First EU co-funded Irish whiskey campaign worth €3m launched
The campaign aims to raise awareness of Irish whiskey and the diversity of the category among buyers, distributors, wholesalers, bartenders and on-trade decision makers in Japan and India.
A new campaign worth €3m to promote Irish whiskey in Japan and India has been launched.
Bord Bia and the Irish Whiskey Association launched the collaborative campaign, which will last three years.
The campaign, ‘The Spirits of Europe — GI,’ is co-funded by the EU to promote Irish whiskey and European Geographical Indication (GI) spirits in the two countries.
The campaign will commence in 2027 and will promote European GI spirits, with a particular focus on Irish whiskey. It marks the first EU co-funded promotion campaign to feature Irish spirits, with €2.4m in European Union support secured at an 80% co-funding rate and €600,000 in matching industry funding.
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The campaign aims to raise awareness of Irish whiskey and the diversity of the category among buyers, distributors, wholesalers, bartenders and on-trade decision makers in Japan and India.
Funding will support dedicated sector specialists in both markets, working directly with trade, alongside participation in trade shows and targeted trade media activity.
Irish whiskey exports were worth €930m in 2025, accounting for 43% of Ireland’s total drinks exports. While the US, EU and UK remain its largest export markets by value, Irish whiskey distillers have increasingly focused on market diversification in recent years, increasing the importance of emerging markets such as India and Japan.
India is Irish whiskey’s second-largest market by volume, with sales growing more than twelvefold over the past five years, despite a 150% tariff on exports to India.
The India-EU free trade agreement is expected to come into effect next year and will immediately halve the tariff, before reducing it to 40% over the following seven years. These reductions will be key to growing Irish whiskey sales in the world’s largest whiskey market.
According to figures, the Japanese market has seen Irish whiskey sales volumes growing by 305% since 2020, despite Japan having a long history of whiskey distilling; interest has grown for products from other established whiskey-producing countries in recent years.
Speaking at the launch, Bord Bia chief executive Jim O’Toole, said: “This campaign marks an important milestone for Irish whiskey and its long-term growth. Japan and India offer significant opportunities to build awareness of and develop the category in new markets.
"Securing EU support in a highly competitive funding round reflects the strength of this initiative. It will help the industry build on the progress already made in these two strategically important markets.”
Director of the Irish Whiskey Association Eoin Ó Catháin said: “Irish whiskey is the cornerstone of Irish drinks exports, with 95% of the Irish whiskey we distil exported around the world.
"As the position of Irish whiskey strengthens in key emerging markets, we are one of the only spirits categories to see our global market share increase. Key to that success in future will be our growth in markets such as India and Japan, and I am delighted our distillers have received this vote of confidence as they seek to diversify their markets. This is truly a new dawn for Irish whiskey.”
