Irish whiskey sales in the U.S. reached $1 billion with a 12 percent increase in the last year. Conor McGregor’s successful launch for his whiskey Proper No. 12 attributed to the rise in Irish whisky sales. McGregor’s Proper No. 12 launched in the U.S. and Ireland and has expanded distribution to the UK and Australia. Since its launch it has shipped about 200,000 nine-liter cases. The Distilled Spirits Council reported that nearly 4.7 million nine-liter cases of Irish whiskey were sold in the U.S. in the last year resulting in $1.01 billion in revenues for distillers. This marks a 9.4 percent increase versus the year 2017 and compares with combined sales of just $74 million in the year 2003. The increase in sales can be attributed to drinkers’ desire to go from entry level brands to “high-end premium” and “super premium”. Since the year 2002, high-end premium grew 1,106 percent while super premium whiskey grew 3.385 percent.
Source: irishtimes.com April 2019