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On-Premise News USHG operates several New York City spirits from Maryland to New York, thus venues, including Gramercy Tavern, Blue depriving the Empire State of millions Kimpton Debuts Smoke, Untitled at the Modern and the of dollars of tax revenue. This illicit Chicago Hotel And Lounge cocktail bar Porchlight. activity allegedly started in 2008 and The Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant continued until recently. The complaint Group has opened a new hotel in a Off-Premise News contends that, in addition to pecuniary converted office building in gain, Merinoff—who was CEO of Chicago. The Gray Hotel Chicago Drizly Enters Bay Area, The Charmer-Sunbelt Group during that features an upscale, 70-seat cocktail Adds E-Commerce period—aimed to weaken Empire lounge called Vol. 39. Named for the Beverage alcohol delivery platform Merchants by offering New York retailers books reclaimed from the building’s Drizly has entered San Francisco, bringing cheaper spirits from Maryland. Merinoff former law offices, Vol. 39 offers a drinks its reach to 25 markets throughout the is also part-owner of Breakthru Beverage, menu that includes a flight of six Martinis United States and Canada. Concurrently, which formed when Charmer-Sunbelt ($25) in 1-ounce pours. Also on the list is Drizly has unveiled new “marketplace” merged with Wirtz Beverage Group earlier a vintage Old Fashioned that’s made with features, allowing customers to shop this year. Empire Merchants wasn’t a 30-year-old Delord Bas-Armagnac XO, the inventories of multiple retailers, included in that deal. The complaint also Bourbon-barrel aged Demerara sugar, compare pricing, and choose from delivery, names Breakthru CEO Greg Baird and Angostura and orange bitters poured in-store pick-up and shipping options. Sobel, who has been replaced by longtime over hand-carved ice ($35). Drinks are Drizly—which sold a minority state to Empire Merchants executive John Devin, mixed tableside from a serving cart, the & Spirits Wholesalers of as well as retailers in both Maryland and which serves Champagnes and caviar as America last year—recently told Shanken New York. Breakthru Beverage issued a well. In addition, the menu features six News Daily that it plans to grow its foot- statement denying the allegations and said Calvados labels, including the 15-year-old print to around 30 markets by year-end. it will fight back aggressively. Chateau de Breuil at $25 a 1½-ounce pour. The beverage program is headed The Growler Station Breakthru Acquires by Jessica Lambert, formerly of Kimpton’s Rolls Out Crowler Option Colorado Beer Distributor Sable Kitchen & Bar in Chicago. The Growler Station is partnering with Breakthru Beverage has expanded its Oskar Blues Brewery and Ball Corp. to craft and imported beer business in the HopCat Opens First market and distribute the Crowler—a Colorado market with the acquisition of Chicago Location single-use, aluminum 25-ounce or distributor C.R. Goodman. Operating in Grand Rapids, Michigan–based craft beer 32-ounce container—and the accom- the state since 2006, C.R. Goodman bar chain HopCat has opened its first panying All-American Crowler Seamer. distributes such craft brands as Left Hand, location in Chicago. Located in the city’s The packaging and the seaming device Upslope, Stone, Dogfish Head, Firestone Lincoln Park neighborhood, the new were developed in recent years by Walker, Boulevard, Bristol, Victory, 8,500-square-foot HopCat venue features Oskar Blues and Ball and have rapidly Funkwerks and Odd 13. Breakthru three dining rooms and serves 130 draft spread among brewers, beer retailers and Colorado’s existing craft beer portfolio beers—nearly half of which are made on-premise operators as an alternative includes Odell, Avery, Great Divide, locally. Founded in 2008 by former invest- to traditional glass growlers. The Growler Denver Beer, Ska and Guinness. ment manager Mark Sellers, HopCat now Station provides retailers with a custom- has 10 locations in seven states. izable, turnkey alternative for offering Supplier News—Spirits growlers in-store and currently has over USHG Introduces 200 units around the country. William Grant Revamps Parental Leave Policy Drambuie Liqueur Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) Distributor News William Grant & Sons has refreshed its rolled out a new parental leave policy that Drambuie whisky liqueur brand with a will take effect in 2017. Under the plan, Empire Merchants Files Suit new bottle design and rebranding initia- full-time employees with more than a year Against Co-owner tive. The new look is intended to leverage of service are eligible for four weeks of fully Empire Merchants, New York’s biggest the brand’s history, which purportedly paid leave and four weeks of leave at spirits and wine distributor, fired CEO dates back to 1745, while emphasizing 60-percent pay. The plan, a rarity in the Lloyd Sobel and filed suit against co-owner its current use in cocktails. The updated hospitality industry, follows the elimina- Charlie Merinoff and others in September. bottle features design elements meant tion of tipping at USHG’s restaurants over According to the complaint, Merinoff to mirror vintage Drambuie bottles, as the past year. Owned by Danny Meyer, took part in an illegal scheme to smuggle well as a new bottle shape and reframed

