New Distilleries Planned in Glasgow & Ireland

October 17, 2013 – The boom in distillery construction is growing even more with announced plans for new distilleries in Glasgow, Scotland and County Carlow, Ireland.

The Glasgow project is being spearheaded by Tim Morrison, the grandson of Morrison Bowmore co-founder Stanley Morrison, and is to be built on the Queen’s Dock. Morrison is the managing director of independent bottler A. Dewar Rattray, and plans to invest £10 million ($16.1 million USD) to build a craft distillery and visitors centre on the site of the dock’s former pump house. The distillery would be the first new distillery to be built in Glasgow in more than 100 years, according to multiple news reports.

Morrison has applied for planning permission from local officials to begin converting the pump house into the visitors centre as part of the first phase of construction, which would also include the distillery building and a restaurant. The second phase would see installation of the distilling equipment, with plans to begin distilling in 2015.

Meanwhile, rumors circulating around Ireland for the last several months about Bernard Walsh’s plans for a new distillery in County Carlow have proven true. Walsh only smiled when WhiskyCast’s Mark Gillespie asked about the rumors last month at Midleton’s Housewarming event, but unveiled his plans for the Walsh Whiskey Distillery in Bagenalstown this week. Walsh currently markets The Irishman and Writer’s Tears using whiskies sourced from Midleton and Bushmills, and his family-owned company is partnering with Italy’s Illva Saronna Holdings on a €25 million ($34.1 million USD) project that will create an estimated 55 permanent and 40 construction jobs over the next five years. Illva Saronna also brings its distribution and marketing experience to the partnership. The company owns the legendary DiSaronno liqueur brand.

This story will be updated with more details as they become available.

Links: A. Dewar Rattray | Walsh Whiskey Company