Drinks firm Quintessential sees turnover rise 14pc

Quintessential Brands Ireland, which owns the Dublin Liberties Distillery and liqueur brands such as O’Mara’s and Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey, made a €454,000 loss in the last financial year as turnover rose 14% to €27.6m.
The Irish arm of the international drinks group, which employs more than 80 people and exports to more than 33 countries, made a loss of €574,000 in the prior year.
It had employed an average of 102 people in the previous financial year, which was primarily before the pandemic struck.
The firm made an operating profit of €439,000 in the period, compared to a €154,000 operating loss in the previous financial year. It had shareholder funds totalling €8.3m at the end of March last year.
Quintessential Brands acquired the Dublin Whiskey Company in 2016 as part of a €10m investment that included the development of a new whiskey distillery and visitor centre in Dublin’s historic Liberties area.
The group entered the Irish market in 2014 with the acquisition of First Ireland Spirits, which owns a number of liqueur brands and a production facility in Abbeyleix, Co Laois.
As well as owning drinks brands such as Bloom gin, Quintessential also manufactures own-label products for retailers such as Asda, Waitrose and Tesco and undertakes contract bottling for other manufacturers.
It recently opened a new innovation hub in the UK that it says will enable supermarket chains to develop a new drinks product for their shelves in just one day.