Family-owned Bacardi has completed of several projects to improve efficiency and safety at its production sites across Scotland as it invests in the future and looks ahead to sustainable growth.
The company has added three new state-of-the-art aging warehouses at its 200-acre blending and maturation centre, Poniel, in southeast Glasgow which has increased capacity by over 15%, and at Aultmore Distillery in Speyside, a multi-million-pound expansion project was completed last month,
The improvement project at Aultmore has taken almost two years of planning and design, and includes a new Tun room, still house, boiler house and closed loop cooling tower as well as the use of Thermal Vapor Recompression (TVR) – technology which captures, compresses and reuses vapour in the distillation process. The new boiler will enable a switch to hydrogen fuel in the future – a move that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the distillery. .
Work has also been underway at Macduff Distillery, where site improvements lead to the overhaul the mashing equipment and the creation of a new air-conditioned control room, driving energy and water savings and enabling the implementation of high gravity mashing.
“Our investment in Aultmore and Macduff distilleries and our Poniel blending and maturation centre is an important step in the bold plans we have for our premium and ultra-premium whiskies,” said Keith Hogg, VP Supply Chain, Europe, Bacardi. “We are so proud of the exceptional quality of our award-winning Scotch whiskies and are investing in its growth for the long-term.”
The Bacardi portfolio of single malt whiskies includes AULTMORE®, ABERFELDY®, ROYAL BRACKLA®, THE DEVERON® and CRAIGELLACHIE®. The DEWAR’S ® brand is also part of the Bacardi portfolio and is the world’s most awarded blended scotch. A family-owned spirits company with more than 162 years of history, Bacardi has operated five distilleries across Scotland – Aultmore, Aberfeldy, Royal Brackla, Craigellachie, and Macduff – for more than 25 years.