Diageo is the latest distiller to announce a pause in production and barrel filling at one of its facilities, with its Lebanon Distillery in Kentucky calling a halt until June 2025.

The distillery, which produces Bulleit, opened in 2021 and operates using 100% renewable electricity and zero fossil fuels for production.

The Diageo 72,000 square-foot Kentucky facility has the capacity to produce up to 10 million proof gallons per year

A Diageo spokesperson said: “Every year we run standard temporary slowdowns or shutdowns across our operations to support our efficiency and productivity goals.

“Since we are ahead of schedule with the volume we produce at the site, this year we decided to temporarily pause our distilling operations and barrel-filling activity through June 2025.

“During this time, some of our employees will support work at our Shelbyville facility while the remaining group of employees will work on strategic projects, conduct trainings to continue building capabilities and maintenance processes to position our sites for a successful start of our next fiscal year.”

The announcement follows Pernod Ricard’s Irish whiskey arm, Irish Distillers, announcing it will pause production at its Midleton Distillery from April 2025 and Brown-Forman announcing in late January that it was pausing production at Scottish distillery Glenglassaugh.