Indholdsfortegnelse for February 1-15, 2022 i Shanken's Impact Newsletter

BEAM SUNTORY IS GETTING INTO hard kombucha. The spirits giant is the lead investor in a new $20 million series C financing round behind the Ventura, California-based Flying Embers brand. Additional investments in Flying Embers were provided by Power Plant Ventures, Quadrant Capi-tal, Monogram Capital Partners, and Beechwood Capital. The new funding will go toward developing a robust national footprint for Flying Embers’ hard kombucha and seltzer, with a particular emphasis placed on marketing and refining their sales infrastructure. Last year, according to the company, Flying Embers grew by 93% and their products currently reach 42 states.…

THE U.S. AND U.K. HAVE OPENED DIS-cussions on resolving their dispute over steel and aluminum tariffs in the U.S. and tariffs on certain U.S. goods — including American whiskey—in the United Kingdom. “This is a very positive development,” said Robert Maron, vice president of International Trade at the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS). “Securing the immediate removal of the U.K.’s 25% tariff on American whiskeys will help support U.S. jobs as the economy seeks to recover from the harsh economic impacts and significant supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.” According to DISCUS, American whiskey exports to the U.K. fell by 53%, from $150 million to $71 million from 2018-2020, under the pressure of the tariffs.…

HEAVEN HILL BRANDS HAS ACQUIRED craft spirits group Samson & Surrey for an undisclosed sum. The deal in-cludes the Tequila Ocho, Widow Jane American Whiskey, Few Spirits, Brenne French Whisky, Bluecoat Gin, and Mezcal Vago brands as well as as-sociated facilities. Samson & Surrey’s annual sales are currently tracking at $40 million and growing at 60%, Heaven Hill said. “The Samson & Surrey portfolio strategically enhances our portfolio with emerging brands in strong growth categories,” said Heaven Hill president Max Shapira. Samson & Surrey will operate as a division of Heaven Hill led by cofounders Robert Furniss-Roe and Juan Rovira, who serve as CEO and COO respectively.…

Online beverage alcohol marketplaces Provi and SevenFifty have been among the e-commerce players helping to bring the drinks business up to speed in the digital age. The two companies recently announced that they’re joining forces to create an expanded B2B marketplace serving the retail and on-premise markets. Financials on the combination weren’t disclosed. Provi, which was recently valued at $750 million, is present in 30 states. It currently serves 10% of on-premise operators in the U.S., and is on track to expand to 25% of the market by year-end. SevenFifty, meanwhile, has partnerships with distributors across 48 states, including big players like RNDC, Breakthru, Martignetti, and Empire Merchants. More than 90,000 retail and restaurant buyers use its marketplace, which had sales volume of nearly $1 billion in 2020. The partner…

DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON’S TER-emana Tequila has rocketed out of the gate since launching just under two years ago, reaching 640,000 cases in 2021 as it more than doubled in size from a year earlier. Teremana has an-nounced that existing distribution part-ner Mast-Jägermeister has become a strategic investor in the brand, with an eye toward bringing it to new global markets. Financial terms and the size of the stake weren’t disclosed. “We have created a trailblazing, leg-acy partnership with Mast-Jägermeister and have worked closely from a place of shared values, principles and a core belief in the Teremana brand,” said Johnson. “It is now time to make Ter-emana Tequila a true global Tequila brand, to be enjoyed by the people around the world. Moving forward, we will work extremely hard…

COMDIAGEO SAW SALES CLIMB 20% OR-ganically to £8 billion ($10.7b) in its fiscal first half ended in December, boosted by ongoing strength in the off-premise, a recovery in the on-premise, as well as premiumization and market share gains for both the company and the spirits category as a whole. Organic operating profit leapt 24.7% to £2.7 billion ($3.6b) as productivity savings and price increases more than offset the impact of cost inflation. “In the off-trade channel, where consumer demand has remained resilient, we have gained or held market share across the majority of our measured markets,” noted Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes. “We also benefitted from the continued recovery of the on-trade channel, particularly in Europe and North America.” Diageo’s North America sales in-creased 13% organically to just under £3 billion…

STRONG SALES OF COGNAC AND Champagne helped carry Moët Hen-nessy to nearly €6 billion ($6.7b) in sales for 2021, up 26% organically from the prior year. Sales also out-stripped pre-pandemic 2019 by 9%. Profit from recurring operations grew 34% organically year-on-year, to €1.9 billion ($2.1b), registering 8% above 2019 levels. The company touted strong demand in the United States and Asia and a rebound in Europe as boosting sales. Both its Champagne and Cognac volumes increased last year compared with 2019, as a stronger on-premise environment helped drive gains. Moët Hennessy has incorpo-rated Champagne Armand de Brignac, in which parent LVMH holds a 50% stake, and said Château d’Esclans continues to enjoy rapid growth.…

