Rye River invests €4m in new Co Kildare brewery
Rye River Brewing Corporation has announced an investment of €4m to build a new brewery and visitor centre in Celbridge in Co Kildare.
The new centre is expected to employ 150 people within three years and the building of the centre will also create 100 construction jobs.
Since it was started in late 2013 by Niall Phelan, Alan Wolfe and Tom Cronin, the company has now grown to almost 60 employees.
Rye River produces its own beer brand, McGargles, as well as supplying private label contracts with Lidl, while it also supplies some exclusive brands to Tesco and Dunnes.
It reported a turnover of €5.5m last year and currently exports to 14 countries.
The new brewery and visitor centre are due to open in late spring next year, subject to planning.
“This is a really exciting time for The Rye River Brewing Company as we reach this significant milestone in our expansion and development and we have strong plans and targets now in place to increase production to meet our growing export markets,” commented founder Niall Phelan said.
He said the company’s production capability will treble to seven million litres from the current two million litres as it has outgrown its current brewery.
“We have been lucky in that we have been profitable from 2014 and we’ve been able to use these profits, our own reserves and some borrowing to fund our existing successful operations and cap-ex. The new development will be funded from cash and some investment and we will be seeking further investment over the coming six months,” he added.
