Cooperage to invest $5 million in Bath County mill

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage Inc. plans to invest $5 million in building a stave mill in Bath County, a project that is expected to create 30 jobs.

The company also has committed to buying 80 percent of its timber from Virginia land owners.

The Bath County mill will produce white oak staves and other materials needed to create barrels.

Virginia competed with West Virginia for the project, the first economic development announcement for Bath County since 2003.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe approved a $250,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund to assist with the project, which Bath County is matching with local funds.

The county previously received funding from an AFID planning grant, which assisted it in completing a detailed survey of the site where Speyside will build its cooperage.

Funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities also will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage Inc. is an offspring of Speyside Cooperage Ltd., founded in Scotland in 1947.

Speyside currently operates two plants in Scotland and one in Kentucky. The company is a part of a larger cooperage organization which is based in France, the Tonnellerie Francois Freres Group.