Cooley sold to Jim Beam

[Fionnán]

yeah, the dingle crowd are run by the Porterhouse group, totally independent and Irish. Speaking of whom, now that 'the last independent distillery in ireland' have joined up with beam, is there any word on the dingle crowd's progress? I was thinking of taking a trip down t Kerry to visit a friend over the holidays. Is there anything to see from either the porterhouse or their former partner's plans? Last i heard, there were going to be two distilleries built down that way.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Is there anything to see from either the porterhouse or their former partner's plans? Last i heard, there were going to be two distilleries built down that way.

The Former party now has a nice Brewery up and running and the rumor is that they have distilled a very limited amount of whiskey.

No idea on the Porterhouse deal ... supposed to be on the go but all very quite at the same time form that corner.

[mawhinney]

Does this mean that the "only Irish-owned distillery " in the whole world ( does Dingle Exist?) is.........Bladnoch near Wigtown, Scotland, owned by Raymond Armstrong of Banbridge , County Down?

[varizoltan]

Of course when i was told Cooley had been sold i half expected the sentence to end with the words 'to Zoltan'.

I can not say, I was not thinking to buy it,
even i know there was talks to Jim Beam months ago about the sale, but i just been too naive to believe that they sell it to them and not to me

all i can see it would be a lot better if i bought it, then the term "Ireland's only Independent distillery" still can stand, except for Irish owned, but the Hungarian owned still sound better than part of a big multi company, which i believe is not so good for the brands

well, i am out of this, i was thinking too long, and i missed this ship...

on the pricetag it is worth look at annual reports;
http://www.cooleywhiskey.com/flash/index.html

last years annual report said;

In the period under review, 2010, sales were up 13% while
profi ts declined by 25% to €2.5million. Growth of 13%
outpaced the 10% worldwide growth of Irish whiskey sales.

this years report;
For the financial year ended 31st December 2010 the
company’s turnover increased by 12% to €16 million
(2009: €14.1m). Profi t before tax was €2,510,000 down
from the 2009 profi t of €3,337,000. The 2009 profi t
included the profi t from a once off large bulk sale which
was not repeated in 2010. The increase in turnover
refl ects the 13% increase in whiskey case sales in 2010.

Balance Sheet
Net assets have increased to €23.6 million as a result of
the retained profit for the year. This is an increase of 10.5%
over 2009. The book value of the company’s fixed assets
increased by €1 million to €8 million over 2010 due to the
capital expenditure program at the distilleries at Cooley
and Kilbeggan. The book value does not reflect the real
value of the distilleries at Cooley and Kilbeggan which have
a replacement cost in excess of €40 million. Similarly the
whiskey stocks have a book value of €28 million but are
insured for over €80 million.
The directors remain confi dent that Cooley’s strong financial
performance will be maintained this financial year.


so they really sold it for the book value, what i was thinking to pay for it for too

[DublinGus]

Tullomore Dew was sold for €300m as far as I can remember Grant's out bid the Japanese, I think the Teeling's will still be major shareholders I could be wrong.

[IainB]

I decided to think about this for a little while before posting an opinion on whether I think it's a good or a bad thing. On balance and in the medium to long term I think it's probably a good thing for both Cooley brands and Irish whiskey.

Suppose we consider the negatives first.

Some of the comments I've heard about it being a shame for the little guy to sell out to the big guy have a certain resonance with me - I love the idea of small locally owned food and drink producers. But in reality this is very different for a number of reasons:

(1) It's not exactly a cottage industry anyway - Cooley is a Plc owned by a number of investors - the main man doesn't even drink whiskey.
(2) I think the context is important - if you get mergers like this in a declining market then it can be very bad for brands - it tends to lead to consolidation and acquired brands being axed to protect the parent - as happened with Irish whiskey a century ago. This is not the case here - Beam are looking to expand Cooley not get rid of it so they can sell more Jim Beam and Laphroaig etc.
(3) Is the range going to contract - actually this may well happen in the short term - certainly the range of single cask and other unusual products has contracted in Bushmills since Diageo took over. I think this may only be a temporary thing in Bushmills and if it happens in Cooley I think it will be the same. Remember that IDL focussed almost exclusively on Jameson for a long time to build the brand. However, I think this investment in the brand and growing their business is what's allowed them to produce the great expansion in the SPS range that we've seen this year.
(4) Will the products become homogenised and bland? I think the answer to this is simple - Laphroaig. Or to take another example. Lagavulin is owned by the largest drink company in the world.

The are potential positives too:

(1) Irish whiskey still onlt sells a small fraction of what is sold in terms of Scotch and American. There really is huge potential to expand if we get the product range and the marketing right. I don't believe the growth of Cooley will come at the expense of other Irish brands - if anything I think having 3 bigger companies pushing the marketing etc. will benefit all the players.

(2) The heart bit - if Irish as a category continues to grow this can only be to the benefit of the other small potential producers out there. So what if Cooley can't claim to be the independant spirit any more - that means there's more room for others. Think about it this way - would we rather have 2 big guys and one small to medium independant or 3 big guys (maybe 4 with Grants??) and maybe 2 or 3 little guys. I like the sound of the latter.

