Owners William Grant & Sons have invested €35m in the new state of the art distillery, the first to be built on a greenfield site in Ireland in more than 100 years. The significant investment marks an impressive milestone in the continuing resurgence of the Irish whiskey sector.
Returning to watch the opening celebrations was former distillery worker Tom McCabe, who ceremonially passed the keys of the Tullamore DEW distillery on to the next generation of the town's whiskey makers. The 84 year old, spent years working at the former distillery before emigrating to the US, where he now lives. Tom traded distilling memories with the staff, and was also reunited with his brother and sister, the first time they had all been at Tullamore together since 1952.
Also among the guests were the winners of a global competition, based on the brand's emotive Parting Glass advert. Hundreds of competition entrants penned toasts to mark the beginning of life's new chapters.
The winners joined assembled media and the Irish government minister, Simon Coveney TD, who had originally turned the first sod on the site a year ago when work began. He said: "I was delighted to turn the first sod and today the first liquid gold flows into casks for skilful maturation with the promise of a premium product and a great visitor experience. This is something special."
Since the turning of sod, more than 250,000 tonnes of peat and soil has been cleared and moved from the 58 acre site in County Offaly, which involved 1200 specialist engineers and construction workers, enough to fill 47 Olympic sized swimming pools. "This is a true Parting Glass moment for the brand," said Tullamore D. E. W global brand director Caspar MacRae. "Irish whiskey is the fastest growing spirits category in the world right now and our new distillery will enable us to meet our production needs during the next coming decades." The new distillery will be able to produce 511,000 nine litre cases a year and has the capacity to store some 50,000 casks in its two warehouses.
The still house features four hand crafted stills designed to resemble the original stills and the brew house contains six 34,000l fermenters.
Tullamore DEW is currently the second biggest Irish whiskey and global brand ambassador John Quinn commented: "This new distillery brings the brand back to its origins. We are incredibly proud of the distillery and know the opening has been awaited with great anticipation. We look forward to building on our great success to date and helping new fans all around the world discover the magic of Tullamore DEW."
To commemorate the opening, the brand unveiled a very limited release of 2014 bottles of Tullamore DEW Celebratory Phoenix Single Batch. The Phoenix, which features on the town's coat of arms, is an appropriate symbol for Tullamore and the brand, as it commemorates the rebuilding of the town after it was mostly destroyed by fire following a devastating hot air balloon accident in 1785.
See next edition for a full behind the scenes tour of the new Tullamore DEW distillery.
Icons of Whisky India 2014
The 6th Icons of Whisky India awards went off very well and were very much appreciated by all the guests and industry attendees. IOW India 2014 was in partnership with Highland Nectar, ITC Gardenia and The Singleton, Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
Over 250 guests enjoyed a generous dram of Singleton and later Whiskies of the World from Beam Suntory. Keeping in mind, its global image, Icons of Whisky India offered a global cuisine covering Scotland, Japan, Ireland, USA and UK. The event awarded the Best Whisky Bars in India, as well as whisky producers.
Highlights
• Over 250 guests were invited from Hospitality, The Media and Industry.
• Full service bars from Singleton and Johnnie Walker.
• Unveiling of the 'Whiskies of the World' Bar from Beam Suntory.
• Vast range of Whisky Cocktails on offer and dishes from Canada, Ireland, Scotland, USA, Japan and India.
• Performance by bagpipers.
• Awards presented by Mr Rupert Wheeler, Managing Editor, Whisky Magazine.
• Traditional haggis ceremony performed by Charles Maclean, noted whisky author.
• Gifts from Canali.
