Inspector Irene Warner checks Fireball whisky bottles on the line at Boston Brands of Maine in Lewiston in May 2018. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file photo

LEWISTON — Boston Brands of Maine has finished a $4 million bottling plant expansion announced less than a year ago and is moving to 24/7 production and adding 46 more jobs, according to a spokeswoman.

She declined to say whether the move has to do with the red hot popularity of its Fireball Cinnamon Whisky.

Gov. Janet Mills was on hand last May to congratulate Boston Brands as plant officials announced a $4 million expansion to increase capacity by 20% and add 50 new hires. At the time, the Saratoga Street plant had 169 employees.

Boston Brands of Maine is owned by Sazerac, a privately-owned company headquartered in New Orleans. Its Fireball Cinnamon Whisky has been on a tear, outselling the state’s longtime top seller Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy last year by $3 million, according to state figures.

Sazerac spokeswoman Kristie Wooldridge said the Lewiston facility had been running three shifts five days a week.

“We are now moving to a 24/7 production schedule, which requires four shifts to run alternating 12-hour shifts seven days a week,” she said in an email. “The 46 people we are adding will make up the new fourth shift team.”

The new positions are full time.

Before hiring for this team, she said the plant had been fully staffed, “despite our having to overcome a series of challenges.”

“As a company we continually strive to be one of the industry’s most desired places to be,” she said. “Additionally, we have had success finding the right candidates through recent job fairs.”

Sazerac bought the Lewiston bottling facility in 2013 from Beam, who had bought it from White Rock Distilleries in 2012 and moved its popular Pinnacle brands elsewhere.

Sazerac previously announced a $1 million expansion in 2017.