Production paused at Slane Irish Whiskey Distillery
Brown-Forman has halted whiskey production at Irish distillery Slane “for the next number of years” to align with market conditions.
The family-run Slane Castle Irish Whiskey was acquired by Brown-Forman in 2015.
The acquisition was followed by a US$50 million investment in the site, which is located on the grounds of the Slane Castle Estate in County Meath, and included the build of a new ‘state-of-the-art’ distillery.
Now, the US drinks firm has confirmed it has halted whiskey production at the site, which has a capacity to produce up to one million litres of pure alcohol annually.
In a statement provided to the Robb Report on 29 May, Brown-Forman confirmed the reasoning for Slane’s closure: “Demand planning and production forecasting are critical parts of our business; standard practice requires adjusting production to align with market conditions.
“We have a robust supply of maturing whiskey, ensuring there will be no interruption in the availability of Slane for our customers worldwide. Additionally, the Slane visitor centre will remain open, and tours are still available for trade and VIP guests.”
Brown-Forman said a reopening would be “determined by demand planning and forecasting, though it is listed as temporary.”
However, a LinkedIn post by Alan Buckley, site leader of production, quality and wood management at Slane Distillery, shared three weeks ago, suggested the pause will be in place for multiple years.
It read: “After 14 incredible years, my journey with Slane Distillery and Brown-Forman is drawing to a close today. Following Brown-Forman’s recent decision to pause production at Slane Distillery for the next number of years, my role is unfortunately being made redundant.”
It has not been confirmed how many jobs have been lost at the distillery as a result of the production pause.
The Spirits Business has reached out to Slane and Brown-Forman for further information.
In the last few years, several distilleries around the world have downed tools and put production on hold. Last year, we took a deep dive into what has led so many sites to press pause on production.
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