This year the major scotch whisky distiller invested €25 million, funding two new developments at the Tullamore site. This includes a grain distillery and a new bottling hall to make it one of the world’s few ‘grain-to-glass’ whiskey operations.
Since Grants purchased the brand in 2010, the company says its investment in the distillery has totalled €60 million and created 80 local jobs.
William Grant & Sons CEO Simon Hunt, said: “As an independent, family-owned business we really care about the legacy we are creating. When we see potential, as we do here, we go all out to build and invest with a long term perspective. Our work here in Tullamore perfectly captures this; the scale of investment is a reflection of our belief in the potential of Tullamore Dew.
“The completion of the site has brought the total production of this legendary whiskey back to one important location – the town of Tullamore. We are the second largest Irish whiskey globally and the leading Irish whiskey in several important markets, but we believe there is much more to come for Tullamore Dew,” said Hunt.
In deciding to bring the production of Tullamore Dew back to the town of Tullamore, in 2014 Grants built the first new distillery on a greenfield site in Ireland in more than 100 years and significantly brought home the production of Tullamore Dew, which had not been made in the town for 60 years.
Alongside the investment in the distillery, the company says it is launching its most ambitious marketing campaign to date - a global platform called ‘Beauty of Blend.’ As one of the only Irish whiskey brands to use a triple blend of all three types of whiskey, the new campaign is said to challenge preconceptions about how great whiskey is made, as well as championing the ways in which ‘blend’ makes the world a more interesting place.
Grant’s global brand director, Caspar MacRae, said: “Our ambition for Tullamore Dew is reflected in the major investments we’re making in the brand and in the distillery. In the last three years, global sales of Tullamore Dew have grown from 840,000 cases to more than 1.1m. The quality of our blended whiskey, combined with the brand’s reputation and increased investment, puts us in a great position for further growth in 2018 and beyond.”
Picture left-to-right: Caspar McRae, global brand director; Denise Devenny, Tullamore distillery leader; Peter Gordon William Grant director and CEO Simon Hunt
