FDBusiness.com

Diageo has officially opened the first new cooperage to be built in Scotland for decades. The new Diageo Cambus Cooperage near Alloa has been custom designed in close co-operation with the company’s coopers, drawing on generations of skill, craft and experience and combining it with the state-of-the-art British engineering – never before used in a cooperage.

The new cooperage will craft around 250,000 casks each year – all of which will be used to mature Scotch whisky for Diageo’s world leading brands, such as Johnnie Walker, Bell’s and J&B Rare. The technology in the cooperage was developed by CI Logisitics, a Leicester-based engineering firm which works mainly with the car industry.

Richard Bedford, Diageo’s grain distilling director, who was responsible for the Cambus Cooperage project, says the increase in demand for Diageo’s world-leading Scotch whisky brands meant the new cooperage was a key part of the company’s overall investment programme for growing its production capacity in Scotland.

He comments: “The demand for Scotch whisky is growing around the world, particularly in the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America. To meet that increasing demand Diageo is investing in growing Scotch whisky production capacity acrossS cotland. That means we need more casks than ever before, so the new Cambus Cooperage is a key part of the future success of our Scotch whisky brands.”

Scotland is one of Diageo’s largest spirit supply centres responsible for producing nearly 50 million cases of leading brands of Scotch whisky and white spirits and over four million cases of ready-to-drink brands annually. Around 85% of Diageo’s brands produced in Scotland are sold overseas.