They say wisdom comes from experience — and they only seem to say it more as you get older.
There are few greater wisdoms gained over the course of a lifetime, however, than trusting your own judgement on what you know to be good taste.
What feels even better is when you blend good taste with strong morals. Little wonder then that the people behind West Cork Distillers love what they do — and the thousands of people who drink their whiskey love it even more.
Established 20 years ago by childhood friends John O’Connell, Ger McCarthy and Denis McCarthy, West Cork Distillers stands today as an internationally recognised brand, with their signature West Cork Irish Whiskey now sold in over 70 countries worldwide and regularly featuring on the top whiskey shortlists of renowned publications such as Forbes and Esquire.
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As if all this weren’t impressive enough, however, the distillery is also on track to become one of the few companies in Ireland to obtain a prestigious Butterfly Mark — the crème de la crème of awards when it comes to sustainability and eco-friendly practices.
“We’re well into the process now of obtaining our Butterfly Mark certification,” shares John Harrington, head of production operations at the distillery. “It’s an initiative that only recognises companies who are best in class for their sustainability measures, so we’re delighted to be well on the road to achieving that.”
One of the key projects helping the distillery to stand out from the competition and garner such acclaim is what John calls their “circular economy”, helping not only the planet but also the local community.
“As well as only using electricity from renewable sources, we try to produce minimal waste in all our operations at the distillery,” he outlines. “Any byproducts we produce are either used to make animal feed for local farms, or we supply some of the byproducts to Timoleague Agri Gen, who use them in their process to create biogas which generates green electricity, and we purchase that green electricity back from the national grid.
“In addition to this, our byproducts help Timoleague to produce an organic fertiliser which can then be used for the growth of crops such as barley, which we use to create West Cork Whiskey.”
John has been leading the charge on projects such as these since he joined West Cork Distillers three years ago, making each and every aspect of their daily operations as energy efficient as possible.
Efforts to make the distillery that bit greener had already started long before his arrival, however. John says the motivation to make a difference environmentally has been there since day one of West Cork Distillers’ existence, thanks to founders John, Ger and Denis.
“Right from the beginning, we’ve always been looking at our carbon footprint and trying to reduce it,” he explains. “I suppose it all starts with the culture of a company — once sustainability is part of that culture, it naturally feeds through all the different departments and the decisions that are made at all levels. That’s certainly the case for us, and I’ve seen that from working with the three lads on a daily basis since I started at the distillery.”
This open-minded attitude to changing the way they work in order to become more sustainable was just one part of the appeal that drew John towards West Cork Distillers.
“What first attracted me was the fast pace of it all, not only in our daily operations, but also how quickly the company is growing and expanding,” he reflects. “A big thing for me was also the location — it being a West Cork company, a part of home, was very close to my own heart.”
In fact, the chance to work for a company that so strongly champions its surrounding community and supports the local economy is something that’s persuaded plenty of other West Cork natives like John to join the distillery’s staff — so much so, that it’s often said that West Cork Distillers is a place built and run by the people, for the people.
“We don’t say that ourselves,” John laughs, “but there’s a lot of truth to it. We have about 140 people employed at the moment, so we’re obviously growing very quickly, but we haven’t lost sight of our relationship with the community. It’s still a great relationship, and the majority of the team we have working on-site are still all local people.”
Given that the area is so highly regarded for its rich food and drink scene, it’s little surprise that there’s so much local talent available to the distillery. The huge range of skills that the people of West Cork have at their disposal, however, is something that’s blown John away.
“A lot of the people who work with us have actually returned to West Cork for their jobs. So many of them are coming back home now, with all sorts of degrees and qualifications — people who would have been working in oil and gas industries, bio-pharmaceuticals, medical devices…you name it! We’ve a huge number of people working in those industries who’ve been able to adapt their career paths to come work with us instead, whereas a few years ago I suppose they never thought there’d be enough opportunities for them here in West Cork.”
As well as this love of their homeland, there’s one other key uniting factor for all the staff at the distillery.
“We’re all hugely passionate,” John says. “We need to be really, as it’s a 24/7 operation we’re keeping running. Even if people do come in and they’re not initially invested in the industry or our products, the culture here is never long rubbing off on people so as they do learn that passion.”
To share in the passion yourself, you can now book a visit to the distillery through their website, where you can also keep up to date with their latest award news and sustainability initiatives.
The full range of West Cork Irish Whiskey products is also now available at www.westcorkdistillers.com.