(3) I think it's a good thing for the country too - A growing export industry? What's wrong with that? OK so the producers are now foreign owned but it's a genuine Irish procuct and one that can also be produced by small indigenous producers. Maybe a few extra jobs too? The whiskey industry isn't a huge employer I know but still, for any company operating outside a city, a couple of extra jobs or and expansion to a facility can actually have quite a positive effect on a small locality. OK so it's small beans in one sense but I don't thik you can downplay any good news story at the moment.

Well that's probably enough waffle from me. In summary, some small regrets but on balance probably a very good thing.

[JohnM]

I believe Beam have been very good to Laphroaig.

[DavidH]

(3) Is the range going to contract - actually this may well happen in the short term - certainly the range of single cask and other unusual products has contracted in Bushmills since Diageo took over.

With the boutique distillery at Kilbeggan up and running and functioning as an R&D lab for Cooley making saleable quantities of unusual whiskeys, I'm not worried about this at all. They could hardly make a volume business out of it and it's such a great marketing asset for the company.

For Riverstown, they could decide to go to 24/7 production in anticipation of ramped up sales of the basic brands, leaving little capacity for the SPS or Turf Mór experiments we have seen in recent years. But I'd take that happily if it justified firing up the old stills at Kilbeggan one day.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Kilbeggan could still become a big player in the long term too ...

Remember they have to old Daly stills patiently waiting to be re-fired and with the Beam resources could very well be an option.

Of course Grants may try and buy them back also who knows.

I think it is a very exciting time and all good for the industry.

Now who wants to open an independently Irish Owned distillery ... sorry Z that's you excluded

[varizoltan]

Now who wants to open an independently Irish Owned distillery ... sorry Z that's you excluded

are you racist?

in my view it can be a foreign owner (but not a multi) and still can be Independent Irish Distillery

[DavidH]

Now who wants to open an independently Irish Owned distillery ... sorry Z that's you excluded

are you racist?

in my view it can be a foreign owner (but not a multi) and still can be Independent Irish Distillery

Don't worry, Zoltan, he doesn't count Dubliners as Irish either

[IainB]

Now who wants to open an independently Irish Owned distillery ... sorry Z that's you excluded

are you racist?

in my view it can be a foreign owner (but not a multi) and still can be Independent Irish Distillery

Don't worry, Zoltan, he doesn't count Dubliners as Irish either

There's no one as Irish as VariZ O'Ltan.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

are you racist?

Oh God no, I just don't like foreigners

Don't worry, Zoltan, he doesn't count Dubliners as Irish either

Delighted to oblige David

There's no one as Irish as VariZ O'Ltan.

Ahh in that case Z your back in the fold

Not so sure about the Dubs though

[varizoltan]

[Distiller]

I understand what you are saying about the Independent Spirit of Ireland. But...

One thing to keep in mind.

The "whiskey world" moves very slow. It will be 4 years before any "Jim Beam Irish Whiskey" is in a bottle.

Yes. Things will change. But the Cooley whiskey you are drinking toady and the whiskey you drink in 2016 will have come from the same mash, pot stills, and warehouse.

[Fionnán]

are they pumping money into brand promotion already? in the last few weeks i literally cant open facebook without seeing an advertisement for Connemara, Tyrconnell, Greenore, or Killbeggan. I know it targets you based on your facebook interests and i have whiskey listed somewhere, but i never saw these pages advertised before the take over. Is anyone else getting these? I'm at the very least glad to see that all four seem to be getting a massive injection of promotion instead of the old Jameson-plan after Pernod of say, Killbeggan becoming the sole recipient of a massive branding campaign at the expense of Cooley's other products.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I actually "like"d them lately on my own and the Societies facebook pages and as you are friends with both so Facebook maybe trying to match you up with your friends likes etc.

I've always seen one or 2 of them pop up previously though just never thought to "like" them

[JohnM]

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/99488406 ... z1jomxRWqx

The nerds... that's probably us!

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Here's a few updates from Beam inc.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fin ... 11700.html

and you'll probably be relieved to know this.

http://www.independent.ie/business/iris ... 38440.html

I was expecting a Greenore & Gaterade

[Fionnán]

the best thing revealed in these statements in my opinion is that they're not only interested in romping up production and sales for kilbeggan etc in general as they've long ago already confirmed but that this isnt going ot stop cooley from producing all the little small side projects that have been such a feature of the distillery. I sincerely hope this doesnt just apply to the world of 'own-brand' supermarket whiskeys and that there's a safe place for things like cooley sps, turf mor connemara, oddly finished tyrconnels etc in Cooley's future with Beam

[Mr Booze]

Here's a few updates from Beam inc.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fin ... 11700.html

and you'll probably be relieved to know this.

http://www.independent.ie/business/iris ... 38440.html

I was expecting a Greenore & Gaterade

Fascinating stuff. Especially this quote: "Beam would also be pushing Kilbeggan Whiskey in India"

I understand that India is one of the largest and fastest growing spirits markets in the world. I have to wonder if the big push from Irish whiskey will be in China, India, and sub-Saharan Africa. And perhaps that is why Bushmills seems so quiet as well.