Does Conor McGregor own Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey?
Conor Mcgregor is a former two-division UFC Champion who is also the co-founder of Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey. The brand is owned by Eire Born Spirits, a company owned by Conor McGregor, his manager Audie Attar and Ken Austin.
Conor McGregor first announced he was launching a whiskey brand at the post-fight conference of the second-highest selling pay-per-view event in American sporting history. It was initially suggested that the project would be developed under the name 'Notorious Whiskey', which was the foundation for the Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey we know today.
The project took longer than expected and it wasn't until 2018 that the brand was officially launched in Ireland and the United States. Conor Mcgregor turned to a distillery with a proven record of quality whiskey making. This is where he met esteemed master-distiller David Elder, previously of Guinness and the two toiled hard to bring the brand to fruition.
While talking about the origin of the name, Conor Mcgregor said:
Proper No. Twelve is a proper Irish whiskey from a proper Irish man! The name Proper No. Twelve pays homage to where I was born and bred in the Dublin suburb of Crumlin, Dublin 12 – it is a proper whiskey, and twelve is where it began for me. My success can be traced from the lessons I learned growing up in D12, the values of loyalty and hard work, the 'one for all' mentality. It is a brand made for all, not a select few."
Conor McGregor: Irish icon
Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey was co-founded by Conor Mcgregor, his manager Audie Attar and Ken Austin. Austin is a veteran in the alcohol industry, having previously worked for E&J Gallo and Seagrams. He also teamed up with rap star Jeezy and actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to develop celebrity spirits like Tequila Avion and Teremana Tequila.
Austin says that there is probably no better celebrity connection to Irish whiskey than a man who drops Gaelic phrases in interviews and celebrates his fight victories draped in an Irish flag. While emphasizing the authenticity of Conor McGregor as an Irish icon, Ken Austin said:
"If you were going to look up Irish whiskey in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Conor McGregor there because he epitomizes what being Irish is."