Chivas Brothers investing £88m into two distilleries

£88m is being invested by Chivas Brothers into two of their whisky distilleries in Speyside.

Chivas Brothers will be pumping the money into its Aberlour and Miltonduff distilleries, two of their strategic single malt facilities, with the company set to upgrade to sustainable distillation technologies alongside a significant boost in capacity.

The total capacity should increase by 14 million litres every year. Chivas hopes that it will be able to meet the increasing demand for Scotch in the global market. Exports have currently seen a notable increase in Asia, Africa and South America. 

speyside distillery

Statements from Chivas Brothers

Chairman and Chief Executive of Chivas Brothers, Jean-Etienne Gourgues, said: “Scotch has demonstrated its resilience as a category over the past few challenging years and in the process has opened new avenues for growth.”

He hopes, “This expansion will allow us to increase our volume to capitalise on the increased demand and interest in Scotch, but also supports our drive to reduce emissions in line with our sustainability ambitions.

Renovations and innovations 

All changes to both distilleries are expected to be complete by mid-2025. The Aberlour distillery is expecting to increase its production capacity by 7.8 million litres a year. Additionally, there will be renovations taking place to the visitor centre. They hope this will increase tourist attraction to the site and make it a popular destination for whisky connoisseurs. 

Miltonduff will focus on innovating with a new sustainable facility being built next door to the old one. The distillery will include a bio plant and evaporator. They expect it to increase production by 10 million litres per year.

Chivas-carbon neutral aims 

In its half-year results in February, Chivas Brothers announced a net sales increase of 23%, which saw it climb beyond sales set before the coronavirus lockdowns. With the demand for whisky continuously growing, Chivas want to invest money so they can proudly state that their distillation is carbon neutral. Their goal is to reach this point by 2026.

This is rather exciting news as it’s not the first case of whisky businesses looking to become fully sustainable. Back in September of last year, Diageo introduced its first carbon-neutral distillery. We can only imagine more businesses will be proudly following this trend.

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