Echlinville Distillery plans £9 million expansion

Northern Ireland’s Echlinville Distillery will invest more than £9 million (US$11.7m) to expand its site and grow its brands globally.

Established in 2012, the Echlinville Distillery in Kircubbin became Northern Ireland’s first licensed distillery in more than 125 years.

The site plans to increase production capacity, develop a new visitor centre and grow its Irish whiskey and gin brands globally. The distillery produces Dunville’s Irish whiskey, Jawbox Gin, Echlinville single pot still gin and Bán Poitín.

Government agency Invest Northern Ireland has provided Echlinville with £659,000 (US$857,500) to fund the purchase of new equipment and extend its storage facilities to meet anticipated demand for its products.

Shane Braniff, owner of Echlinville Distillery, said: “This investment will help us to substantially increase our production capacity and grow our export sales tenfold over the next five years. We are adding capacity in distillation, bottling, labelling, storage and brand development, all of which are key to further establishing our brands in major international markets including Russia and the US.”

The project will also create 36 jobs across operational, administrative and visitor centre roles, which will contribute more than £1m (US$1.3m) of additional annual salaries for the Northern Ireland economy.

Invest Northern Ireland’s CEO, Kevin Holland, said: “Since establishing in 2012, Echlinville Distillery has developed a number of well-established brands, which are making their mark on the international whiskey and gin market.

“This investment will enable it to grow further and develop its portfolio of award-winning products. With an emphasis on brand development, it will also drive growth in global sales of its premium and ultra-premium Irish whiskey and gin.

“It is impressive to see a company in such a short period of time scale so quickly. We have assisted its trade activities, recently supporting it to secure a distribution agreement in Canada. The company’s Dunville whiskey is now on the shelves of almost 900 stores across Canada.

“Our partnership approach is clearly working and I look forward to seeing Echlinville’s export ambitions continuing to reap rewards.”

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Author: Nicola Carruthers