Hazelwood House and Lough Gill Distillery bought by US Drinks Firm

I heard the news this week that Lough Gill Distillery has been bought by The Sazerac Company, I didn’t really look into the details, but I was driving along this morning and listening to Claire Ronan’s ‘Up and Running show on Ocean FM and it really got me interested.

Claire was talking to Helen Mulholland from Sazerac, and Helen sounds so passionate about the venture, and I was delighted to hear that they are committed to renovating Hazelwood House. You can hear Claire’s show here. Sazerac have a number of distilleries all over the world, and they own over 450 well known drinks brands, including Paddy’s Irish Whiskey. Read more about the company here: https://www.sazerac.com/

Back in early 2015 I got to have a look around the house, I’ve seen some posts of people who were invited there this year and I’d love to revisit it, but for now I’ll share my 2015 photos.

The house was built in the 1700’s and was owned by the Wynne family. It was also used as a military barracks and even a psychiatric hospital. In 1969 a company bought the house and built the factory in the ‘back garden’ of Hazelwood House. The factory closed in 2006. There was a plan to build houses and apartments on the land by a development company in 2009 but this never happened.

David Raethorne bought the property in 2015 and a lot of work has been done, including the beginning of the Lough Gill Distillery, and the production of Athrú Whiskey. You can read all about it here: https://www.athru.com/

I loved my look around the house, it’s a very special place and I look forward to seeing the developments and hopefully getting to look around it in the future. Wishing Sazerac the very best of luck and a warm welcome to Sligo.