What kind of a story is Irish whiskey telling this year? One with some sharp contrasts, apparently. As Eoin Ó Catháin, the director of the Irish Whiskey Association, recently pointed out, “While we are selling more Irish Whiskey in volume than ever before, the value of our category is not increasing at the same rate, reflecting the pressures on spirits categories all over the world.” The organization recently published the Irish Whiskey Global Trade Report 2025, which encompasses both reasons for excitement (heightened demand in India) and sources of frustration (slightly reduced demand in the U.S.).
A closer look at the export data from 2024 showed a few interesting trends. The two largest export markets for Irish whiskey — the United States and Poland — both showed slight declines in the overall number of cases sold between 2023 and 2024.
However, the third and fourth-largest countries by export volume — Germany and India — both also saw significant year-over-year growth. Germany saw the fourth-highest level of growth, with exports increasing by 24.26% from 2023 to 2024. India ranked second for growth, with an impressive 120.88% growth during the same period. The highest overall growth, however, came from Japan, with a 123.94% growth between 2023 and 2024.
The sheer amount of volume is also worth taking into consideration. In 2024, Irish distilleries exported 5.47 million cases of whiskey to the U.S.; the next four of the top five markets by volume all received less than one million cases of whiskey over the course of the year. Irish whiskey exports to Poland, Germany, and India were all just over 700,000 cases in 2024; exports to the U.K. were just under 700,000.
“In previous years, 40%-50% of Irish Whiskey exports have been destined for the USA market but we have seen this [percentage] drop slightly in recent years,” wrote Michael Jacob of the Bord Bia, Ireland’s food board. “Although the USA will remain the key export market, this diversification will be a positive for the industry as a whole, increasing the footprint of Irish spirits around the world as well as mitigating risks.”
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The story behind the brand new $60,000 Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter SixOverall, the Irish Whiskey Association’s report took a big-picture approach, noting the overall growth of distilling in Ireland, from four working distilleries in 2010 to “close to 50” as of 2024. Exports are playing a large part in that growth: the organization pointed out that 95% of all Irish whiskey is subsequently exported. Ó Catháin also observed that three different brands are now selling over a million cases of whiskey per year and that total case sales for 2024 were 16,153.
There’s also reason for optimism when it comes to the highest echelons of Irish whiskey. “We are the fastest growing spirit category among premium and super-premium categories, and our positioning in key emerging markets is growing whereas the market share of other categories is declining,” Ó Catháin wrote.
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