Halewood opens £5m vodka distillery in Russia

Uk-based Halewood Artisanal Spirits, formerly Halewood Wines & Spirits, has opened a new £5 million ($6.5 million) distillery in Russia to produce JJ Whitley vodka.

A new JJ Whitley Russian distillery in St Petersburg has opened to "further enhance the sourcing and quality of JJ Whitley's portfolio".

The company, which makes Whitley Neill Gin and Crabbie's Scotch, also changed its name from Halewood Wines & Spirits to Halewood Artisanal Spirits. The move is said to reflect its "continued focus on developing a premium artisanal foreign wine portfolio". New wineries in Russia are also in line with this strategy.

The JJ Whitley range will now be produced and bottled at the distillery and sold in key markets around the world, including the UK and Russia. The new liquid will be launched this month. The plant will also produce the company's Red Square vodka brand.

The JJ Whitley collection includes JJ Whitley Artisanal Russian Vodka, flavored variations such as vanilla and Blood orange, and a toffee-based Vodka liqueur.

Halewood said the new plant will use water from local Wells 160 meters deep, where layers of Cambrian clay have protected the water from impurities for centuries. The water is then filtered through four stages in a distillery.

Big step forward

Stewart Hainsworth, group chief executive of Halewood Artisanal Spirits, said the new distillery "marks a major step forward in the company's foreign wine offerings".

"It allows us to offer real, authentic wines," he says. It allows us to offer a truly authentic vodka distilled from high quality Russian grains and water in one of Russia's most historic cities. JJ Whitley is now well placed to deliver a premium range of vodka to supermarkets, convenience stores and floor traders to meet this demand for quality and value."

The facility is the 13th distillery operated by Halewood and claims to be the first British-owned vodka distillery in Russia.

Halewood operates a number of wineries around the world, including Ironbark in Sydney, Australia, and a base in South Africa.

In the UK, Halewood operates the Aber Falls Distillery in North Wales, the City of London and Marylebone distilleries in London, the Liverpool Gold Distillery, Crabbie Distillery in Edinburgh, Bankhall Distillery in Blackpool and the Bristol and Bath Rum Distilleries.

Ahead of the opening of the new Russian distillery, Halewood announced plans to close its headquarters in Huyton, near Liverpool. The company will also make some additional voluntary redundancies due to the coronavirus.

In April, the company said it would close its Us subsidiary in Miami after less than a year of operation and would scale back its Australian operations.