Demand for Irish whiskey soars 28% in US
Irish whiskey plays a major role in attracting tourism to the country.
New figures show demand for Irish whiskey soared by 28% in the United States in the lead up to St Patrick's Day.
Director of the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland, Ross MacMathuna, says tourists enjoy visiting Irish distilleries.
"For everyone who has a distillery, one of the parts of their offering is to have a visitor centre," he said.
"A real key part of that whole business model is that you have the distillery, you have the visitor centre which people want to come and visit and experience the product being made.
"We see that all of the new distilleries around the country that are opening up are operating this kind of model.
"It replicates what we've seen in other countries and works really well."
