When finished, Lough Gill Distillery hopes to welcome up to 150,000 visitors annually and will create a homeplace for Sazerac’s Irish whiskeys, Paddy and Michael Collins.
It also plans to significantly grow the footprint of Lough Gill Distillery through increasing the distillery’s capacity, adding warehousing capacity and expanding production and bottling lines.
As part of the acquisition, Sazerac will continue the development of the new Athrú whiskey brand, including global distribution.
David Raethorne, founder of the Lough Gill Distillery, said the deal is a major announcement for Sligo and a vote of confidence in the potential for Sligo to become a major player in the booming global Irish whiskey market.
Mark Brown, president and chief executive officer of Sazerac, said that with its rich history of distilling and storytelling, Ireland is an ideal homeplace for the company’s whiskey business to flourish.
Lough Gill Distillery also announced that former Bushmills Master Blender, Helen Mulholland, is joining the team in Sligo.
In 2018, Helen became the first woman to be inducted into the International Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame and has recently become the first woman to receive a Chairman’s Award for her outstanding contribution to the development of the Irish whiskey industry.
