In the six months to the end of December 2017, sales of Jameson grew by 12% in value and 11% in volume. Sales of the famous Irish whiskey surpassed 4m cases in the second half of last year. While the growth has been driven by the USA, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, it has also seen a particularly strong growth in the Asian and South American markets. Irish Distillers, which is owned by French group Pernod Ricard, has 80 markets in double- or triple-digit growth.

However, volume growth in the Irish market increased by less than 4% in the six-month period.

The company named Conor McQuaid as its new chief executive, with outgoing chief Jean-Christophe Coutures to head up Pernod Ricard’s scotch whisky business Chivas Brothers.

In 2016, the Irish drinks industry purchased 220,000t of Irish barley, both malted and unmalted, accounting for 15% of the Irish barley harvest. 85,000t of malted and unmalted Irish barley were purchased by Irish whiskey distilleries with this set to grow in the coming years.