ARDGOWAN Distillery has hired Scotch whisky veteran David Keir to a senior post as work begins on its £20 million “cathedral of whisky” in Inverclyde.
Mr Keir arrives at the company with more than 25 years’ experience of building premium spirits brands, including Bruichladdich, and The GlenDronach. He was a founding director of The GlenAllachie Distillers Company, the Speyside single malt producer owned by Scotch whisky veteran Billy Walker.
The net-zero designed Ardgowan Distillery, which will restore whisky making to Inverclyde for the first time since the Second World War, is due to become operational in 2024.
Mr Keir, who has been appointed as sales and marketing director, said: “With construction now under way, it is great to be joining the company at such an integral stage of the project.
“As we wait for Ardgowan Single Malt to come of age I look forward to working with the team and developing our existing multi-award-winning brands; Clydebuilt & Inverdarach. Growing Ardgowan Distillery’s existing network of distributors across select global markets will be a priority, with positive discussions already under way with potential partners in the USA, Asia, and Europe.
“Our UK home market is also very important. Specialist retailers have had a challenging time of late and the recent duty increase has added to this. However they perform a crucial role for emerging brands like Ardgowan Distillery and for discerning consumers who like to seek out something a little different. I’ll be focused on building a strong route to market with these retailers, supporting them wherever we can.”
Mr Keir is the latest industry stalwart to join Ardgowan, which is based near Inverkip. The team includes ex-Macallan master of woods Stuart Macpherson, and master whisky maker Max McFarlane, formerly lead whisky maker at Edrington who has more than 40 years’ industry experience.
The distillery also boosted its sales team with the appointment of Claire Stewart, previously of Chivas Brothers, as customer service and production manager.
Chief executive Martin McAdam said: “David comes to us with a fantastic background, bolstering everything we do. Having a portfolio of experience as extensive and successful as David’s, we look forward to utilising his skills to help position Ardgowan at the forefront of the Scotch whisky industry.”
As part of its plans to deliver carbon-neutral spirit, Ardgowan has partnered with Heriot Watt University and engineers Briggs of Burton to develop technology to capture all of the CO2 in its fermentation process and transform it into green biomethane. It is understood that this technique has never been used at a Scottish whisky distillery before.
Ardgowan expects the distillery to create nearly 50 jobs for the local area on completion. It will have the capacity to produce one million litres of spirit per year.
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