Good times are brewing: Cork produces more craft booze than anywhere else in Ireland

If you dream of getting into the booze business, you’re probably in the right place.
Turns out, Cork is the microbrewery capital of Ireland, with more craft drinks being created in the Rebel County than anywhere else in the country.
Well, we do have exceptional taste, like.
A new report by DCU economist, Tony Foley shows that County Cork leads rural Ireland’s drinks business growth with 10 microbreweries recorded in 2017.
The number of Irish breweries producing their own product has more than quadrupled since 2012, from 15 to 72.
The report, published by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) shows that this quadrupling has led to a total increase in microbrewery turnover from €8 million in 2012 to €52 million in 2016.
In 2013, there were just four working whiskey distilleries in Ireland. By 2017 there were 18, and there are plans for another 16.
Ireland’s gin sector, too, is attracting worldwide interest and plans to treble its exports to 400,000 nine-litre cases by 2022. The number of licences granted for cider production increased from three in 2009 to 18 in 2017.
Fourteen percent of Ireland’s breweries are located in Cork, followed by 10 percent in Dublin, and seven percent in each of the counties of Galway, Wicklow and Donegal. Every county in the Republic, bar Westmeath, has at least one brewery.
Cheers!