Work begins on €25m distillery in Carlow

The first sod of a multi-million euro whiskey distillery which will produce six million bottles a year was turned yesterday. More than 55 jobs will be created with the development of the Walsh Whiskey Distillery and visitor centre at Royal Oak, Co Carlow.

Husband and wife team Bernard and Rosemary Walsh were delighted as work commenced on the €25 million project. “Royal Oak is such a wonderful place to produce Irish Whiskey,” said Mr Walsh.

“We’ll be putting down 16,000 oak barrels of whiskey a year and exporting a celebrated Irish product around the world.”

The distillery is to become operational in January 2016 when the first new-made spirit will flow at the state-of-the-art still house. However, three years and a day must pass before a spirit distilled in Ireland can be legally termed Irish whiskey, so it will be 2019 before the first case of Irish whiskey leaves the Carlow plant.

Yesterday’s sod-turning was officiated by Minister for Rural Affairs Ann Phelan.

“There’s huge excitement about the enterprise, employment and tourism potential of a project of this scale, and it’s a credit to Bernard and Rosemary’s hard work over the last 16-years,” she said.