Roe & Co pauses production
Diageo-owned Irish brand Roe & Co is the latest whiskey distillery to halt production, although it will continue blending and packaging existing inventory.
A Diageo spokesperson said: “In order to optimise resources and support the sustainable future growth of our business, we have made the decision to put an extended pause on distillation at the Roe & Co Distillery.
“The visitor centre will remain open to the public, and we will continue to blend and package Roe & Co to meet existing and new consumer demand using existing inventory.”
It is understood that a consultation process is under way with a small number of employees impacted by the move.
Earlier this year, Diageo paused production and barrel filling at its carbon-neutral whiskey distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky, stating it was “ahead of schedule with the volume we produce at the site”.
Roe & Co joins other Irish distilleries on pause, including Pernod Ricard’s Midleton Distillery, Tullamore, and Dublin Liberties Distillery. We recently looked into why major whisky makers are struggling with oversupply.
The Dublin-based distillery first launched in 2017, as Diageo’s first move back into Irish whiskey following its disposal of Bushmills in 2014. Production began in 2019.
The brand was named after George Roe, who was once behind the biggest distillery in Ireland – George Roe & Co – which closed in 1926.
It released its first single malt in 2020, a 13-year-old Irish whiskey matured in Port casks. Recently, it created a solera whisky using some of its very first casks.
In other Irish whiskey news, today it was revealed that County Wicklow’s Powerscourt Distillery had appointed a receiver.
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