Drinks Ireland welcomes new chairperson
Drinks Ireland, the Ibec group that represents the Irish drinks sector, has announced the election of Pat Rigney as its Chairperson for the next two years.
Rigney is the founder and managing director of ‘The Shed Distillery of PJ Rigney’: best known for Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin which it distils in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim. Prior to founding the distillery in 2014, Pat had 25 years’ experience in the industry.
There are around 40 Irish whiskey distilleries and over 34 Irish gin producers on the island of Ireland. There are eight facilities in Ireland producing Irish Cream and nine Poitín producers. As well as this, there are 100 brewing companies and about a dozen cider producers in the Republic of Ireland.
