in June 2003. Alpine said that it has taken until this year for the business to be in a position to expand.
“Three years ago [whiskey]started taking off in Ireland and with craft spirits and bitter gins,” he said.
Today the industry is responsible for more than 750 jobs with annual exports exceeding €350 million.

In excess of 600,000 people visit the five existing whiskey visitor centres across the country annually. A report produced by the Irish Whiskey Association and Ibec said that, in the last decade, the category grew by almost 200 per cent.

In 2014, more than 6.7 million nine-litre cases of Irish whiskey were exported to over 100 countries. The whiskey body expects this to grow to 12 million cases by 2020 and 24 million cases in 2030.

It also expects that, in the next three years, the number of Irish distilleries will grow to over 15.
Alpine said Killarney’s tourism profile was right for his shop.

“We’re in Killarney because it’s a place with a huge number of tourist nights and we’re looking at doing things in that space. It has an ideal audience for what we want to do.”