Two years after sellling out of the Irish whiskey market, Diageo is spending 25 million euros on a new distillery in Dublin.
The distillery will be housed in one of the city's most iconic buildings, the former Guinness Power Station, and will produce a label called Roe & Co, named in honour of Irish whisky's founding father, George Roe. The distillery is expected to create 30 new jobs.
Diageo sold its Irish whiskey brand Bushmills in 2014, as part of a deal to acquire Mexican tequila brand Don Julio. At the time, analysts criticised the decision, noting tequila appeared to have reached its peak while Irish whiskey continued to boom.
Irish whiskey has grown 131% by volume globally in the last decade, compared to a 13% rise for Scotch whisky and 56% rise for bourbon in the same period.
While Irish whiskey sales are smaller than scotch and bourbon sales volumes at just 7.8 million cases in 2015, the strong growth rate makes it the world’s fastest-growing spirit.
Yesterday, Diageo revealed its master blender, Caroline Martin, has been trialing more than 100 prototype blends for Roe & Co since December 2014.
"Using her 30 years of experience, Caroline and her team set about meticulously sourcing and selecting stocks of the very finest Irish whiskies," the company said in a statement. "Caroline has created an extraordinary expression of Irish Whiskey. The high proportion of first-fill casks gives notes of creamy vanilla balanced with its hints of fruit and soft spice and a remarkable depth for such an elegant and refined whiskey. Roe & Co is non-chill filtered and bottled at 45% ABV."
While the new distillery isn't expected to begin operating until 2019, Roe & Co's first whiskey will be released next month, using a blend of hand-selected malt and grain whiskeys aged in bourbon casks.
Diageo noted: "The brand has been created to reflect modern, contemporary luxury, in everything from pack to liquid, and with a focus of making Irish Whiskey more prominent in Europe’s booming cocktail culture."
Diageo's director Island of Ireland operations, Colin O’Brien, told The Irish Times that Roe & Co will buy the whiskey that will make up the blended product from other distillers.
“We have sourced the stock we need to keep us going until the new stock starts coming on line from our own distillery,” he explained.
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