Diageo launches Irish whiskey and distillery plans
Diageo, Scotland's biggest whisky company, is to launch a new premium blended Irish whiskey, Roe & Co, as it also unveiled plans for investment in a distillery in the former power station at St James's Gate in Dublin, home of the company's Guinness brand.
The total project investment comes to €25 million (£18.6m) over three years. Production is expected to begin in the first half of 2019.
Diageo said the new brand was named after George Roe, the once world-famous whiskey maker who presided over the golden age of Irish whiskey in the 19th century.
The company said it had “identified a clear opportunity” in the category “to drive overall category growth via premiumisation”. It said the new brand would “focus on making Irish whiskey more prominent in Europe’s booming cocktail culture”.
The new St James’s Gate distillery will be sited just a stone’s throw from where the George Roe & Co distillery once stood.