Bernard Walsh at Royal Oak (with bottle of their Irishman Founder’s Reserve whiskey

Walsh Whiskey turned the sod on the site of what will be the biggest independent whiskey distillery in the country. The €25m distillery will be built on a 40 acre site at Royal Oak in Co Carlow on the grounds of Holloden House, an 18th century country home that will be restored as part of the project.

The new world-class distillery and visitor centre will create a total of 55 permanent and part-time jobs in the Carlow area, over 5 years, where the whiskies will be distilled, crafted and aged. The construction process will provide up to 70 jobs during the 18 month development phase. The project is supported by Enterprise Ireland.

Once completed, by 2016, tit will have the capacity to produce half a million cases of whiskey a year. The distillery will also be unique as the only distillery in Ireland to produce all three types of Irish whiskey in one still house, namely – pot, malt, grain.

Led by Mr Augusto Reina, CEO of Walsh Whiskey Distillery’s strategic partner Illva Saronno, there was a strong attendance by the company’s international partners to witness the sod-turning ceremony and visit Royal Oak for the first time. Also attending were representatives of Palm Bay from the United States; Emporia from Britain; Woodman form Canada; Interbrands representing Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden; Dugas, Le Whisky de Monde and Terior from France; Schlumberger from Germany; Agroseko from Russia and Haecky from Switzerland.

The founder of Walsh Whiskey Distillery, Mr Bernard Walsh said: “This is a very significant day for everyone associated with Walsh Whiskey and our goal to be recognised as the leading independent distiller of premium, craft, Irish whiskey in the world. We are now 15 years in business and we are very grateful to the thousands of people across the world that choose our whiskies and also to all of our international partners who make sure that Irishman and Writers Tears are available in 30 countries and growing.”

He added: “Royal Oak is a very special and wonderful place to create world-class whiskey. We are proud to be able to create this distillery in our family’s home county. We will make a significant contribution to the local economy through employment, rates and of course the purchase of, on average, 5,000 tonnes of local grain every year. We hope that the people of Royal Oak, Carlow, the South-East and Ireland will be proud of what we do and how we do it. I look forward to us commencing production in early 2016.”

Full press release:
http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/EI_Corporate/en/News/PressReleases/2014-Press-Releases/First-sod-turned-to-commence-construction-on-Walsh-Whiskey-Distillery-%E2%80%93-the-largest-independent-whiskey-distillery-in-Ireland.html