American Whiskey
American whiskey is an extremely vibrant spirits category. During the year we further bolstered the strong growth of our premium American whiskey portfolio by announcing plans for a new €238 million ($250 million) distillery and visitor’s centre for our fast-growing Jefferson’s Bourbon brand.
As well as the distillery, the state-of-the-art facilities will include new ageing warehouses and a visitor centre. The investment will allow us to grow our share of category sales not only in the US, but also in export markets - and to do so in the most sustainable way possible.
US whiskey sales are expected to account for a significant amount of Pernod Ricard USA’s total volume growth within the next 5-10 years, and the US whiskey export business also has enormous growth potential. To achieve these ambitious performance goals, our new production facilities will be focused on pushing boundaries rather than adhering strictly to tradition.”
The distillery, which will be carbon neutral once operational, is expected to be the first distillery of its size in the US to achieve LEED certification, an internationally recognised sustainability framework for healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving environmentally friendly buildings. The distillery and warehouses will include low carbon technologies such as electrode boilers powered by certified renewable electricity, removing the need to use fossil fuels during bourbon production.
Read more about what’s happening in our US market on pages 46-47.