Brexit hangover affects Irish whiskey
EU has system of geographical indicators for alcohol industry
Irish whiskey might be about to get caught in the Brexit wars.
For 400 years, Bushmills, distilled close to the banks of the River Bush in Northern Ireland, has viewed itself as Irish whiskey. Now, some people across the border in Ireland say it risks losing that tag after Britain leaves the European Union.
“I can’t imagine that they’d wish to describe themselves as British whiskey or Ulster whiskey or anything else of the sort,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said in Parliament last week. “That, of course, is a matter for negotiation.”
The whiskey question is a microcosm of the complexities facing Britain and the EU, as they seek to forge a new postBrexit trade relationship. The EU protects Irish whiskey made on both sides of the border as it does champagne in France or parma ham in Italy. The worry is whether that will continue after the U.K. exits the bloc.
In the final EU-U.K. agreement, it’s “vital” that protected spirits produced in Northern Ireland continue to be labelled as a product of Ireland, according to the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland, which represents drinks companies.
“If a product is branded Irish whiskey but then is labelled as ‘Product of U.K.’ that can cause huge confusion and undermine its value, especially in foreign markets, ” said Patricia Callan, director of the industry group. “That needs to be resolved.”
The EU closely guards its geographical indicator system, whereby names capture the origin and reputation of a product. So, for example, a Slovakian distiller can’t sell its product as Irish whiskey just as a Spanish wine maker can’t make champagne.
Name checked in James Joyce’s Ulysses, Bushmills is viewed as a quintessentially Irish brand, despite being owned by Mexican Tequila maker Jose Cuervo.
That’s allowed Bushmills to benefit from renewed demand for Irish whiskey. Sales in the U.S. surged 13 per cent to just less than $900 million (U.S.) last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. Most of that growth flowed from the socalled superpremium sector, where a nine-litre case costs more than $200.
“Irish whiskey branding adds premium value, ” Callan said. “That has to be protected.”
Yet Bushmills’s Irish designation could be threatened by Brexit, Martin Kenny, a lawmaker with Ireland’s opposition party Sinn Fein, told parlia- ment last week.
“Every whiskey that is produced on the island of Ireland is designated as Irish whiskey,” Kenny said.
“After Brexit, it will no longer be possible to call Bushmills Irish whiskey.” Bushmills disputes this. “Bushmills will continue to be described as an Irish whiskey as it is has been for over 400 years,” Colum Egan, master distiller at the whiskey maker, said in response to questions. Bushmills declined to comment further.
The issue may be solved by the EU and U.K. agreeing to respect each other’s protected food and drink products after Brexit.
Alternatively, it could emerge as a sticking point if the U.K. decides that not protecting various EU products could help it do trade deals with other nations, according to Mujtaba Rahman, managing director at Eurasia Group in London — if one those countries wanted to sell the U.K. a drink called champagne, for example.