Brown-Forman pauses production at Slane Irish whiskey distillery

Brown-Forman has paused production at its Slane Irish Whiskey distillery in County Meath, Ireland.

When approached by Just Drinks on the matter, Slane said: "The pause is a planned adjustment to our operational schedules.

"Demand planning and production forecasting are critical parts of our business and it is standard practice to adjust production to align with market conditions.

"We have a robust supply of maturing whiskey, ensuring there will be no interruption in the availability of Slane for our consumers worldwide."

Just Drinks has asked the Irish whiskey maker and its parent Brown-Forman to confirm when the site is expected to resume production and whether any jobs are to be cut as a result of the move.

A LinkedIn post from Slane employee Alan Buckley, shared by the Robb Report, suggests that production is being paused for several years.

"Following Brown-Forman's recent decision to pause production at Slane Distillery for the next number of years, my role is unfortunately being made redundant," Buckley said.

Slane was founded in 2009 by father and son Henry and Alex Conyngham. Brown-Forman then signed a deal to buy Slane, then known as Slane Castle Irish Whiskey, in 2015.

The distillery is best known for its Triple Casked blended Irish whiskey.

Bord Bia figures showed the value of Irish whiskey export sales fell 5% last year amid a tough trading climate for the category, especially in the US.

Exports were valued at €930m ($1.08bn) in 2025 and accounted for 45% of total drinks shipments from the country, according to data issued by the Irish food-and-drinks state agency.

“The global whiskey market faced a challenging year, especially in the US, where Irish whiskey exports declined by 5%,” Bord Bia said in its report at the time.

"Stocks were built up in late 2024 and the first half of 2025 in anticipation of tariffs, which were implemented in August 2025. This situation, combined with a 12% devaluation of the US dollar, made trading into the US challenging as the year progressed.”

In Brown-Forman's full-year results, issued in March, the company's whiskey net sales (which encompass "all whiskey spirits and whiskey-based flavored liqueurs") grew 2% on a reported basis and 1% organically year on year.

When it came to volumes, the group's whiskey depletions were down 1% to 16.2 million nine-litre cases while shipments were up 1% at 16.3 million nine-litre cases.

"Brown-Forman pauses production at Slane Irish whiskey distillery" was originally created and published by Just Drinks, a GlobalData owned brand.

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