Distilling success in Cork city

Cheers to that! A distillery on Leeside which has revived part of the iconic Ford Factory building will represent Cork city at the National Enterprise Awards this year.

Rebel City Distillery was, on Tuesday, announced as the representative for Cork City’s Local Enterprise Office (LEO) as Local Enterprise Week 2024 kicked off.

Husband and wife team, Robert and Bhagya Barrett, opened Rebel City Distillery in June 2020 and have grown the business into a successful distillery selling their products in Ireland and across the globe including USA, Germany and France.

They also set up an award-winning visitor centre at the premises at the Marina Commercial Park which offers customers an immersive and educational experience of the distilling process as well as the history of the Cork Docklands.

Local Enterprise Offices from all over the country select a representative for the National Enterprise Awards which are held in the Mansion House in Dublin every year. This is the 24th year of the awards which celebrate the best small businesses in Ireland.

Bhagya said: “We are honoured to represent LEO Cork City at this year’s National Enterprise Awards. We are doing a job that we really enjoy and it’s wonderful to see all our efforts being recognised in this way. “LEO Cork City has been a massive support to us on our journey from opening to what we are today and we would really encourage anyone who is starting out in business to contact them for advice and support.”

Robert Barrett is a master distiller with more than 15 years of industry expertise and holds a Masters in Distilling and Brewing from Heriot Watt University. Bhagya Barrett is Business Development and Creative Director and holds an MBA in Project Management and a Bachelor of Engineering in IT. Local Enterprise Week runs until tomorrow, 8 March.