Diageo, Ireland’s largest alcoholic drinks manufacturer, will use approximately 10% of Ireland’s barley crop in 2019, equating to roughly 144,000t. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, a spokesperson from Diageo reaffirmed the company’s position as the largest purchaser of Irish malting barley by a significant margin.

“Diageo buys its malted barley from Boortmalt and have bought malt from their predecessors at the maltings in Athy, Co Kildare for over 100 years,” the spokesperson said.

They said that they are committed to working with suppliers to maximise the use of grain from Irish growers. However, on occasion quality and yields of malting barley in Ireland were impacted by bad weather and other events, which reduced native barley supply. This lead to the need for barley imports to add to the Irish barley for brewing, they said.

Finally, they reaffirmed their commitment to continue to brew with Irish grains where quality allows.