Ifac provide comfort, reassurance — and one less headache to worry about

Helping realise a long-held ambition

I always had an interest in distilling and I tried to make a go of it about 25 to 30 years ago with my fatherʼs farm. It was impossible to get a licence back then, but the dream never went away, and in 2017 we made the big decision to move from farming to distilling.

Myself and my son grow our own barley, and our promise is that anything youʼll find in a Ballykeefe bottle comes from our Ballykeeffe farm. We see ourselves as a unique grain-to-glass operation and we're proud to be the first whiskey distillery in Kilkenny in over 200 years, reviving a lost tradition of farmers as distillers. We create a really distinctive and premium range of products, and our distillery is state of-the-art. We have a zero waste policy, and we believe that our sustainable approach is very much of its time. We believe in starting out as you mean to continue, and it sends out a really important signal to the market.

We're currently selling into Europe, the UK, Australia and other markets riding a wave of success for fine Irish whiskies and other spirits that has taken the world by storm in recent years. We hope to attack the US and China markets in the near future, but it goes without saying that all of these markets take time to grow.

Ifac bring experience with breadth as well as depth

We're looking for advisory services rather than just executional accounts or tax services, and we've never found ifac wanting in this area. They've got a very high level of expertise and experience within our industry sector and this provides us with a huge level of comfort and reassurance.

The range of topics they advise on is very broad, and can include anything from core accountancy to helping us with the huge waves of paperwork involved in exporting to so many different parts of the world.

A partner for the challenges ahead

As youʼd expect for such a young company, I'm very busy with the running of the distillery so I trust ifac to take care of things like accounts and payroll or customs, which frees me up to do what I do best. Itʼs just one less headache I have to worry about.

We've come a very long way over the past few years, but the journey is getting even more challenging over the coming five years, and we'll be leaning even more heavily on ifac to help us navigate the financial and business challenges that we'll be facing along the way.