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Irish whiskey “fight back” starts now
The head of the Irish government has declared that the Irish whiskey “fight back” starts now with the launch of the expansion of Irish Distillers Midleton plant in Cork.
“I remember reading as a child that in the pre-prohibition days in the States, Irish whiskey was the big one. So let the battle begin again with Scotch — for my part I’ll do what I can,” Taoiseach Enda Kenny said as he launched the €100m expansion of Irish Distillers Midleton plant in Cork.
“The fight-back starts right here.”
The distillery in County Cork produces Jameson and Single Pot Still Whiskeys of Midleton and the expansion is due to increased demand for Irish whiskey according to Pernod Ricard.
As part of the investment 60 manufacturing and technical jobs will be created; 30 in the Midleton distillery and 30 more in the Fox and Geese bottling plant in Dublin, bringing the total employees to 560.
The launch coincided with the 20th anniversary of it distillery’s Jameson Experience visitor attraction and the group’s move to take 100% ownership of Pernod Ricard Korea Imperial, with the likely purchase of the 30% share held by Korean company HiteJinro.
Kenny said the sales success of products like Jameson should serve as an inspiration to what Ireland can achieve on world markets. He was presented with a bottle of Midleton 1992 yesterday but promised he would not open it “until Ireland recovers our economic independence”.
The expansion, which is due to take place over the next 24 months, will benefit from significant energy and water-use efficiencies as a result of the incorporation of the latest state-of-the-art design techniques. A further €100m is being spent developing a satellite maturation facility at Dungourney, Co Cork.
Chief executive Anna Malmhake said: “This is a fantastic day for Irish Distillers – and for Irish business. The €100m investment in Midleton, the home of Irish whiskey production, is a reflection of the growing international success of Jameson, and the future potential of our entire Irish Whiskey portfolio.