Diageo completes expansion of Elgin distilleries

Diageo has completed the expansion of two of its malt whisky distilleries, a “major milestone” in the company’s £1billion investment programme to increase production capacity across its Scotch business.

The new washbacks at Diageo’s Linkwood distillery will help enable the group to increase whisky production at the site by 50%

The drinks group has spent a total of around £14 million on upgrading the Linkwood and Mannochmore malt whisky distilleries near Elgin to help it meet soaring global demand for Scotch whisky.

The Linkwood distillery, which received a £5m investment, has been expanded with the build of a new building to house six new washbacks and two new copper stills. The upgrades will increase the distillery’s annual production capacity by 50%.

Meanwhile the £9m upgrades to Mannochmore, which include the creation of a new stillhouse, eight new washbacks, a new mashtun and two copper stills, will double the distillery’s capacity.

“Both Linkwood and Mannochmore are important distilleries for Diageo, producing high quality single malt whisky for our world-leading blended Scotch whisky portfolio,” said Mike Jappy, investment project director for Diageo.

“Speyside is at the heart of Diageo’s distilling business and we look forward to progressing the next phase of our investment programme with further expansions in the next 12 months.”

Expansion of the two distilleries is part of a wider investment programme for Diageo, announced last year, to increase its total Scotch production capacity.

Work is currently progressing on the construction of a new bio-energy plant at Glendullan near Dufftown and a major expansion of the Mortlach distillery also near Dufftown.

Earlier this month Diageo announced the completion of two new warehouses at its Cluny Bond development near Kirkcaldy, the first of 46 new warehouses that will eventually store 120,000 casks of whisky.