Diageo back in the whiskey business

Diageo has re-entered the burgeoning global whiskey market with a €25m investment in Dublin.

Three years after it sold off the Bushmills whiskey brand to fellow drinks giant Jose Cuervo in exchange for Don Julio tequila, the producer of Guinness said it was investing in a whiskey distillery at St James’s Gate to produce a new brand.

Irish whiskey has seen a spectacular resurgence over the past decade, experiencing double digit growth and record exports of €400m in 2015. Global sales of Irish whiskey have increased by over 300% in the last 10 years and have been growing by double-digits since the mid-1990s.