When Spirit Capital project manager Mark Gorman arrived from Switzerland, entering the Killarney Brewing and Distillery and its visitor center felt like being frozen in time. “In some ways it’s a lot like walking into a ghost town, but it’s very exciting.”
Killarney Brewing and Distilling Co is now preparing for a new life with new owners Spirit Capital planning to reopen the brewery and visitor center in early 2027. Bought by Spirit Capital in July in a deal valued at over €5.5 million, the company is currently hiring a production manager, distillery and brewer.
Spirit Capital, a well-known company in the alcohol industry, for the first time began producing beer. The initial plan is to quickly revive beer and gin production and bring the visitor center and restaurant back into operation, while the long-term goal is to produce world-class Killarney whiskey for the international market.
“I’m a little reluctant to call it a ‘distressed asset’ because it sounds like some sort of private equity group that comes in, puts in money, moves it around, and then somewhere along the way somebody has to lose. We don’t do that,” Mr. Gorman said.
“This is our first international production expansion outside of France. And this is where we want to be for the next 200 years, because this enterprise will outlive me.”
The Killarney plan includes the revitalization of the on-site bar and restaurant, as well as the development of a 250-seat conference facility for full use for both local and off-site events. There are also plans to transform the rooftop space into a bar overlooking the Gap of Dunloe. It is likely that reconstruction costs will run into the millions.
The company is currently in the process of obtaining permission from the Internal Revenue Service to produce and distill the beer and will likely release its first beer in November or December 2026. “This is our first brewery in the whole group – the brewery kind of came along with the distillery we were buying,” Mr Gorman said.
If all goes well, it will be a happy new chapter in Killarney Brewing and Distilling’s tragic Irish business history. Formed by Paul Sheehan, Tim O’Donoghue and Liam Healy, the trio had big ambitions, capturing the craft brewery zeitgeist and opening a bar and restaurant in Killarney in 2015.
The company appeared to be on a roll in 2018, with significant investment success and popular products, and prepared plans for a larger brewery, distillery and visitor experience. The impressive taproom and visitor center opened in 2022, but construction costs and expenses have skyrocketed post-pandemic, and so have the fledgling company’s losses. Hopes for a partnership with the US did not materialize, and in April 2025 Killarney began the examination.
Just three months later, a liquidator was appointed. More than 50 people were left unemployed and the collapse left a trail of creditors, including many both locally and nationally, as well as some government bodies including Kerry County Council and the Revenue Commissioners, with the company reportedly owing €8 million.
In such circumstances, what is left in place for the new owner may be stripped down to the bones. Not so in Killarney.
“Receipt can be a bit like putting a wallet in a washing machine: you end up with bits here and there. But I have enormous respect for the condition the building is left in,” said Mr Gorman, who has been at the Killarney site for the past four weeks.
“The brewers and distillers have taken care of the equipment and everything is clean, hygienic and in really good condition. It’s rare that you buy something out of receivership.”
Premises with an area of 5760 sq. m in Fossa were sold for an amount exceeding 5.5 million euros. In May 2026, Spirit Capital announced the acquisition of the site. “Our goal as a group is to make excellent spirits and we have 200 years of experience doing that,” Mr Gorman said.
Spirit Capital Group is headquartered in Switzerland, but its products are mainly manufactured in France and are aimed mainly at the premium brand sector. Calvados is a French brandy made from apples rather than grapes. Spirit’s portfolio includes three Calvados: Calvados Boulard, which is exported to 80 countries and is a duty-free export favorite; Calvados Pays D’Auge and Calvados Père Magloire. “In Ireland everyone knows Jameson whiskey. In France, everyone knows Père Magloire Calvados,” Mr. Gorman said. The group also produces Armagnac Le Marque and Grand Armagnacs Janneau.
“We are not Diageo or Pernod Ricard,” he says. “We prefer to be leaders in smaller categories and would rather be a big fish in a small lake than try to dominate the world.”
The Irish investment will be a new step for Spirit Capital. Previously, they did not produce either beer or whiskey. That Spirit’s new addition joins the portfolio of traditional brands is a stroke of luck, a digital discovery of a hidden gem.
