New Bushmills distillery to double capacity as US sales soar
Bushmills’ new £37m distillery will allow the business to double its distilling capacity to an annual nine million litres of spirit.
The move will see the company capitalise on growing demand in export markets for Irish whiskey, with sales of the spirit predicted to outstrip sales of Scotch in the US in the years ahead.
The new Causeway Distillery is located alongside The Old Bushmills Distillery, which lays claim to a 415-year heritage in the north coast village.
A record 168m bottles of Irish whiskey were exported in 2021, up 21% year on year, according to figures from the Irish Whiskey Association.
Around 41% of the total volume was destined for the US.
The Old Bushmills Distillery Company posted a 36% hike in turnover to £43m for the year, likely boosted by suspension of a 25% US tariff on single malt Irish whiskey from Northern Ireland in June 2021 although 2020 sales were dented by the pandemic.
Pre-tax profits rose by 10% to £7.97m in 2021.
Bushmills is owned by Proximo Spirits, a US firm founded by the Beckmann family of Mexico, which acquired the brand and its assets from Diageo in 2014.
The new distillery is part of a £60m investment by Proximo in its Irish single malt distilling and aging facility over the past five years.
The 10 copper pot stills at the new distillery have been designed to match those at the Old Bushmills Distillery, to achieve a consistent quality and flavour across single malt whiskeys produced in both distilleries.
Planning permission was granted by Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council in 2019 for the new distillery including the 10 stills, eight new washbacks and a mashtun.
Bushmills had already added 29 additional maturation warehouses to its site.