The awards
The Icons Of Whisky Awards
Whisky Innovator of the year - Pernod Ricard India Pvt. Ltd
Whisky Distiller of the year - Diageo India
Whisky Retailer of the year - The Cellar New Delhi
Whisky General Manager of the year - Mr Anil Chadha General Manager, ITC Maurya, New Delhi
Whisky General Manager of the year - Mr. Parveen Chander, General Manager, The Taj Mahal, Mumbai
Whisky Importer of the year - Brindco
Whisky Chef of the year - Chef Amit Chowdhury, The Taj Mahal, New Delhi
Best Whisky Bar in India - Cheroot ITC Grand Chola, Chennai
Highly Commended - The Library, Leela Palace, New Delhi and JW Marriott, Mumbai
Unlocking the mystery of whisky - The Whisky Shop unveils luxury new retail website
Premium drinks retailer The Whisky Shop has launched a luxury new retail website at www.whiskyshop.com, further raising the bar for whisky retailing across the globe.
The new digital platform has transported The Whisky Shop's bricks and mortar flagship store concept into the online world, offering a whisky journey of knowledge and discovery and creating an internet whisky buying experience that is luxurious, educational and accessible.
Whiskyshop.com provides a curated user experience, featuring magazine style, high quality imagery and cinematic videography to create a premium online shopping proposition.
Designed by The BIG Partnership, the luxe new look website benefits from superior functionality and navigation and presents information in an engaging and interactive format to demystify whisky, unlocking the mystery surrounding the spirit. It is designed to appeal to whisky novices and connoisseurs, leading them on a whisky journey of discovery and celebrating the heritage and craftsmanship of the product.
Whiskyshop.com showcases an unrivalled product collection of malts and blends from around the world and high quality brand communications and video content on special product releases which bring the products to life online, propelling whisky to a luxury status.
A whisky knowledge bar, video tastings and access to Distillery Managers, and the brand's award winning Whiskeria magazine at the touch of a button, are just some of the key features which position the site at the pinnacle of online drinks shopping destinations.
Andrew Torrance, Managing Director of The Whisky Shop, said: "Our vision for the new whiskyshop.com was to take online whisky retailing to a new level through providing an unprecedented level of knowledge to consumers in an accessible way, replicating the experience offered in our physical retail stores and unlocking the mystery of whisky. The visual and experiential quality of the website, including the brand-led videography and our whisky knowledge bar, have been designed with providing an interactive and engaging user experience at the forefront of mind."
The Whisky Shop recently won the 'Best Specialist Drinks Retailer of the Year' at the Harpers Awards 2014.
The Whisky Shop is the UK's largest whisky only specialist retailer with 22 stores nationwide and an online shop at www.whiskyshop.com
Hard To Find Whisky opens brand new luxury whisky store in Birmingham city centre
Hard To Find Whisky opened a brand new store in the historic Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, on Saturday 4th October. The first whisky shop of its kind in the UK, the store will offer 3,000 bottles of whisky on display and a range of innovative masterclasses in-store.
The store is located an easy ten minute walk from the city centre, New Street and Snow Hill Stations, or a two minute walk from the dedicated station in the Jewellery Quarter. There is parking right outside and comfortable seating inside, so everyone can really enjoy the HTFW experience.
Pop down between 10am and 6pm and have a dram with us during our opening day and take part in a blind tasting competition. If you are one of our first 50 customers, you'll receive a free gift with your purchase.
They also offer pre booked masterclasses.
Carntyne Transport invests over £3m in hybrid tankers
Carntyne Transport, a leading logistics provider to the Scottish Whisky Industry, has invested over £3m in the development and introduction of road tankers which comply with new government legislation. The legislation which will take effect in 2024 requires road tankers within the Scottish Whisky Industry to be operated from ground level. This is a significant transition as tankers operating within this area are traditionally top filled and operated from an upper gantry.
A number of whisky manufacturers have taken an early lead in converting or constructing as part of a new site, tanker loading and unloading areas that comply with the new legislation, which will continue through until the legislation takes effect in 2024.
Now Glasgow-based Carntyne Transport has assigned over £3m to hybrid tanks, an intermediary design which will accommodate both traditional top loading and the soon to be introduced bottom loading.
