Bushmills Whiskey revenue passes ?50M mark

Turnover has increased to more than £50 million at Old Bushmills, the Northern Irish whiskey company. The iconic brand, Ireland's oldest whiskey, was boosted by an increase in production as well as the launch of its new honey flavour for the US market.

The Old Bushmills Distillery Company reported turnover of £52.3 million for the year to 30 June 2012. This was up from £39.9 million in the previous year. Pre-tax profit also increased from £14 million to £16.5 million for the same period.

Bushmills is part of Diageo, the global drinks conglomerate, which also owns Guinness, and traces its history back to 1608 when Sir Thomas Phillips was granted a license to distil whiskey. It is thought to be the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland.

In 1784, the business registered the trademark for the Old Bushmills Distillery and in 1885 the distillery was destroyed in a fire but rebuilt soon afterwards.

Diageo acquired Bushmills from French company Pernod Ricard in 2005 in a £200 million deal.

In the directors' report, the business said: "There has been increase in production and a new product, Bushmills Honey, has been developed for the US market. Further capital investments continued to enable future growth.

"Part of the capital expenditure included further investment in cask warehouses and wood purchases."

For the same period in 2012 parent company Diageo, which is listed on the stock exchange, reported revenue of £14.6bn and a pre-tax profit of £3bn.