Trevor Jackson, Chief Executive of Jackson Distillers, has announced the appointments of David Brown as Commercial Director, Tommy Leigh as Operations Director and Nick Laird as Deputy CEO.
They will help steer the pioneering project through to full production at the proposed plant at Charlesfield, St Boswells after planning consent to build a new 20m LPA grain distillery was granted by Scottish Borders Council at the end of 2021. The construction phase will create 200 jobs, with 20 full-time positions once the Distillery is operational.
David Brown, is a familiar face in the Scotch Whisky industry, having held senior positions at Allied Domecq and Whyte & Mackay before becoming Managing Director of John Crabbie & Co in 2018. He has been involved in several new distillery build projects in Glasgow and Edinburgh and regularly features as a judge at the Scottish Whisky awards.
Tommy Leigh has worked in the Scotch Whisky Industry for over 40 years, 37 of those with the North British Distillery, latterly as Production Director, responsible for all production, engineering, compliance, quality and safety. As a Scotch Whisky Environmental Strategy Group member, Leigh was part of the team who developed and launched Scotland’s first sector-wide sustainability strategy.
Nick Laird, a highly experienced Managing Director and Non-Executive Director, has worked across the automotive and technology-enabled businesses for more than 30 years providing growth and commercial investment expertise.
David Brown, Commercial Director, Jackson Distillers, said, “Having worked with some of Scotland’s best known spirits brands, I am looking forward to working with the next generation of distilleries, creating innovative and environmentally sustainable products that are going to carry the industry into the next century.”
Tommy Leigh, Operations Director, said of his appointment, “The St Boswells Distillery will be the first carbon absorbing distillery in Scotland capable of producing grain spirit for scotch whisky and grain neutral spirit, and I am excited to have the opportunity to be at the forefront of its development. There is a gap in the market for low carbon and fully traceable spirit and being able to fill that gap not only supports our own business but helps to bolster the sector as a whole.”
Nick Laird, Deputy Chief Executive Jackson Distillers, commented, “Jackson Distillers is at a pivotal point in its development. I am thrilled to help drive the organisation from proposal to production. Once built, it is anticipated the St Boswells Distillery will produce 5% of the total market volume of grain whisky spirit, providing a substantial return on investment for its shareholders and supporting the wider sector in a resource-efficient manner.”
Trevor Jackson, Chief Executive, Jackson Distillers, added, “The St Boswells Distillery is set to be a gamechanger for the sector, and I think the calibre of the talent we have been able to attract to our Senior Management Team is a testament to that. I am looking forward to working with David, Tommy and Nick to drive forward the next phase of this transformative, innovative and sustainable project.”
The site will take high-quality local cereals from the Tweed valley and process them efficiently and sustainably with renewable energy into high-quality spirit. The cereals, once spent, will be passed to the adjacent anaerobic digestion plant, where they will be converted into methane, with the remaining material being used as soil conditioner for the crops. In addition, process water from an on-site bore-hole will be efficiently recycled to minimise the use of this important resource.
The Distillery intends to add value to locally-grown cereals using up-to-date distilling technology, adding to the circular economy, maximising recycling, reducing carbon emissions with zero waste to landfill. The cereals will be tracked from the seedbed to the still and beyond so that the customer can be confident of the provenance of the spirit.
