Jennifer Nickerson and Liam Ahearn have opened the Republic's latest boutique distillery with the aid of €750,000 in funding from the local enterprise office and the European Union.
Tipperary Boutique Distillery which uses barley grown on the family farm at Ballindoney in Cahir, began trading five years ago.
The first whiskey that the couple laid down, Tipperary Single Cask Release, produced by master distiller Stuart Nickerson – Ms Nickerson's father – at another Irish facility, is now on sale.
The company has just opened its own distillery on the grounds of the farm. They funded the facility using cash from sales of spirits they have casked and finished, and with €750,000 from the Tipperary Local Enterprise Office and the EU Leader programme.
Local enterprise offices support small start-up businesses with the potential to create jobs around the Republic. The EU’s Leader programme backs enterprises in the bloc’s rural communities.
Online spirit sales in the US rose 34 per cent through the Covid-19 pandemic, data from Neilson shows.
Ms Nickerson is the company's managing director. A chartered accountant, her father Stuart Nickerson is one of Scotland's master distillers.
She maintains Tipperary Boutique Distillery's approach should interest whiskey fans in Ireland and abroad.
“Our barley is 100 per cent Irish, grown here on the farm and water from the land combined with our small batch approach will always be appealing,” Ms Nickerson said.
The distillery can produce nine casks a week at full capacity. The company is considering producing other spirits.