“The next step for us was naturally to get into grain spirits, so we were looking for where we could expand,” Mr Gorman said. “We looked at Scotland a little bit, but the focus was always on Ireland because of the historical connection between distillation and how spirits age.
“But we actually came across this site simply because I just did a Google search for “distillery for sale.” It was kind of a curiosity and this thing came up in the search. I thought, ‘This looks interesting,'” Mr. Gorman said.
“The following week we were flying to Kerry airport. We made an offer that same day. This was in December 2025. And that’s where we are now. We see that there is an asset that we can take on and look after for the next 200 years, and that was a no-brainer for us.”
Mr. Gorman emphasized the importance of patience in Spirit Capital’s plan. “We have the luxury of taking our time,” he said. “The whiskey ages for years. We don’t think, “How can I get my money out in three years?” We have the luxury of taking things step by step. I had a carpenter come and fill the tiny holes in the floor to make sure it was perfect. We had people slowly bringing everything back to its original state, starting with the boilers. It was important to us to make sure we were doing every step correctly.
“And if we do everything right, the whole picture will fall into place. My goal is to make the best whiskey I can and then expand. It’s the same with beer.”
“Do I need to produce a million bottles of beer a year? No, I need to make the best beer we can and then we expand. This is the difference. It’s not about getting something out the door and onto the shelf as quickly as possible, it’s about making the best thing possible. Best brand, packaging.
“We can leverage that and it works both ways because whiskey is much easier to sell than Calvados, but we sell cavados very well and one pushes the other. For example, in markets where we are less present, we can lead with whiskey, and in markets where we are very well established and know our brand, our quality and our products, we can add whiskey to those portfolios.”
Canada is currently one of Spirit Capital’s strong transatlantic markets, but the US is not currently a major market. With the US being the world’s largest whiskey market (38% of Ireland’s €930m export market comes from it, despite the ongoing turmoil over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs), this could offer the company an opportunity with a well-executed Killarney Whiskey.
The Fosse plant is capable of producing approximately five million bottles of whiskey per year.
“I think we’ll definitely start in Ireland and locally and make sure it’s a product that local people can be proud of first and foremost. We can then look at our more established markets, France and beyond. There’s no point in creating something that doesn’t meet our quality standards. We distill only premium spirits. A lot of craft goes into the bottle and we want to make sure the first thing that goes into it is quality.”
The global alcohol market is in decline. Pernod Ricard, the maker of Jameson, reported a 3.9% fall in organic sales in the first half of 2026, following soft demand in the US and China and disruptions in the Middle East. Despite the success of Guinness, Diageo has launched a global cost-cutting strategy as it grapples with market challenges. Brown Forman, the maker of Jack Daniels, this week said demand for alcohol, particularly in developed markets, will remain under pressure in 2026, and likely 2027. But Mr Gorman said experience had shown the industry was “cyclical as it always has been. It’s a little slower now, but we need to be ready once demand picks up again, which we’re already seeing.”
Spirit Capital continues to think big and outside the box. In the UK they are collaborating with luxury group Tudor Hotels Collection, and in Cornwall they are creating a Cornish whiskey made from local grain which will be distilled at Bodmin Gaol, as part of a range of visitor experiences that already attracts 120,000 people each year. Another crossover of theirs for visitors, very similar to Killarney.
Of course, the previous owners in Foss also had ambitious plans for Killarney Brewing and Distilling Co, which ended badly. What can stop the situation from happening again at Spirit Capital? “I have a lot of respect for the previous guys and I don’t think it was a complete failure. I think they were kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Mr. Gorman said. “They couldn’t export to the US, which is what we felt too, but we were very fortunate to come into this with a big base behind us.
“We know how to run a distillery and hospitality: we also have several restaurants throughout France that are located in distilleries. We have a visitor center called Calvados Experience (the thrill ride at Pont l’Evêque in Normandy) which is a bit like Disneyland but is still very good. I think we bring experience, but also a kind of Swiss precision, so we can take it step by step and get it right. the previous guys capitalizing it made them rush.
“It’s a pretty fragile structure. We are fortunate to be in a position where we have the luxury of not rushing anymore. I think it’s the luxury of time that makes our situation different.”
“We are not a public company. Strong drinks take time. We’re thinking about what Killarney Whiskey will be like in 10 or 20 years, not what we’re going to push out the door next May.”