Formed by a merger
The merger combined Guinness's United Distillers and Grand Metropolitan's International Distillers & Vintners into United Distillers & Vintners.1,2,3 On 11 June 1998 US regulators approved its sale of Dewar's Scotch and Bombay gin to Bacardi for $1.9 billion.6 The regulators had required that sale before they would clear the merger.6
Seagram and Bushmills
On 21 December 2001 Diageo and Pernod Ricard completed their $8.15 billion purchase of the Seagram spirits and wine business.1,3,4 Diageo bought the Old Bushmills Distillery Company in Northern Ireland from Pernod Ricard in June 2005.7,8
Growth and cutbacks in Scotland
Diageo spent £40 million on Roseisle, a large malt whisky distillery near Elgin that opened in 2010.2 In 2011 it closed the Port Dundas grain distillery in Glasgow and focused grain production at the enlarged Cameronbridge.1,9 It closed the Johnnie Walker blending and bottling plant at Kilmarnock in March 2012, moving the work to Shieldhall and Leven.1 Also in 2012, it set out plans to spend over £1bn on Scotch whisky production, including a new malt distillery.10 It suspended that plan in October 2014 after Scotch exports fell by 30%, shelving a second £50m distillery at Teaninich.11
Trades and sales
In November 2014 it traded Bushmills to Proximo Spirits for the half of Don Julio tequila it did not already own.7 In 2014 Emperador of the Philippines completed its £430 million purchase of Diageo's Whyte & Mackay whisky business, with the Jura and Dalmore distilleries.12 The sale followed UK competition concerns about Diageo's controlling stake in United Spirits.12 In November 2018 it sold the Seagram's whiskey brand and other brands to the Sazerac Company.1
New distilleries and lost ones revived
Its Bulleit Distilling Co. opened a bourbon distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, on 14 March 2017.13 In 2017 Diageo said it would spend £35 million to reopen Port Ellen on Islay and Brora, which had both closed in 1983.14 In June 2019 it began making Irish whiskey at its new Roe & Co distillery on Thomas Street in Dublin.15 Brora reopened in May 2021, and that year Diageo opened its first carbon-neutral distillery, in Lebanon, Kentucky, to make Bulleit.5,16 In November 2022 it bought Balcones Distilling, a whiskey maker in Waco, Texas.17,18 Port Ellen reopened in March 2024 after it had been closed for 40 years.1
Pauses and closings
In 2025 it paused distilling at Balcones, George Dickel and Teaninich, saying the pause would last through June 2026.19,20 In February 2026 it closed its Crown Royal bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ontario.21,22