West Cork Distillers
Valda Smith is an experienced professional in new product development, currently serving as the New Product Development Manager at West Cork Distillers since October 2022. Valda has previously held roles as Own Brand Product Developer at Musgrave, NPD Executive at Ornua, and NPD Manager at O'Brien Fine Foods, where responsibilities included managing product development teams and collaborating across departments to create innovative products for both brand and own label customers. Earlier experience includes working as an RD&A Technologist at Kerry and a Junior Product Developer at The Coca-Cola Company. Valda holds a Bachelor of Science in Food Science from University College Cork and is currently pursuing further education in Strategy and Innovation at the Irish Management Institute.
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West Cork Distillers
West Cork Distillers was formed in 2003 by three childhood friends John O’Connell, Ger McCarthy and Denis McCarthy. In just under 20 years, West Cork Distillers has grown to 140 employees in Skibbereen. The distillery is situated in the heart of West Cork in Skibbereen, and produces approximately 16.5 million litres of alcohol, making it the largest independently Irish owned distillery in the country. West Cork Distillers is the only distillery in Ireland that distills, matures and bottles on site and is open for contract bottling with regards to contract activity. Being able to produce everything on-site provides cost benefits and a strong competitive advantage for the company. Over the past 5 years, the company has consistently exhibited strong growth. For example, in Q1 2018, WCD sold 123k cases. However, in Q1 2019 this figure soared to 200k... that's a 62% year-on-year growth, with no signs of demand waning. Unlike many other distilleries, WCD has 4 sources of revenue. 1. Own branded 2. Bulk Spirit & Fermentates 3. Contract Manufacturing 4. Wholesale The company is well positioned to benefit from the continued rapid growth of Irish whiskey and therefore deliver on its mission to provide sustainable employment to the local community. West Cork Distillers aims to make Irish Whiskey accessible worldwide while maintaining our proud Irish ownership and West Cork heritage.