RIBOLI FAMILY WINES HAS NAMED Paul Roberts, who joined the company from Banfi last year, as senior vice president, national sales. In addition, the company has appointed Kyle Hensley senior vice president of chains and Paul Rinaldi as vice president of national accounts. Finally, Penny Kosut has been appointed vice president for Riboli Estates Group, among several other new appointments within the sales team, which is expanding from two to five divisions. divisions. •Constellation Brands has appointed industry veteran Jim Sabia as executive vice president and president, beer division. Previously, Sabia served as Constellation’s executive vice president and managing director for the compa-ny’s beer division. The new role will see Sabia take the lead for all of the company’s beer operations on a day-to-day basis. Sabia’s predecessor, Paul Het-terich, will…

WITH THE LATEST WAVE OF THE PANDEMIC RECEDING rapidly in recent weeks, optimism is again on the rise across the drinks business. But as we look ahead to better market conditions, it’s worth noting how impressively the industry has performed through the crisis of the past two years. Vodka, the largest spirits category, was roughly flat in the U.S. last year after a strong bump in 2020, and its longer-term positive trend appears almost unaffected by the worst market disruption of our lifetimes. According to Impact Databank, vodka category volume increased by almost one-quarter from 2011-2021, reaching the 80-million-case mark. That performance includes the addition of more than 10 million cases since 2013. Looking ahead, rebounding on-premise sales and the growth engine of premixed cocktails are likely to further boost…

REPUBLIC NATIONAL DISTRIBUTING COMPANY (RNDC) has appointed Nicholas Mehall as president and chief executive officer, effective February 1. Mehall succeeds Tom Cole, who will serve as a senior advisor to the company’s board of directors moving forward. Mehall served as RNDC’s chief financial officer since 2017 and is credited with successfully strengthening the company’s financial position, improving RNDC’s investment in technology and leading its recent expansion into new markets. Prior to joining RNDC, Mehall held a number of leadership roles at Diageo, including as SVP of finance for Diageo’s U.S. and Canada Spirits busi-ness. Prior to that, Mehall spent nearly 10 years at KPMG, LLP in Cleveland, London, and metro New York City, holding a number of leadership roles in both the U.S. and U.K. “Nick is a transformative leader…

SILICON VALLEY BANK (SVB) RECENTLY RELEASED ITS CLOSELY WATCHED STATE of the Wine Industry report for 2022, flagging a number of challenges facing the business. Chief among those hurdles is the declining adoption of wine by younger consumers, who have been more enthusiastic about spirits, seltzers, and low - and no-alcohol offerings. While the baby boom generation continues to favor higher price points in wine, overall category demand will wane looking ahead due to this shortfall of younger drinkers, the report found. Perhaps more ominously, SVB issued a warning about the future of the restaurant channel for wine. “The restaurant industry will continue to decline as a sales channel for wine due to overpricing on the menu and consumers who value other alcoholic beverages over wine,” it stated. “Restaurants will…

Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits continues to be one of the most dynamic players in the drinks business, recruiting younger consumers into wine with Josh Cellars and stoking growth across a range of wine and spirits labels from both the domestic and import categories. The company’s U.S. volume registered 12.3 million cases in the 12 months through November, led by Josh Cellars at nearly 4.8 million cases and Yellow Tail at approximately 6.3 million cases. Impact managing editor Daniel Marsteller recently spoke with Deutsch Family president Tom Steffanci for an update on the business, which has annual revenues of around $1 billion. IMPACT: Josh Cellars has become a juggernaut within the U.S. wine category. How did the brand close out 2021? Steffanci: Josh had a tremendous holiday across a wide…

• PERNOD RICARD HAS EXTENDED Jameson Irish whiskey with Jameson Orange, a new addition to the core range. The 30% abv offering is made with Jameson and natural orange flavor and is suggested to be con-sumed neat, on-the-rocks, or in a range of mixed drinks. The new line extension is debuting nationwide. It joins a growing flavored whiskey market in the U.S., which is estimated to have reached 17.5 million cases last year, up from 2.7 million cases in 2011. Jameson increased an estimated 13.5% to 4.1 million cases in the U.S. in 2021, according to Impact Databank. • CALIFORNIA’S JAM CELLARS IS extending its Butter brand with two new offerings, Butter Cab and Butter Bubbles. The California-sourced newcomers will debut this spring across retailers including Safeway, Albertsons, Target, Harris…