Ireland

Investing in Ireland

Irish Distillers, Midleton, Co Cork

Located in the town of Midleton, Co Cork on a 128 acre site, Irish Distillers recently embarked on one of the largest state-of-the-art expansion programmes in its history.

The €100 million expansion project comprised the creation of a number of new process buildings, along with expansions to existing buildings and was implemented in order to double production capacity in the distillery to 64 million litres of pure alcohol.

 The project began in May 2012 in response to the continued growth of Jameson worldwide and the new distillery was officially opened by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, in September 2013. A further €100 million was also invested in the construction of a nearby maturation facility in Dungourney, bringing the total investment to €200 million.

 As part of the investment, 350 construction jobs were created, with a further sixty permanent manufacturing and technical jobs also created; bringing the company’s total employee numbers in Ireland to 560.

As a product that is distilled, matured and bottled in Ireland, a very significant proportion of all the inputs required to produce, distribute, sell and market Jameson are Irish and the value to the local economy is immense. At least 80% of the products and services needed for the construction of the new distillery were sourced using local builders, contractors and engineers such as PM Group, P.J. Hegarty, MSL Engineering, BMD, BCD, Kirby Group, Shanley Industrial, Cronin & Buckley and multi roof were involved.

Irish Distillers, Midleton, Co Cork

The local agricultural environment is also benefitting greatly from the facility’s expansion. The distillery currently spends in excess of €60 million annually on cereals, energy, capital projects and payroll in the local economy and this is set to rise as sales continue to grow.

 CEO and Chairman of Irish Distillers, Anna Malmhake, said:

“The €100 million investment in Midleton, the home of Irish whiskey production, is a reflection of the growing international success of Jameson. This expansion signifies a great day in the history of Jameson and Irish Distillers and we look forward to building upon our success story here in Midleton by continuing to bring innovative facets of Irish whiskey to the market.”

 Irish Distillers was formed in 1966 following the merger of three of the great Irish Whiskey distillers, John Jameson & Sons, Powers & Sons and the Cork Distillery. The distillery produces two main types of Irish Whiskey – Pot Still Whiskey and Grain Whiskey. Over the following years the company continued to develop their Irish whiskey brands before joining Pernod Ricard, the world’s joint leader of wine and spirits in 1988.

 Tommy Keane, General Manager of Midleton Distillery explains why this success has come about, saying:

 “When joining Pernod Ricard we gained a global market reach, which resulted in larger exports. When Irish Distillers became part of Pernod Ricard, Jameson sold 466,000 cases globally, with Ireland as their main market. Pernod Ricard was quick to identify Jameson Irish Whiskey as a flagship brand with massive potential in all four-corners of the globe.

Year on year the company invested consistently in the brand, and indeed all our brands. As a result by the end of 2012 Jameson had reached the milestone of four million cases sold globally. We continue to reach our targets and in line with this we had to reinvest in our facility.”

Irish Distillers, Midleton, Co Cork

The new facility is in an idyllic setting, which retains the old and embraces the new and includes a new water treatment plant, wash distillation column, new overhead closed circuit cooling line, and pot whiskey brew house. Additional features include grain whiskey brewhouse, fermentation vessels, grain distillation columns, pot distillation columns, six new pot stills, a waste water treatment plant and associated buildings.

The Irish Distillers project team included Tommy Keane General Manager of Midleton Distillery; Barry Crockett Master Distiller (since retired); David Quinn Technical Director; Dr Dagmara Dabrowska Head of Analytical and Technical Development; Brian Nation Distiller (now Master Distiller); Liam O’Leary Dist. Ops. Manager and Aidan Curran Energy & Environmental Manager.

For more information on Irish Distillers, please visit: www.irishdistillers.ie.

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