Brothers-in-law Jim Nash and Brian Ash have big plans. Married to two sisters from Aghyaran, Co Tyrone, they “sat down over a coffee and a drink” and dreamt up the Wild Atlantic Distillery, which opened in the Border townland in 2020.
“We’re a small craft distillery. We built it ourselves from the ground up with the help of nephews, nieces and cousins,” says Nash. “We started out with our gin and vodka, but the big goal was always the whiskey.”
The first distillery to lay down whiskey in the Derry and Strabane area in more than 100 years, the results – a single malt and a blended whiskey – were launched on Friday night, and they have just bought a site for a new distillery which will produce more than 400,000 bottles per year.
“We’ll be employing close to 30 people, training young people, and then of course there are the tourism opportunities,” says Nash. “The plans are at full tilt at the moment.”
What is not part of that plan is the possibility of US tariffs on EU exports of alcoholic drinks, including Irish whiskey.
US president Donald Trump has threatened 200 per cent tariffs on EU goods, after the bloc said it would impose duties on imports of US products – including a 50 per cent levy on American whiskey – in response to US plans to levy tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The US is Irish whiskey’s biggest trading partner, with the export value of Irish drinks at over €800 million per year, according to the Irish Whiskey Association. Tariffs would be “catastrophic” for small Irish producers, says Nash.
“In Irish whiskey, your main market is the US, and your goal when you launch a whiskey is first and foremost to get your product into the US, always has been.
[ Trump EU alcohol tariff could be ‘devastating’ for Irish whiskey, industry warnsOpens in new window ]
“Our future was based on the whiskey. We’re fortunate that we have other spirits, so we can pivot to a certain extent, but it won’t compensate for the loss of the American market by any means.”
For producers like the Wild Atlantic Distillery, on the Northern side of the Border, the picture is further complicated by Brexit.
In theory, if tariffs are applied to the EU and not the UK, this could give Northern producers a competitive advantage – though, in the absence of a trade agreement, the importing country determines the origin of goods arriving on its shores.
“When it comes to alcoholic drinks, the key question is: where do you source those ingredients from?” says Billy Melo Araujo, professor of International Economic Law at Queen’s University, Belfast.
The biggest supplier of grain to the Irish whiskey industry, north and south, is in Co Kildare; the Wild Atlantic Distillery’s grain comes from both sides of the Border.
From a legal perspective, Prof Melo Araujo’s assessment is that if the “substantial transformation” involved in the manufacture of whiskey takes place in Northern Ireland, then it counts as UK goods, but he acknowledges the difference between legal theory and practise.
He cites past examples of the US administration “being very loose in its interpretation of the rules” and determining cars assembled in Sweden were Chinese because they used Chinese components.
“There’s absolutely, definitely scope for a very maximalist view of these rules of origin which makes sure that as many goods are subject to these tariffs as possible.
Nash asks: “How could I be certain that my shipment going into the US, that says ‘Irish whiskey’ on the label of every bottle, wouldn’t get stopped?
“I would query if a customs agent getting thousands of pallets through of Irish whiskey, if he’s going to differentiate, or just go, ‘It’s all Irish whiskey – bang, tariff’.”
It gets more complicated. Stuart Anderson, director of public affairs at the NI Chamber, says it would have to be assessed “on a case-by-case basis” whether there were any clear benefits for Northern Ireland exporters, and he has “grave concerns” about the consequences of reciprocal EU tariffs.
“Whilst we’re in the UK customs territory, we apply EU customs rules, so if a good coming into Northern Ireland is subject to one of those reciprocal tariffs ... we’re hit by that.
“Potentially it puts Northern Ireland at a competitive disadvantage.”
The mitigation in place involves “a lot of red tape”, says Anderson. Most businesses “just don’t have the capacity or resources to manage it”.
Reciprocal tariffs would bring other consequences. The Wild Atlantic Distillery ages its whiskey in bourbon casks imported from the US. “You add tariffs on anything coming from the US whiskey industry, then that is a major issue,” says Nash.
“This affects everybody, everywhere – EU, UK, Europe, America. Nobody’s going to come out of this with any advantage.”
This weekend, Nash was going ahead with a meeting with his US distributor.
“I have to plan as if we’re going into the States. I’m aware it may not be feasible, but I have to go day by day, because in a week’s time or 10 days’ time these potential tariffs might disappear.
“You have to plan as if everything’s going to be fine.”
