Brown-Forman Buys Slane Castle

By Richard Thomas

Brown-Forman, the American drinks corporation that owns Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, announced yesterday that it had bought Irish whiskey brand Slane Castle and would invest $50 million in building Slane Castle’s planned distillery.

Slane Castle, based at and named for the property that hosts a famed concert venue, was one of the independent Irish bottlers left out in the cold when Beam Global bought the Cooley Distillery in early 2012. I met with Slane Castle representatives in Novmber 2014 to discuss their distillery building plans, and at that time the post-Cooley sourcing difficulties had left Slane Castle in limbo.

Last year Slane Castle had ambitious plans and a lovely site for a distillery, but at the time the financing for the project appeared incomplete. With Brown-Forman clearly intent on buying into the booming Irish whiskey sector, the Slane Castle Distillery is now slated for completion in late 2016.