Work is due to commence later this year with first spirit in 2023.
The announcement has been made following £8.4 million of investment into the business, £7.2 million of which comes from Austrian investor, Ronald Grain, founder, owner and chief executive of IT company Grain GmbH.
“My wish is for this project to create a lasting connection to the community and produce the highest possible quality whisky and over time achieve the lowest possible CO2 footprint,” said Grain.
“The company founders Martin McAdam, Alan Baker and I have a shared vision of what we can achieve. Already they have built a strong team around them – not least their chairman Willie Phillips and their whisky maker Max McFarlane – and together we will craft the finest quality single malt whisky based on the extraordinary location of the Ardgowan Estate and the unusual microclimate of the Inverkip area.
Grain has experience investing in the spirits industry have previously invested in the Cotswolds Distillery, Manly Spirits, the East London Liquor Company, and Potstill Spirits Trading. He also recently become a 20 per cent shareholder in Distil.
“This is terrific news for the project and for Inverclyde,” said distillery chief executive, Martin McAdam.
“We have put a lot of the uncertainty of Brexit behind us and we hope that Covid will also soon be a distant memory. “
The new distillery will resurrect the name of Ardgowan Distillery, originally founded in 1896, the original site produced whiskey before being used to make grain spirit and industrial alcohol until it was destroyed in the May Blitz of 1941.
