KILDARE, Ireland, May 13, 2026, 16:02 (Irish Standard Time)
- Diageo opened its nearly €300 million Littleconnell brewery in Co. Kildare and plans about €400 million more at the site.
- The second brewery will focus on Guinness and Guinness 0.0 as the brand remains one of Diageo’s few clear growth engines.
- The move comes as new CEO Dave Lewis faces weak North American spirits sales and pressure to reset strategy.
Diageo plc has opened a nearly €300 million brewery in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, and plans a further roughly €400 million investment there, betting on Guinness and alcohol-free Guinness 0.0 while its U.S. spirits business remains under pressure. The company said the planned second facility, known as Brewery 2, will more than double total site capacity and start work in 2026.
The timing matters. Guinness has helped steady Diageo at a rough point for the Johnnie Walker and Don Julio maker, where North America, its largest market, is still a drag and investors are waiting for Chief Executive Sir Dave Lewis to spell out a wider turnaround plan.
Diageo last week reported third-quarter organic net sales growth of 0.3%, meaning underlying sales stripped of currency and deal effects, against forecasts for a decline. Reuters reported that the beat was helped by strong Guinness demand in Britain and Ireland and World Cup-related stocking in Latin America, but North American sales fell 9.4%.
The Littleconnell site, built in under 18 months on a 40-acre plot, will produce ales and lagers including Rockshore, Harp, Smithwick’s and Kilkenny, as well as licensed beers such as Carlsberg. Diageo said it is powered by 100% renewable electricity and is expected to avoid up to 15,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year versus a similar-scale plant.
Lewis framed the spend as a capacity move, not just a green manufacturing project. “The demand for Guinness and Guinness 0.0 is surging,” he said in the company’s statement, adding that the investment was “fitting” for Kildare, the birthplace of Arthur Guinness. Diageo
The investment also shifts some of the brewing burden away from St James’s Gate in Dublin, still the symbolic centre of Guinness. Colin O’Brien, Diageo’s category head for global beer supply, said Littleconnell was “central” to future Guinness export growth and would strengthen resilience across the brewing network. Diageo
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin opened the site with Lewis. Diageo said the project supported about 650 construction jobs and created more than 50 permanent roles; The Journal reported that the second brewery is expected to add a further 30 to 40 permanent jobs.
Markets were cooler. Diageo’s London-listed shares were down 1.46% at 1,482.50 pence at 15:58 local time, leaving the stock well below last year’s highs despite the recent sales beat.
The risk is that Guinness cannot carry the group alone. Diageo has kept its fiscal 2026 guidance unchanged, including organic net sales down 2% to 3%, and Lewis has said North America remains the company’s “biggest challenge” as market conditions stay soft and its offer needs to be more competitive. Diageo
Competitive pressure has eased a little, but not gone away. Reuters reported last week that talks between Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman had collapsed, removing the immediate threat of a larger No. 2 spirits rival; HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy said Diageo’s bigger issue was not Pernod, Brown-Forman or Sazerac, but that it had been a “poor market leader.” Reuters
Lewis is due to give shareholders a strategy update alongside Diageo’s fiscal 2026 full-year results on Aug. 6. Until then, Littleconnell gives him a concrete growth story in beer. It does not yet answer the harder question: how fast Diageo can fix spirits in the U.S. without cutting too deeply into price, margin or cash flow.
