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Bushmills gets green light for £30m distillery expansion
Irish whiskey distiller Bushmills has received planning permission to expand its production capacity with the construction of a second distillery at its current site in County Antrim.
The £30 million project was formerly submitted to the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council in 2015. It forms part of a wider £60 million initiative which aims to double production capacity within the next five years in order to cater for demand.
The new facility will include a malt intake, mill, lauter tun, washbacks, still house, tank farm and evaporator. Once complete, it will have an annual malt distilling capacity of 7 million litres of alcohol.
The plans also include details for a boiler house and cooling towers. The distiller hopes to move and enlarge its existing warehouses at the site in order to cope with the increased production.
It is expected that the new site will lead to the creation of up to 20 jobs.
Master distiller Coum Egan told the Belfast Telegraph that work will being later this year.
“We are thrilled to receive planning permission to build additional distilling capacity on the site of the current distillery,” he said.
“We’ve been liaising with the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council for over a year on the application so we are delighted to get this green light to produce even more Bushmills for whiskey drinkers around the world.
“Our plans for building additional distilling capacity is part of our £60m plan to double production capacity over the next five years to meet the increasing demand for our portfolio of single malt and premium blended Irish whiskeys.
“As part of this investment, we plan to start building 29 additional maturation warehouses this year to support the long-term growth of the Old Bushmills Distillery, so it’s a very exciting time for Bushmills and our industry.”
The Old Bushmills Distillery currently stores around 81,000 barrels of whisky per year, the equivalent to around 16.3 million litres. It has 20 warehouses on site and employs 106 members of staff.
In 2014, Casa Cuervo bought Bushmills from Diageo in return for ownership of the Don Julio Tequila brand.