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According to Business Wire, American drinks company Sazerac is negotiating with Irish Distillers, owners of Jameson and an arm of French drinks giant Pernod Ricard, to acquire the Paddy Whiskey brand.
Paddy is the fourth largest Irish whiskey brand in the world in terms of sales, and became part of Irish Distillers during the consolidation and contraction of the Irish whiskey industry in the 1970s. Ultimately Jameson, Powers, Paddy and Tullamore Dew all came together under one company and were produced at one distillery, New Midleton in Cork County.
If successful, this would mark Sazerac’s third recent foray into Irish whiskey. The privately-held American company already owned Concannon Irish Whiskey when it acquired the Michael Collins brand seven months ago.
Ownership of Paddy would give Sazerac three sourced Irish whiskey brands, but no distillery in Ireland. Concannon and Michael Collins are both sourced through Cooley Distillery, owned by Beam Suntory. Given that Beam Suntory has been closing down Cooley’s sourcing contracts, the future whiskey supply for these brands is uncertain. In the Paddy deal, however, the whiskey would continue to be supplied by New Midleton in an arrangement similar to the middle term arrangements made when William Grant & Sons acquired Tullamore Dew from Irish Distillers.
