It’s a rare spot of good news for the Irish whiskey sector, which has suffered disproportionately from US president Donald Trump’s tariffs regime. This has led to some distillers pausing production, while receivers were recently appointed to Powerscourt Distillery in Co Wicklow.
Alexandre Ricard, the CEO of Pernod Ricard, recently told investors that Jameson’s global case sales were now above 11 million for the year ended June 30. This represented net sales growth of 3pc. The French alcohol giant owns Midleton-based Irish Distillers, which produces whiskey brands such as Jameson and Powers.
Speaking about how US tariffs have affected inventories in the market for Pernod Ricard, the CEO said the business had decided not to “take risks” and ship ahead of any kind of trade settlement.
Despite this, Pernod Ricard’s results noted that the prolonged tariff uncertainty had affected distributor inventory levels at its year-end, with adjustments expected throughout the 2026 fiscal year.
Many Irish businesses, especially those in the pharmaceutical sector, decided to frontload exports to the US in a bid to get out ahead of Mr Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs in early April.
In the first six months of 2025, Ireland exported €75.4bn worth of goods to America, which was more than the €73bn exported in the entire year of 2024.
A spokeswoman for Irish Distillers said Jameson’s case sales had been bolstered by growing exports in new markets, citing strong growth in India.
“This performance reflects the brand’s ability to broaden its footprint at a global level,” she said. “It also reinforces the brand’s very strong market positions, not only in the US and Europe, but also now in geographies like Africa or India where growth was particularly strong.
“In those regions, we achieved double-digit gains, and Jameson is now the number one imported bottled-in-origin spirit. We remain focused on growth in India and introducing more consumers to the taste of Jameson.”
The Irish Distillers spokeswoman added that Jameson was performing ahead of its competitive set in the US.
Pernod Ricard released its financial results for 2025 late last month, with the group reporting sales of €10.96bn, a decline of 3pc. Profit from recurring operations stood at €2.95bn.
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