Princess Anne gives Chivas bottling plant royal welcome

The Princess Royal has officially opened Chivas Brothers’ new bottling facility for its high-end products in Paisley.

The Prestige Hall is part of Chivas Brothers’ annual £40 million investment in operations

The facility – called Prestige Hall – was completed last year as part of an annual £40 million investment in operations by Chivas Brothers, Pernod Ricard’s whisky and gin division.

The Princess Royal – Queen Elizabeth’s daughter, Princess Anne – was invited to the facility where she was shown various high-speed bottling lines as well as areas where the luxury brands are delicately bottled in hand-crafted containers.

Speaking at the event, Laurent Lacassagne, chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers, said: “We are very proud of our state-of-the-art bottling facilities here in Paisley, and the teams that run them, so it was a pleasure to be able to present these to such as prestigious guest.

“The Prestige Hall is a prime example of how we have evolved our business to ensure it is clearly aligned for the future.

“The long-term prospects for premium Scotch whisky and gin remain very good and this investment will continue to help us appeal to discerning consumers all over the world with the very highest quality products.”

Prestige Hall will facilitate the hand-packaging of the company’s premium and super-premium whisky and gin portfolio, including Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, The Glenlivet, Beefeater and Ballantine’s ranges, as well as some limited edition single malts.

Chivas Brothers also recently re-opened its Glen Keith distillery in June, as well as completed an expansion of its malt distillation capacity and a £10 million expansion of The Glenlivet Distillery in 2010, increasing capacity by 75%.