Roe & Co

Type: Distillery and brand

Three copper pot stills stood inside Dublin’s former Guinness Power House at Roe & Co’s distillery opening in June 2019. Its whiskey had already reached drinkers: Diageo’s blend went on sale in March 2017, more than two years earlier. The name belongs to both a blended Irish whiskey and the Thomas Street distillery, but the original whiskey was made elsewhere.[1][2]

What Roe & Co is known for

A modern blend, a converted power station and a famous Dublin distilling name give Roe & Co its identity. The historic Roe business had closed decades before the modern brand appeared, leaving a substantial local history for the name to recall.[1][2][3][5]

Diageo announced Roe & Co on 31 January 2017. Sales began in key European cities on 1 March as part of its Reserve portfolio, marking the company’s return to Irish whiskey after selling Bushmills in 2015.[1][2]

The connection to the old Roe business is rooted in the neighbourhood. Today’s distillery occupies the former Guinness Power House, close to where George Roe’s Thomas Street distillery stood, rather than the old distillery site itself. The name recalls that local history; the building brings a separate industrial past.[1]

The whiskey before the distillery

Bourbon casks shape the blend described in Diageo’s launch announcement: hand-selected Irish malt and grain whiskies, matured mostly in first-fill wood. First fill here means a cask used to mature whisky for the first time after holding bourbon. Diageo also states that Roe & Co is not chill filtered and is bottled at 45% ABV.[1]

Master blender Caroline Martin created the whiskey. According to Irish Whiskey Magazine, development involved 106 trial blends, a number later carried into Room 106 at the visitor experience. The room’s name points to the work of blending, rather than the Power House’s earlier industrial life.[7]

The original commercial blend combined existing Irish malt and grain whiskies: it was already on sale in 2017, before the new Dublin distillery’s opening event on 10 June 2019. It was therefore not distilled at the Power House, and its supplying distilleries are not reliably established. Creating that blend and establishing a distillery with its own production equipment were separate undertakings under the same Roe & Co name.[1][2]

Inside the former Guinness Power House

A glass walkway above the stills and mash tun made the Power House’s conversion part of the visitor experience. Opening accounts describe time cards recalling the power station’s working past and the Power House Bar designed by Drinksology. The route connected the new distilling equipment with the building’s earlier working life.[2][7]

Inside, three copper pot stills brought whiskey production into the former Guinness building. Contemporary reports from June 2019 described equipment capable of either double or triple distillation.[2][7]

Those reports gave runs of 14,000 litres and a maximum annual capacity of about 500,000 litres of alcohol. These are opening-era production figures, not verified actual annual output or a statement of present capacity.[2][6]

The launch involved an all-female team. Contemporary coverage named Gráinne Wafer as global brand director, Lora Hemy as head distiller and Fiona Sheridan as assistant distiller, alongside Martin’s work on the blend. These were their launch roles, rather than a current staff list.[2][6][7]

Production and opening timeline

Whiskey sales, the opening event and visitor admission were separate milestones, not a single launch day.[1][2][7]

The Roe name on Thomas Street

The Roe story on Thomas Street begins in 1757, when Peter Roe bought a small distillery on the street’s north side. Richard Roe ran the business from 1766 to 1794. Elsewhere in Dublin, Nicholas Roe established a distillery in Pimlico in 1784.[4][5][8]

The Dictionary of Irish Biography records that George Roe & Co was incorporated by the end of 1826, but accounts differ over how George acquired the distillery. Claim: George Roe inherited the Thomas Street distillery. Verdict: Disputed. The biography gives 1826 and says he inherited it from his father; Whisky Magazine gives 1832 and includes the Pimlico distillery. The inheritance year is not reliably established, and the earliest source behind these accounts is not established in the supplied record. Last checked: 7 November 2026.[3][5]

The business expanded across Dublin. George Roe leased a Mount Brown distillery for maltings and warehousing in 1831; a further distillery in Bonham Street, Mount Brown, was added around 1840. George Roe & Co became one of Dublin’s “Big Four”, alongside John Jameson, William Jameson and John Power.[3][4][5]

