Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Raising spirits
£15million distillery to create 42 jobs with plans for visitors’ centre, cafe, restaurant & event space
A BUSINESSMAN is the toast of Northern Ireland after creating 42 jobs in his new distillery.
Dr Terry Cross has invested £15million in the project to produce his Craft Hinch Irish Whiskey and Ninth Wave Gin.
And the distillery – between Belfast and Ballynahinch, Co Down – will be open to the public with a visitors’ centre, cafe, restaurant and event spaces.
Dr Cross said: “Irish whiskey has continually been the fastest growing spirit category in the world over the last 10 years, nearly trebling in size.
“This trend is forecast to continue in the future with Irish whiskey beginning to approach and indeed overtake sales of Scotch in many international markets.
“The world gin market has also witnessed phenomenal growth in the last few years yet still has huge potential to grow in markets where gin is still a relatively small category.
“We are launching the Hinch Distillery to provide visitors with a highly differentiated product and experience that couples the production of our quality spirits with a story and heritage.
“We hope it will become an attraction in its own right and offer guests a real understanding of the skills and methods needed to produce our spirits.”
Invest Northern Ireland has offered £1.9million of support towards the construction of the new distillery and investment in plant, machinery and equipment.
The project is set to create 42 new jobs over the next five years.
Once in place, they will generate nearly £1.3million in additional annual salaries for the Northern Ireland economy.
The distillery, which is due to be completed between spring and early summer 2020, will span two floors which will house the large Irish whiskey and gin distillery, bottling line, storage facilities and offices.
The visitor centre will include a coffee shop, restaurant, pub, outside courtyard space, multipurpose events spaces catering for weddings to corporate events and a retail shop, merchandising an extensive range of distillery products.
Guides will bring visitors on an interactive and informative journey that gives insight to both the history of Irish whiskey and its unique distilling process with tutored tasting at the conclusion of the tour.
It will allow visitors to both learn
YESTERDAY about the skills and methods involved in producing fine Irish gin and at the same time produce their very own individual gin recipe which will be bottled for them to take away at the end of the tour. Designed by Drinksology, the name behind the interior of the Dead Rabbit and Blacktail Bars in New York, Hinch Distillery will use local materials and artisan craftsmen to ensure the project is a real celebration of the best which can be produced here.
It represents a huge investment from Dr Cross who is keen to grow his share of the global Irish whiskey and gin markets.
He is no stranger to the drinks industry having rescued Chateau de La Ligne, a Bordeaux vineyard, over 20 years ago and restoring it to its former glory.
The world gin market still has got huge potential to grow
DR TERRY CROSS