Global Spirits Company Sazerac Hosts Hazelwood Community

Restoration of Historic House & Grounds, Capacity Expansion, and Creation of Irish Whiskey Homeplace in Future Plans

Hazelwood Demesne, on the shores of Lough Gill in County Sligo, this week hosted a series of informative events for a range of interested communities and organisations.

Hazelwood was acquired by global drinks company, Sazerac, in June 2022. Sazerac, one of the world’s largest distilled spirits companies, is owner of premium brands such as Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Paddy Irish Whiskey, Michael Collins Irish Whiskey, Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon, and Southern Comfort.

“Sazerac was delighted to open Hazelwood’s doors to the community and for us to spend time with so many community members,” said Mark Brown, president and CEO, Sazerac. “We are thrilled to have found such a wonderful home for our Irish whiskey business and to share information about the vision for the future of Hazelwood House and the distillery.”

L-R: Helen Mulholland, Master Blender, Lough Gill Distillery, Jeff Wadsworth, Chief Operating Officer, Sazerac, Elizabeth Wise, Head of Government Affairs, Minister Frank Feighan, TD, Brian Prewitt, Master Distillery and Operations Director, Sazerac, Chris Ritchie, Chief Global Business Officer, Sazerac,

Attending the event, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan commented, “As a TD for Sligo I am absolutely thrilled to hear about the exciting plans for Hazelwood and Lough Gill Distillery, this is such an exciting opportunity for the region and I want to congratulate the team at Sazerac on their plans for investment here in Sligo. I strongly believe that this project will be complemented with what our County of Sligo has to offer including top class hotels, restaurants, golf courses, tourist amenities and the superb scenery and destination Sligo is for so many visitors.”

Sligo County Council Cathaoirleach, Councillor Michael Clarke, CEO Martin Lydon and a number of Councillors also attended the events.

Guests at Hazelwood enjoyed a tour of the 300-year-old historic house as well as a preview of operations at the distillery, which has been making world-class whiskey since 2020.

Sazerac is known for taking historic sites such as its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky and its Sazerac House in New Orleans and restoring them to become world-class visitor centres. Sazerac’s plans for Sligo are to fully and lovingly restore Hazelwood House, expand the world-class whiskey distillery, create a best-in-class visitor attraction and to make Hazelwood Demesne one of the most important tourism centres in the West of Ireland.

Sazerac will also grow the scale of existing operations by increasing the distillery’s capacity, adding warehousing capacity and expanding production lines. The existing local distillery team have all joined the Sazerac family and it is expected that Sazerac will increase the number of team members after the expansion.

This is the first of a series of events to be hosted at the distillery, with subsequent events for the people of Sligo to visit Hazelwood to be announced in 2023.