€60m whiskey contract dispute between firms settled in Commercial Court

High Court Reporter

A dispute over a contract to supply whiskey from the John Teeling-founded Great Northern Distillery to a wholesaler and its associated distribution company has been settled, the Commercial Court heard.

Dundalk-based wholesaler O'Malley Ireland Spirits Trading Ltd and its related distributor Nonto DAC had brought proceedings against Great Northern Distillery Ltd (GND) which operates a whiskey distillery in Dundalk.

O'Malley and Nonto claimed they purchased some €60 million in whiskey from GND for around five years.

GND, both directly and through third parties, operates several "bonded" warehouses which are regulated by Customs and Revenue and which store the product with excise duty suspended until such time as it exits the "bonded chain".

O'Malley and Noto sought court declarations including that it has title to whiskey purchased by O'Malley for the first three-quarters of 2024.

They also sought a declaration that having paid in full for those periods that the defendant has no entitlement to exercise a €6.4 million lien over the whiskey for fourth quarter warehousing and transport costs.

They also sought an injunction directing the defendant to provide access to its warehouses for the purpose of taking possession of the
first three quarters' whiskey.

GND disputed the claims.

On Monday, the case was listed before Mr Justice Michael Twomey was told there was no appearances for the parties as the case had been settled and struck out.