Trump ‘levels the green’ for Belturbet Whiskey brand
A BELTURBET whiskey producer is celebrating the news that President Trump is to remove the 10 per cent tariff on Irish whiskey produced in the Republic of Ireland.
Trump made the announcement at the prizegiving ceremony for the Irish Open at Doonbeg on Sunday last.
In his speech on the 18th green Trump said he was lifting the tariff because everyone from Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Irish Open champion, Shane Lowry, was “bugging me about it”.
In July, Trump lifted the tariffs on Scotch and whiskey made in the UK and Northern Ireland during a state visit to the USA by King Charles and Queen Camilla.
On that occasion, President Trump posted on social media that Charles and Camilla got him to do it “without hardly asking!”.
Whatever the reasons, one whiskey producer on the Irish border is delighted that his product is now competing on a level putting green with his counterparts in the North.
“Trump has just levelled the green for Soraghan Irish Whiskey,” a delighted Stephen Soraghan told the Celt.
Stephen, who is originally from Louth, has lived near Belturbet for around 20 years now and during lockdown came up with the idea of Soraghan Irish Whiskey, which is being produced at the former old Harp Brewery in Dundalk.
The Soraghan brand includes a three-year-old Premium Blend and a seven-year old triple distilled single malt. Both are available to buy in around 50 locations around Ireland, including Spar and Cassidy’s Service Station, Ballyconnell; the Slieve Rusell and the Seven Horse Shoe hotels, and the Yukon Bar to name a few.
And the US president’s announcement couldn’t come at a better time for the Belturbet businessman as he plans to launch Soraghan Irish Whiskey in America in time for St Patrick’s Day next year.
“This is great for Irish whiskey,” Stephen said. “The scale we deal with may be small but even we experienced less enquiries and less sales. The turbulence of the tariff discussion put fear into investors.”
Stephen says a lot of his sales comes from the Irish diaspora and people who trace their ancestry to Ireland.
“That interest will be significantly boosted by the removal of the tariffs now,” he says.
“All the chat about tariffs; whether they would be five per cent or 50 per cent, if they were going to be imposed or not – all scared the market, and we definitely noticed a downturn.”
Up until Trump’s impromptu announcement on Sunday, a whiskey producer in the North was at a 10 per cent price advantage compared to a distillery in the Republic.
“It didn’t make sense that a whiskey from Fermanagh or Armagh was free from tariffs but that Soraghan, which is distilled in Dundalk and has its offices in Belturbet, would be subjected to a 10 per cent levy,” Stephen explains.
BACKGROUND
Stephen’s family pub in Louth was first granted a licence in 1750, but was run as a shebeen before that.
His grandmother, Dora Maguire, who features on the Soraghan Whiskey label, was a prominent figure in running the family's historic 300-year-old pub in Knockbridge and inspired his whiskey brand.
“We raise a glass and remember the women who often worked around the clock with little or no recognition for binding the ties that kept the family together,” the whiskey website says.