In 2014 the family owned drinks firm Suntory Holdings K.K. bought Beam Inc for $16bn (£9.7bn) in all, Suntory paid $13.6bn in cash and took on Beam's debt.

Beam Inc. bought the multi-award winning independent Irish Cooley Distillery in December 2011 for € 71,000,000. The four time winner in a row was again named European Distiller of the Year in 2011 by the IWSC, the International Wine and Spirits Competion. The Cooley Distillery in Riverstown on the foot of the Carlingford Mountain of the Cooley peninsula in Co Louth was established in 1987 by Dr John Teeling and various investors who converted the existing state-owned Ceimicí Teo Distillery which had closed in 1986.

This distillery produced ,neutral spirit or neutral alcohol‘ from potatoes for the industry and had been build in the early 1930‘s.  On June 5th, 1936 the topping out ceromony was celebrated and later produced about 3.000 liters of pure alcohol every day. The alcohol was produced for the industry as bio ethanol which was used for petrol.  In 1974 the alcohol was produced from molasses which was added to Bailey‘s Cream and in 1985 the distillery was extended to meet the encreasing demands of Bailey‘s. It was part of five Ceimici Teorant chemical plants which were also built in Co. Donegal at Carndonagh and Labbadish, one at Corroy in Co. Mayo and one at Carrickmacross,  Co. Monaghan. The Industrial Alcohol Act, 1938 provided for the establishment of a state enterprise, called Monarchana Alcoil na hEireann Teoranta, to manufacture industrial alcohol. The small Riverstown plant stayed in production until August 1986.

When Dr John Teelings efforts of buying out the Irish Distillers Group failed he purchased the distillery for £ 120,000. For another £ 3,000,000 Cooley installed two column stills and two pot stills, the latter came from the Comber Distillery near Belfast, which originally had been installed at Ben Nevis Distillery near Fort William in Scotland.

New ideas set up a new view on Irish whiskey. Cooley Distillery defined Irish whiskey in a new but traditional way. Irish Whiskey was rediscovered in its variety as Irish whiskey used to be by no means only triple distilled as the marketing specialist of the Irish Distillers Group made the customer believe.

When the whisky chronicler Alfred Barnard visited 28 Irish distillers in the late 19th century he found double distilled, tripple distilled malt or Irish pot still whiskey which was unpeated or peated, unmatured or matured. Cooley resettled the plurality of Irish distilling and reintroduced long forgotten whiskies. The long list of international awards has regonized the quality of production and the „revolutionary“ pace setting of Irish whiskey. More than „...300 medals and the prestigious title of ,World Distillery of the Year‘ (IWSC 2008)...“ established the once only independent Irish distiller‘s singular reputation.

Noel Sweeney, Master Blender and Quality Assurance Manager, has been the central „nose“ behind Cooley‘s innovations: Malt or grain whiskies, peated or non-peated, double distilled or tripple distilled, he is the locus genius.

In November 2011 a limited number of 1.000 bottles of a triple distilled Single Pot Still Poitín at a strength of 65% A.B.V. was released. The unaged traditional Irish Pot Still distilled of malted and unmalted barley indicated again the great innovative power of the once only independent Irish distillery in recent times.

The latest limited release is Connemara Bog Oak, a limited edition of 1000 bottles, which was published in February, 2012. The peated whiskey was matured in specially set up casks with heads made of 5,000 year old oak found in peat bogs of Westmeath.

The other current product range includes the blended whiskey Kilbeggan, the single grain whiskey Greenore, the single malt The Tyrconnell.

The distillery produces grain, malt and traditional Irish potstill whiskey. “There were real issues with working with a mix of peated and unpeated barley at the Cooley plant,” Teeling said. “It causes problems in the machinery because the mix goes like a thick porridge. But they have got it to work at Kilbeggan through trial and error and the oats help with filtration,“ Stephen Teeling said.

Distillery Manager: Flavio Campello Costa (2013)

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