FDBusiness.com

Diageo has officially opened its new Eur169 million brewing centre of excellence at its historic St James’s Gate site in Dublin, where all Irish beer production has now been consolidated. With current annual output of about 7 million hectolitres of beer, the modernised St James’s Gate Brewery is core to supporting the growth and development of Diageo’s global beer business and its flagship Guinness stout brand.

The rejuvenation programme at the St James’s Gate Brewery has entailed the creation of a new brewhouse, the construction of a new grain intake building and associated silos, an extension of the existing fermentation plant to the southwest of the new brewery and the associated expansion of utilities generation and distribution. About 40% of the total investment was spent on the new brewing facilities and about 35% on new fermentation vessels to handle the additional capacity.

The new state-of-the-art brewhouse incorporates three brew streams with a total capacity of 8 million hectolitres per annum. It is the world’s largest stout brewhouse, capable of producing 300,000 pints in every two hour brew.

The brewhouse building will also house a Guinness Flavour Essence plant to produce concentrate for the brewing of Guinness in over 50 countries across the globe. This concentrate, the basis of which is roasted barley, is used to impart the distinctive colour and flavour of Guinness in overseas markets where the brand is produced locally.

The overall brewery output is currently 7 million hectolitres of beer annually, the new brewhouse has expanded the capacity of the St James’s Gate site by about 40%. Guinness stout is the main product, with about 5 million hectolitres due to be produced annually along with 1.5 million hectolitres of lager and 0.5 million hectolitres of ale. In addition to Guinness, the enlarged Dublin brewery also produces Carlsberg, Budweiser, Harp and Satzenbrau lagers along with Smithwick’s and Kilkenny ales. Some 70% of the brewery’s output is exported.