The Busker

The Busker is the Irish whiskey brand produced by the Royal Oak Distillery, in Royal Oak, County Carlow, Ireland. The distillery is part of ILLVA Saronno, today Disaronno Group, the Italian multinational founded in 1947 by the Reina family in Saronno and known worldwide for Disaronno, Tia Maria and Cantine Florio.

The project was born from Augusto Reina’s vision to take the group into the world of Irish whiskey. The new distillery at Royal Oak was completed in 2015 and the first production took place on Easter Sunday, 27 March 2016.

Royal Oak presents itself as a modern, progressive distillery that distils all three styles of Irish whiskey—pot still, malt and grain—using innovative techniques. Between 2021 and 2023 the facility was upgraded with full automation, new columns and further investments to improve efficiency and consistent quality, while in 2022 a warehouse dedicated to maturation was completed in Waterford to control the entire chain from grain to glass.

Ambition, pride and a sense of belonging are the distillery’s stated values, together with Augusto Reina’s motto: be proud of the past while looking to the future. The Busker thus brings to the glass the energy of contemporary Irish whiskey, combined with the experience of a storied Italian family in the spirits industry.