Two Stacks opens new whiskey blending plant in Newry

By SAM BUTLER

Two Stacks Whiskey has opened a new bonding, blending and bottling site just outside Newry.

The 6,000 sq ft facility is the first of its kind in Newry in over a century. The launch saw the introduction of several new whiskeys.

Aiming to revive a tradition of independent bonding, blending, and bottling once commonplace across Ireland, the team at Two Stacks celebrated the opening in style.

The new facility champions sustainability, including solar panels running the electric fleet of machinery on site, and the only 100ml canning line of its kind in Europe, producing a range of premium Two Stacks whiskey in light weight 100ml cans.

The site also has car charging facilities that allow staff to charge their fully electrical vehicles for free and was recently awarded ‘Sustain-A-Mark’ from global experts Bureau Veritas for its innovative build quality of storage and distribution facilities within the whiskey industry.

“The vision was a combination of ideas from a group of close friends that wish to put their own mark in the new chapter of Irish whiskey” says co-founder Shane McCarthy.

“We have a lot of thanks to give to our incredible designer Johnny Lloyd, and local engineering talents at Walcon in Banbridge, and 4Corners signage that helped us immensely in pulling this all together in such a quick time period.”

The celebration was a great opportunity to showcase some incredible local talent in the Newry area.

This included the unveiling of a mural depicting the origins of the Two Stacks logo by local artist Frankie Bannon from Studio 23.

The 80-plus guests were treated to delicious local food from Finnegan & Sons and entertained by a brilliant set from musician Darrah McSloy.

The opening is the beginning of another big chapter for Two Stacks Whiskey, which now sees its products being exported to more than 25 countries, including into over 30 US states.

“We look forward to welcoming many global guests and whiskey fans to the new site and continuing to push the boundaries within Irish whiskey,” said Shane.

“Two Stacks Dram in A Can is an environmentally friendly take on the classic whiskey miniatures.

“We have taken a bold step in trying to offer premium Irish whiskey in more accessible packaging formats, leading us to be the first in packaging Two Stacks 43 per cent single malt in 100ml can.

“This is the exact same whiskey in the 700ml bottles of 40 per cent Double Malt, 50 per cent triple distilled malt, 10 per cent peated malt with a RRP of €7 per can.”