Pernod Ricard’s Irish whiskey arm, Irish Distillers, has announced it will pause production at its Midleton Distillery from April 2025.

Midleton Distillery is home to whiskey brands including Jameson, Redbreast, Midleton Very Rare, Powers, the Spot Whiskeys, Method and Madness and Knappogue Castle.

The move follows Diageo pausing whisky production at its Lebanon Distillery in the United States on 7 March and Brown-Forman announcing in late January that it was pausing production at Scottish distillery Glenglassaugh.

An Irish Distillers spokesperson said: “Irish Distillers can confirm that Midleton Distillery is adjusting its production schedule for a routine, periodic review.

“This review demonstrates our ability to be agile with our production cycles and has been enabled through improved operational efficiency and state-of-the-art production facilities.

“The distillery will temporarily pause production in early April 2025 and will recommence in the summer to support the sustainable global growth of its portfolio of Irish whiskeys.

“We remain fully committed to the production of Irish whiskey at Midleton Distillery and have communicated this adjustment to our staff, suppliers, customers and contractors to enable forward business planning.”

The announcement follows Irish Distillers revealing plans in late January to honour the 200-year distilling heritage of Midleton Distillery with a schedule of celebratory whiskey launches and events throughout 2025.

The distillery was first acquired by the Murphy family in 1825, eventually becoming part of the Cork Distilleries Company following the amalgamation of local distilleries in 1867. In 1966, the Cork Distilleries Company merged with John Power & Son and John Jameson & Son to form Irish Distillers and in 1975 the Midleton site was expanded to facilitate the move of the two famous Irish whiskey distilling houses to their new home.

Throughout the year, pivotal labels in the distillery’s history will be brought to life digitally and visually on Irish Distillers social channels.

The year will also see the release of the much-anticipated sixth and final chapter of the Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection, Ireland’s rarest and oldest ever whiskey collection.

Beginning in 2020 the distillery began to release one chapter annually over six years to culminate in 2025, to coincide with the 200^th anniversary of the foundation of the legendary Old Midleton Distillery, an intrinsic part of the distillery’s history, which operated from 1825-1975.

The final release, Chapter Six, a 50-year-old expression from this collection, ranging in age from 45 to 50 years old, will yield the very last drops of this inimitable spirit from Old Midleton Distillery before the distillery went silent forever.

Irish Distillers CEO Nodjame Fouad said: “As we look to the future, and in the 200^th year of Midleton Distillery, we want to pay tribute to our rich distilling tradition by celebrating our home, our history, our people, our brands and our craft. In the coming year, we will celebrate 200 years of distilling tradition by sharing what it means to us – we look forward to bringing you on a journey over 200 years with us and to celebrating many more milestones and memories in Midleton in the future.”

The Spirits Business said: “Although both Pernod Ricard and Diageo cited an increase in production efficiency as the reason for the halt, the pauses seem to suggest supply is exceeding demand across spirits firms in all three major whisky nations.”