Dispute over €60m whiskey contract admitted to fast-track court

Irish Independent

13-05-2025

Dundalk-based wholesaler O'Malley Ireland Spirits Trading Ltd and its related distributor Nonto DAC have brought proceedings against Great Northern Distillery Ltd (GND) which operates a whiskey distillery in Dundalk.
O'Malley and Nonto claim they have purchased some €60m in whiskey from GND for around five years.
GND, both directly and through third parties, operates several 'bonded' warehouses which are regulated by Customs and Revenue and which store the product with excise duty suspended until such time as it exits the 'bonded chain'.
The plaintiff companies seek declarations from the court including that they have title to whiskey purchased by ­O'Malley for the first three-quarters of 2024.
They also seek a declaration that having paid in full for those periods, the defendant has no entitlement to exercise a €6.4m lien over the whiskey for fourth-quarter warehousing and transport costs. They also seek an injunction directing the defendant to provide access to its warehouses for the purpose of taking possession of the first three quarters' whiskey.
GND disputes the claims.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Mark Sanfey admitted the case to the Commercial Court following an application from Bernard Dunleavy SC, for the plaintiffs, and on consent of Michael Howard SC, for the defendant.
The judge said the injunction application could be heard next month.
Great Northern Distillery was established in 2015. The Dundalk-based distillery makes whiskeys for customers under contract, supplying bulk private labels and retailers' ­own-label products.
It can distil about 1.25 million bottles of whiskey a week and supplies more than 300 customers who sell its products around the world.
John Teeling, the well-known entrepreneur, launched the business after he sold his family's Cooley Distillery to US drinks maker Beam in 2011 for €71m. Beam was subsequently bought in 2014 by Japan's Suntory.
Great Northern Distillery is majority-­owned by the Teeling family.
Two of John Teeling's sons, Jack and Stephen, also launched the separate Teeling Whiskey brand and distillery, which is now majority owned by Bacardi.