Diageo to Build Distillery on St. Croix

Diageo PLC says it will build a high capacity distillery on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The facility will begin producing bulk rum in 2011, and beginning in 2012, it will supply all of the bulk rum used to make Captain Morgan branded products for the United States. The distillery will have an estimated distilling capacity of up to 20 million proof gallons per year. The estimated cost of the distillery, which will be constructed through a public-private partnership with the U.S. Virgin Islands government, was not disclosed.