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Walsh Whiskey Awards 3rd Annual Bursary to IT Carlow Brewing & Distilling Student Stephen Foster

29 January, 2021: Stephen Foster, a 2^nd year brewing and distilling undergraduate at Institute of Technology Carlow from Gorey in County Wexford, is the 3^rd recipient of the annual Walsh Whiskey €1,000 bursary.  The prize is awarded by Walsh Whiskey (producers of Writers’ Tears & The Irishman premium whiskeys) to the student with the highest 1^st year grades in the Bachelor of Science in Brewing and Distilling course at Institute of Technology Carlow. The brewing and distilling programme at IT Carlow was the first of its kind in Ireland when initiated in 2017.

Accepting the Walsh Whiskey Bursary, Stephen Foster from Gorey, said: “I am delighted to have received the award from Bernard Walsh and Walsh Whiskey. It represents both the culmination of a lot of hard work, and the great link that exists between the academic programme at IT Carlow and the brewing and distilling industry in Ireland. To have someone like Bernard and a company like Walsh Whiskey directly attached to the programme highlights its credibility. All of the undergraduates receive great support from Dr David Ryan, the Programme Director and all of the lecturers involved in delivering the programme“.

Mr Foster added: “I have always had an interest in brewing and distilling. Growing up in Hollywood, Co. Wicklow, I was around it quite a lot and enjoyed the time spent learning about the many different aspects of the processes involved. That interest stayed with me, so when the opportunity arose to formalise it and return to education at IT Carlow as a mature student and study what I love, I had to jump at the chance.”

Bernard Walsh, Co-founder and Managing Director of Walsh Whiskey, said: “Despite the headwinds caused by the pandemic, Walsh Whiskey is strongly committed to supporting the development of the next generation of Irish whiskey distillers. We congratulate Stephen for his excellent Grade Point Average (GPA) score. We are unlikely to ever see a whiskey as strong, but Stephen’s marks reflect the sort of excellence that the Irish whiskey sector will rely upon to fulfil its potential in the years and decades ahead.”

Owing to the pandemic restrictions, Mr Walsh presented the award virtually to Mr Foster as part of a video-conference address to the undergraduates of the BSc in Brewing and Distilling.  Mr Walsh, who is also a Director of Drinks Ireland, presented an overview of the significant opportunities in the whiskey sector, notwithstanding the challenges of the pandemic: “Irish whiskey has outperformed other whiskey categories and spirits during this pandemic. Taste for Irish whiskey has been continuing to grow all around the world for over 10 years now and that will continue to feed into the creation of distilling related jobs here in Ireland. Sales of our Writers’ Tears and The Irishman whiskeys across over 50 countries have doubled in the last few years. So we will need plenty of world-class distillers of the future, like Stephen, to come through and ensure the sector continues to meet that global demand.”

In offering his congratulations to Stephen, Dr David Ryan, who is Programme Director for the degree course at Institute of Technology Carlow commented: “We very much appreciate the continued industry support for our unique honours degree programme and I particularly want to thank Walsh Whiskey for once again offering this bursary to our students.  Despite the impact of Covid restrictions,  our programme continues to grow and we look forward to our first-ever graduating class later this year, all of which makes the awarding of this year’s Walsh Whiskey Bursary an even bigger cause for celebration”. Launched in 2017, the four-year Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Brewing and Distilling was developed by Institute of Technology Carlow following significant research and consultation with industry, representative organisations, national bodies and government. The programme has received huge support from industry that has consistently reported difficulties in recruiting suitable qualified staff.  The programme is one of only four in the world to achieve professional recognition by the prestigious Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), the world’s leading professional body for the brewing and distilling industry.  Graduates of the degree are eligible to sit the masters level professional qualifications of the IBD and hugely in demand within the industry at home and abroad.