By 1887, the Thomas Street business occupied about 6.9 hectares (17 acres), stretching from Thomas Street towards the Liffey. That footprint gives a concrete sense of its importance to Dublin and explains the name’s lasting resonance more clearly than an unqualified claim to have been the largest distillery.[3]

In 1891, the business merged with the Dublin Distilling Company, formerly William Jameson’s Marrowbone Lane operation, and the Dublin Whiskey Company to form Dublin Distillers Company Ltd. Two of the group’s other distilleries closed in 1923. Thomas Street followed in 1926.[3][5]

Most of the buildings were later demolished, while some became part of the Guinness brewery. One striking survivor is St Patrick’s Tower, a smock windmill approximately 46 metres (150 feet) high, belonging to the historic Roe site.[3][5]

Story box: a blend before a building

Documented: the meaning of Room 106

Claim: Room 106 takes its name from the 106 trial blends involved in creating Roe & Co. Verdict: Documented, as recorded in the site’s verified fact sheet and reported by Irish Whiskey Magazine.[7]

The magazine’s June 2019 opening coverage is the earliest source identified in the supplied record. It reports the naming explanation without providing the underlying blending records; the fact sheet identifies no contrary account. Source and claim mapping. Last checked: 7 November 2026.[7]

Reading the old and new stories together

Roe & Co commemorates a substantial Dublin whiskey business in a different building nearby. The historic Thomas Street distillery closed in 1926 under Dublin Distillers Company Ltd; that date does not describe George Roe personally running the business until its closure.[1][3][5]

The Guinness connection adds another local perspective. In its own account, the Guinness Storehouse presents the Roe and Guinness families as long-standing neighbours rather than rivals. That is the producer’s interpretation of their relationship, not grounds for casting the businesses as opponents in a revival story.[4]

The buildings tell the distinction plainly. St Patrick’s Tower survives from the historic Roe site; the converted Guinness Power House nearby houses the modern distillery. One is a remnant of the old operation, the other a new use for a separate industrial building.[1][3][5]

For a prospective visit, check the official Roe & Co website for current booking arrangements, accessibility information and tour age rules. The June 2019 accounts establish what opened then; they are not a current visitor schedule.[2][7]

Where to go next

• Bushmills: follow the other Irish whiskey name in Diageo’s departure and return.
• Teeling: continue exploring Dublin’s modern distillery stories.
• Powers: explore another name connected with Dublin’s historic Big Four.

Sources

1. Diageo. Diageo to launch a new premium Blended Irish Whiskey Roe & Co. Launch announcement, 31 January 2017. https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases/2017/diageo-to-launch-a-new-premium-blended-irish-whiskey-roe-co
2. The Spirits Business. Roe & Co distillery starts production in Dublin. Contemporary trade report, June 2019. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2019/06/roe-co-distillery-starts-production-in-dublin/
3. Dictionary of Irish Biography. Roe, George Edward. Online biographical entry, publication year not supplied in the fact sheet. https://www.dib.ie/biography/roe-george-edward-a10406
4. Guinness Storehouse. The Historic Connection between Guinness and Roe & Co. Distillery. Producer’s account, publication year not supplied in the fact sheet. https://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/whats-hoppening/the-connection-between-guinness-and-roe-co-distillery
5. Whisky Magazine. The Changing Face of Roe & Co. Historical trade feature, publication year not supplied in the fact sheet. https://www.whiskymag.com/articles/the-changing-face-of-roe-co/
6. RTÉ News. Roe & Co Irish Whiskey Distillery to open visitor experience. News report, 10 June 2019. https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2019/0610/1054515-roe-co-distillery/
7. Irish Whiskey Magazine. Roe & Co Distillery to open its doors on June 21st. Opening report, June 2019. https://www.irishwhiskeymagazine.com/news/latest-news/roe-co-distillery-to-open-its-doors-on-june-21st/
8. Wikipedia. Thomas Street Distillery. Online article, revision identifier not supplied in the fact sheet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Street_Distillery

This desk-researched article uses verified fact sheet TOP-A271, distinguishing Diageo’s statements, contemporary opening reports and historical accounts without implying a visit or tasting.

Last checked: November 2026