It was announced last week that Ulster Bank has provided a €14.4m facility for Renegade, a London headquartered business which is developing a major whiskey project on Ireland’s south-eastern coast. The funding will be used for continued development and production of single malt whiskey at Renegade’s Waterford Distillery in Ireland.
Renegade’s founders – Mark Reynier, Sir John Mactaggart and John Adams – are drinks industry veterans having previously acquired the disused Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay off the West Coast of Scotland in 2000. They rebuilt the distillery and brand, before selling the business to Remy Cointreau in 2012 for £58m.
Renegade was founded in 2014 and following the purchase of a former Guinness brewery in Waterford, phase I of the project saw the team converting it into a state-of-the-art whiskey distillery.
The first whiskey ran in January 2016 and 1m litres are now maturing in French and American oak barrels in new warehouses recently completed at Ballygarran. Renegade sources its barley from 46 Irish farms on 19 distinct soil types.
Phase II of Renegade’s project involves a €14.4m facility from Ulster Bank, in conjunction with a £5m minority stake investment from BGF to continue to grow the maturing stocks at a rate of 1m litres per year up to first bottling.
Commenting on the investment, CEO of Renegade, Mark Reynier said, "With over 110 distilleries, the Scotch whisky market is 10 times the size of the Irish market. The market is clearly attractive for a new, uber premium brand with a clear proposition. We are hugely excited by what we are doing at Waterford Distillery and for the prospects ahead. Roll out those barrels!"
Source: www.businessworld.ie
