Diageo is selling so much Guinness right now that it needs a new brewery

DIAGEO HAS TODAY opened a new €300 million brewery in Littleconnell, Co Kildare, and there are plans to open a second brewery, which will produce Guinness, on the site shortly.

The enterprise has so far created 54 new jobs.

Any beer brewed on the site will be exported to “new markets”. St James’s Gate in Dublin 8 will continue to be the only brewery that supplies Ireland, the UK and North America.

Colin O’Brien, Diageo’s head of global beer supply, told RTÉ that the relatively small workforce is due to much of the processes at the brewery being automated.

The Kildare brewery was initially earmarked for the production of Diageo’s lager and ales, including Rockshore, Harp, Hop House 13, Smithwick’s, Kilkenny and Carlsberg.

After getting planning permission to double the site’s capacity, the site will soon also produce Guinness and Guinness 0.0 for emerging markets.

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The second brewery, “Brewery 2″, is to create a further 30 to 40 permanent jobs, O’Brien said. It will be built over the next three years.

Net sales of Guinness declined by 9.4% in the first quarter of the year. However, total net sales worldwide increased by 2.3%. O’Brien says they’re “really confident” that the new brewery in Kildare will “support that growth”.

“The new brewery will also be highly automated and highly efficient,” he said.

Built in under 18 months, the brewery is on a 40‑acre site and is powered by 100% renewable electricity.

As part of a near €1 billion investment between 2020 and 2029, Diageo has already completed work at St James’s Gate and its Belfast packaging site to increase capacity, including for Guinness 0.0, its non-alcoholic beer. 

Taoiseach, Micheál Martin officially opened the Littleconnell brewery today. He said it is “a powerful vote of confidence in Ireland and in our future as a world‑leading, sustainable food and drink exporter”.

“This landmark facility forms part of Diageo’s near €1 billion investment in Ireland between 2020 and 2029, underlining the central role Ireland plays within the company’s global brewing network and highlighting the strength of our agri‑food and drinks sector on the international stage,” he said.

“By choosing to invest at this scale in Ireland and to lead the way in next-generation, low-carbon brewing, Diageo is supporting skilled jobs, regional development and export growth, while helping Ireland advance its climate ambitions through innovation.”

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