Scotch giant Grant to spend £29m on ‘rebirth’ of Tullamore Dew

WILLIAM Grant & Sons, the spirits company, is to invest €35 million (£29m) building a distillery in Ireland which will bring whiskey production back to Tullamore for the first time since the original plant closed in 1954.

Grant acquired Tullamore Dew, the world’s second-largest Irish whiskey brand behind Jamesons, two years ago from C&C Group when Scotland on Sunday revealed the company’s plans for the distillery in Tullamore.

The new pot still whiskey and malt whiskey distillery will meet the long-term production demands for Tullamore Dew, which is currently growing by more than 15 per cent a year, almost doubling worldwide sales to just under 700,000 cases since 2005.

The plant will be built on a 58-acre site at Clonminch on the outskirts of Tullamore and benefits from spring water from the nearby Slieve Bloom mountains, regarded as ideal for the triple distillation process used in Tullamore Dew.

Work on the distillery, which will embrace the latest in green technology, will begin later this year. Together with a new Tullamore Dew visitor centre, opening in September, the firm will employ 25 local people. Tullamore Dew will continue to be bottled in Clonmel, where it employs some 60 people.

Stella David, Grant’s chief executive, said: “This investment underpins our long-term commitment to Tullamore Dew, the town of Tullamore and Ireland.

“It represents an important next step in the long-term growth and development of the Tullamore Dew brand, one of Ireland’s food and drink export success stories. We’re excited about bringing whiskey distilling back to Tullamore Dew’s roots for the first time in almost 60 years.

“The new distillery will not only cement William Grant & Sons’ presence in Ireland, but reinforces the fact that the brand is now firmly rooted back in its original home.”

Maurice Doyle, group marketing director, said: “Irish whiskey is a major growth story internationally and with this investment we’re looking forward to putting Tullamore Dew back on the map as one of Ireland’s premier whiskey producing regions,”