World: Diageo to re-enter the Irish whiskey market

Global drinks producer Diageo has announced its re-entry into the Irish whiskey market, just two years after selling its Bushmills plant to Jose Cuervo in exchange for the for Don Julio tequila brand, FFT.ie reported on January 31.

The new whiskey, Roe & Co, will be distilled at a new facility in St. James’ Gate. Production will begin in 2019, subject to planning approval, meaning the first bottlings from the plant will be expected for sale some time in 2022. The total project investment comes to €25 mln over three years.

Row & Co will be a premium priced product and is expected to retail for around €35 a bottle. Bottles will begin to appear at retail aross Europe from early March 2017, however this will be a blend of whiskeys sourced from undisclosed locations.

Diageo has described the new whiskey as having the ‘signature smoothness of Irish whiskey with remarkable depth of flavour’, and is aged in bourbon casks.

Roe & Co is named in honour of George Roe, a distiller who helped build the golden era of Irish Whiskey in the 19th century. His distillery, George Roe and Co, extended over 17 acres on Thomas Street in Dublin and was once Ireland’s largest distillery. As neighbours for hundreds of years George Roe and Co and Guinness were the two biggest names at the heart of Dublin’s brewing and distilling quarter.

The new St. James’s Gate distillery will be situated a stone’s throw away from where the George Roe and Co distillery once stood, at the former Guinness Power House on Thomas St which powered the entire facility for much of the 20th century.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovations, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD said, “It is great to see Diageo continue to invest in and further enhance the historical Dublin 8 area to create a fantastic attraction for tourists and locals alike. The proposed distillery will play a major role in the overall regeneration of the Liberties through the repurposing of the St James’ Gate Power House.”

30 January, 2017