Expansion plans at Midleton

[JohnM]

There'll be a special on whiskycast.com this week about Midleton... Mark Gillespie will discuss the expansion plans, the warehousing anyway.

Here's a link with a picture of the stills.

I wonder if a NEWS section would be useful on the forum?

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Another picture of the stills in this article....

http://www.independent.ie/business/iris ... 17948.html

[JohnM]

http://www.whiskycast.com/files/WhiskyCast_20100919.mp3

[JohnM]

Interesting about the experimental pot still at the plant...

[JohnM]

Also revealed in the podcast... Possibly a new Midleton in spring 2011. Very interesting.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Some excellent news in there... a long interview though the total podcast is 67mins long.

A New Jameson Select Reserve is on the way. And as john says possibly a new Midleton expression.

I'll try to briefly summerise.

Midleton is currently pretty much at capacity.

Expansion to Warehousing as widely reported but hints at expansion of the Distillery too.

5 large potstills (2 Wash 3 Feints, I think, and I believe I saw a picture of 1 which says 762 h litres (h for hecto maybe) and 7 grain stills and a single but smaller pot still for testing called Mickey's Belly

Jameson has just hit 3million case sales per annum ... that is 36 million bottles.
This is from 2million in 2006 and 1million in 1996

24% growth in the US this year and Jameson has hit 1million case sales there alone.

In total they bottle over 40+ million bottles of whiskey every year (not sure if that includes Tullamore as I believe Tullamore sells circa 600,000 per year currently but)

They Fill over 1000 barrels a day. They import over 100,000 bourbon barrels every year.

A high percentage usage of First fill bourbon casks are used on grain.

They use over 45 different barrel types.

Including Bourbon, Sherry, Port, Maderia & Marsala (Sicily).

Their wine cask selection is a very percise process. IDL actually commission the casks from scratch. The wood is chosen 2 years in advance and air dried before any cask is actually made. Then they are shipped to various bodegas and winerys where they mature their wine products from 2-4 years. (i.e. port matured for 2 years and sherry matured for 4years. this means that they have up to a 6 year lead in time before they even put spirit into a cask.

Just to give an example this means there is over a 21year lead in time for building up reserves for Redbreast 15yo

Over all a very interesting report from mark gillespie and there is also talk on the distilation, cuts etc, raw spirit maturation i.e. PPS matured in bourbon and sherry. A small bit on the history of the place too.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Really enjoyed this podcast, very interesting and worth the listen. Starts about 8:35 in and finishes around 1:06:10, nearly a whole hour!!!!

The stats are incredible, filling a 1,000 barrels a day, 100,000 bourbon casks each year, the dedication to quality is a testament to everyone involved and something they should shout a bit louder about. Imagine almost 4 years from selecting the wood for example in a sherry cask to finally having them filled onsite.

The only other distillery that goes to such lengths to my knowledge is Glenmorangie.

Interesting to note that the bourbon select casks are filled as soon as possible after arriving from the US, incredible supply side logistics.

Operating at full capacity for a while now, increases have been achieved by streamlining 'production' lines. Expect that the still house will need to be expanded in the next four years.

Whiskycast rated Greenspot, Redbreast 15yo & the (Midleton) Distillery Reserve 12yo very highly.

Referred to what sounds like two new bottlings (1) Jameson Select Reserve? due soon (2) Sample F which may be launched under the Midleton brand in Spring 2011.

Fantastic to hear about the success of Ireland's greatest distillery, with exciting developments to come.
Great to be around for Irish Whiskey's second Golden Age.

[JohnM]

The distillery reserve has some port character, which I never knew. Or maybe that was just a taste observation.