Wednesday, September 17, 2014

WILLIAM GRANT & SONS OPENS €35 MILLION TULLAMORE DISTILLERY

Tullamore D.E.W. today celebrated the opening of its new €35m distillery in its hometown of Tullamore in the Irish midlands. As the first spirit flowed from the stills, it marked the return of whiskey production to the town for the first time in 60 years.
 
Among the special guests at the opening celebrations were the winners of the Parting Glass competition, a global online search for the best toasts to mark the beginning of life’s new chapters. The winners joined a host of international guests and the Irish Government Minister, Simon Coveney T.D. who returned to open the facility having turned the sod on the distillery 12 months previous.

William Grant & Sons has invested €35M in the state of the art Tullamore Distillery

Also returning to Tullamore for the opening celebrations was Tom McCabe (aged 84) a former employee of the original distillery who now lives in New Jersey, U.S.A. Tom spent three years working as a distiller in the original distillery before immigrating to America and was today reunited with his brother Fergal and sister Una, the first time all three siblings had been together in Tullamore since 1952.
 
The Tullamore Distillery combines William Grant and Sons’ 127 years of distilling knowledge and expertise with world leading innovation and technology. Production operations are headed at the facility by Process Leader, Denise Devenny.
 
Commenting at the official opening ceremony Caspar MacRae, Tullamore D.E.W. Global Brand Director, said: “This is a true ‘Parting Glass’ moment for Tullamore D.E.W., as we raise a glass to celebrate the beginning of an exciting new chapter in our 185 year history. Irish whiskey is the fastest growing spirits category in the world right now and our new distillery will enable us to meet our production needs over the coming decades”.
 
The Tullamore Distillery is the first new distillery to be constructed on a Greenfield site in Ireland in over 100 years and is one of the most exciting accomplishments to date in the Irish whiskey renaissance.
 
John Quinn, Tullamore D.E.W. Global Brand Ambassador also commented, “This new distillery brings Tullamore D.E.W. back to its origins. We are incredibly proud of the Tullamore Distillery and know that its opening has been awaited with great anticipation in our key markets throughout the world. We look forward to building on our great success to date and helping new fans all around the world discover the magic of Tullamore D.E.W.”

The construction project was led by William Grant & Sons’ Head Engineer, John Stevenson, with more than 1,200 specialist distillery engineers and construction workers spending a combined 475,000 working days to complete the build on-schedule and on-budget. 

The Tullamore Distillery features four hand crafted copper stills, designed to resemble the original stills from the old distillery; six brew house fermenters each with a 34,000 litre capacity; and warehouse storage for 100,000 casks. Tullamore Distillery draws the finest natural Irish water from the nearby Slieve Bloom Mountains and will be capable of producing the equivalent of 1.5 million cases of Tullamore D.E.W. annually.

To commemorate the opening of the Distillery, Tullamore D.E.W. unveiled the Tullamore D.E.W. Celebratory Phoenix Single Batch bottling. A very limited release of 2014 bottles that will be available through a selection of specialist Irish retailers from the end of this month.

Source: Touch PR