Jameson micro-distillery opens in Midleton

Irish Distillers has opened a new Jameson micro-distillery in Midleton that will focus on recipes found in the personal notebook of John Jameson II dating back to 1826.

The new Jameson micro-dstillery first opened its doors on Tuesday 16 September

The new facility – which is located adjacent to the existing Jameson Midleton site in Cork – was opened by Anna Malmhake, chairman and CEO of Irish Distillers, and MP Tánaiste Joan Burton. 

“Today [Tuesday 16 September] is a major milestone for Irish Distillers,” said Anna Malmhake, chairman and CEO of Irish Distillers. “Jameson is an unparalleled export success story, having sold less than 500,000 cases in 1996 to over 5m this year, and it is poised to continue its phenomenal trajectory.

“We have recently doubled production capacity here in Midleton to keep pace with the astronomical prospects and we expect to have to expand capacity again in the next few years to keep up with demand.”

The new facility marks the Irish whiskey brand’s achievement of 5 million cases last year – up from fewer than 500,000 in 1996.

Karen Cotter, who recently graduated from a programme in distilling, will run the new micro-distillery with help from Brian Nation, master distiller.

Once operating at full capacity, the site will produce 400 casks of Irish whiskey per year, which will be “innovative, small batch” whiskeys based on the recipes and ingredient mixes used by the original Jameson distillers.

“The micro-distillery will enable us to bring these old Irish whiskeys back to life in the modern era, as well as experiment and innovate with new ingredients mixes,” added Malmhake. “In addition, it will be a key feature of the Jameson Experience Midleton.

“We currently welcome over 410,000 tourists per year to the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin and the Jameson Experience Midleton.

“As Irish Whiskey tourism continues its rapid expansion, it is essential that we develop our tourist offering so they get an authentic, Irish experience.”