Diageo Pauses Distilling at Balcones, Dickel, and Teaninich

Diageo, citing a need to re-evaluate “productivity goals,” has halted production at Balcones Distilling in Waco, Texas, the Cascade Hollow Distillery in Tullahoma, Tennessee, and Scotland’s Teaninich Distillery. The Spirits Business first reported the moves, which started last month in Waco and left 17 production workers without jobs.

No jobs were lost at Cascade Hollow, which produces George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey, and the visitors centers at Cascade Hollow and Balcones remain open for tours and tastings.

According to a Diageo North America spokesperson, “Every year we run standard temporary slowdowns or shutdowns across our operations to support our efficiency and productivity goals. Since we are ahead of schedule with the volume we produce at the site, this year we decided to temporarily pause our distilling operations and barrel-filling activity through June 2026. During this time, employees will work on strategic projects, conduct trainings to continue building capabilities and maintenance processes to position our sites for a successful start of our next fiscal year.”

The layoffs did not affect key leaders at Balcones, including head distiller Jared Himstedt. Diageo acquired Balcones in 2022 in a move to expand its presence in American whiskey at the peak of the market, but has been hit hard by declining global whisky sales in the last couple of years. The company is in the middle of a $625 million cost-cutting program that has already seen production cutbacks at other distilleries and plans to close a Crown Royal bottling plant in Canada next February.

WhiskyCast has requested an interview with Diageo executives. This story will be updated as needed.