Diageo officially opens new Dublin brewery
Diageo’s long saga of building a brewery in Ireland drew to a close on 10 September 2014 when it opened its new EUR 169 million state-of-the-art brewery at its old site at St James’s Gate in Dublin.
The plant, dubbed the “biggest stout brewery in the world”, will produce approximately 6 million hl beer a year, most of which will be exported.
Speaking at the opening of Brewhouse No. 4, Diageo’s CEO Ivan Menezes described it as a great day for Diageo and for Guinness. He said the new brewery, which consolidates all brewing by the company in Ireland, as evidence of Diageo’s commitment to Ireland.
“This is only the fourth brewhouse to be built on this site and it marks an exciting new chapter in the 255-year-old history of the Guinness brewery in Dublin,” he said.
Prior to the development of Brewhouse No. 4, Diageo had planned a EUR 650 million investment to overhaul its brewing activities in Ireland. Part of the masterplan was to build a new super brewery outside Dublin and sell part of the St James’s Gate site to developers. However, this scheme was shelved as a result of Ireland’s financial crisis and a steep decline in Dublin’s property value.
The creation of the new brewery on the old site was first announced in 2012 when Diageo said it would close its plants in Kilkenny and Dundalk, with the loss of 100 jobs. The two breweries manufactured Smithwick’s, Kilkenny Ale, Budweiser and Harp Lager.
Mr Menezes said that Ireland’s business friendly environment was a key factor in persuading the company to invest in the new brewery. Nonetheless, he added that steps need to be taken in terms of excise on alcohol, which he claimed was extreme compared to other European countries.
“I’m not happy with the excise environment in Ireland; it has gone way too high. We need to address this and create a more competitive environment,” he said.
Diageo was the leading player in beer in Ireland in 2013 with a 44 percent volume share, according to Euromonitor. Heineken had a 28 percent share. Beer consumption declined 3.2 percent to 4.21 million hl in 2013.
Mr Menezes also said the company was working to increase sales of Guinness, both here and overseas, with the introduction of new products such as Dublin Porter and Guinness Blonde, which have been developed for the U.S. market.