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brand logo. The new dark-brown glass veterans James Espey and Tom Jago. are taller with cleaner lines and feature bottle is also topped with a red Espey, currently Last Drop’s co-chairman, “1789,” the year of the distillery’s closure. William Grant & Sons acquired said in a statement that the acquisition founding, embossed on the glass. Addi- Drambuie from Scotland’s MacKinnon “allows us to grow our international foot- tionally, a dark brown wood closure now family for an undisclosed sum in 2014. print and broaden our opportunities to crowns the bottles. The initiative comes Drambuie’s depletions have hovered search for the rarest spirits in the world.” as Heaven Hill looks to boost Elijah around 60,000 cases in the United Craig’s availability amid the current States in recent years, according to Buchanan’s Launches Bourbon craze. “We’re renewing our Impact Databank. Dual-Language Campaign commitment to crafting Elijah Craig Diageo is backing its Buchanan’s Scotch Small Batch so we can have it more Bacardi Rum Unveils whisky franchise with a new national broadly available in the market, rather New Campaign campaign aimed at the brand’s core Latino than always on allocation or simply out of Bacardi has unveiled a multimillion-dollar audience. Titled “Es Nuestro Momento,” stock,” noted Heaven Hill president Max global campaign intended to reinforce which means “It’s Our Moment,” the push Shapira. Earlier this year, Heaven Hill the nightlife credentials of its namesake stars Grammy-winning musician J Balvin revealed plans to invest $15.5 million in rum brand. Bacardi North America chief and encourages a younger generation of its Bernheim distillery, where the company marketing officer Mauricio Vergara told Latinos to embrace their heritage and produces Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Shanken News Daily that the new shared sense of cultural pride. The Larceny, Old Fitzgerald and others. “We Are the Night” push is focused on campaign includes both English and “our big night out occasion” and targeted Spanish language spots and is running Letherbee’s Partners at both men and women. The new effort across television, digital and out-of-home With Maritime includes television, online video and channels. Buchanan’s, the U.S. market’s San Francisco–based importer Maritime targeted social media aspects, among fourth-largest Scotch brand, reached Wine Trading Collective has been other initiatives. “We Are the Night” 425,000 cases on 8-percent growth last named the exclusive North American follows a $25 million U.S. campaign year, according to Impact Databank, marketer for Chicago’s Letherbee behind Bacardi that began last year and has more than doubled in volume Distillers. Founded in 2011, Letherbee’s under the tag-line, “Nothing in the Way.” since 2010. portfolio includes Original Label gin, Both campaigns tie into Bacardi’s overall Barrel-Aged absinthe, Autumnal and “Untameable Since 1862” positioning. Beam Suntory Invests Vernal gins, Bësk and Fernet. The craft After declining 2.7 percent to 7.1 million In Home Cocktail Device distiller’s current annual production is cases in the United States in 2015, Beam Suntory made an investment in 60,000 bottles. Maritime is part of according to Impact Databank, the at-home cocktail technology company Bacchus Capital Management’s portfolio Bacardi brand is down by about 2 percent Bartesian this month. Financial terms and also markets the Graham Beck, in both NABCA and IRI channels were undisclosed. Beam Suntory will Jules Taylor and Quinta Nova wine year-to-date. now serve as the exclusive spirits partner brands, among others. for the Ontario, Canada–based Bartesian, Sazerac Acquires which produces an at-home cocktail Diageo, Pernod Target Frïs Vodka, Last Drop machine that’s intended to allow Mezcal Market Pernod Ricard has sold Frïs Vodka to consumers to combine spirits with pre- Both Diageo and Pernod Ricard are Sazerac Co. for an undisclosed sum. mixed ingredient capsules to create reportedly eyeing growth in the mezcal Bottled at Pernod’s plant in Fort Smith, more consistent cocktails at home. category, which has been drawing rising Arkansas, Frïs retails for around $15 a Under the agreement, the cocktail interest among consumers. Pernod is 750-ml. bottle. The brand sells about ingredient capsules will feature several working on a new mezcal brand slated 250,000 cases in the United States annu- Beam Suntory brands. The Bartesian to launch in the first half of next year, ally. Pernod took control of Frïs, which was system, which is slated to launch in Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, Diageo originally produced in Denmark, when it 2017, is currently available for preorder, reportedly linked earlier this year with acquired Sweden’s V&S in 2008. That priced at $299. Mexico City-based Mezcal Union on a deal brought Absolut into the Pernod distribution agreement, which will see fold. Sazerac also purchased Paddy Irish Elijah Craig Gets the drinks giant expand the reach of the whiskey from Pernod earlier this year. A New Look brand. According to Bloomberg, Mezcal Sazerac Co. has also acquired Last Drop Heaven Hill Brands is introducing a major Union exported about 30 percent of its Distillers, a purveyor of luxury spirits redesign for its flagship Elijah Craig Small total 72,000 bottles in sales last year to brands founded in 2008 by industry Batch Bourbon. The brand’s new bottles the United States. Proximo Spirits also

94 MARKET WATCH | MARKETWATCHMAG.COM | OCTOBER 2016 NEWS mw recently launched Creyente, a new mezcal Jackson Family Buys new screwcap bottles for its Sauvignon brand, and William Grant & Sons’ Oregon’s Willakenzie Estate Blanc and Pinot Grigio . The new Montelobos is gaining traction. Jackson Family has bolstered its packaging for Robert Mondavi Private Oregon presence with the acquisition of Selection ($10.99 a 750-ml. bottle) is Supplier News—Wine Willamette Valley’s Willakenzie Estate. rolling out to retailers nationwide. After Known for single-vineyard Pinot Noir and hovering at about 1.8 million cases in PlumpJack Group Acquires Pinot Gris, Willakenzie has 125 planted the United States for several years, Napa Valley’s Ladera Vineyards acres in the Yamhill-Carlton and Dundee Robert Mondavi Private Selection The PlumpJack Group, which includes Hills areas. The deal includes the brand, declined 7 percent to 1.7 million cases in Napa’s PlumpJack Winery and CADE winery, hospitality center and vineyards. 2015, according to Impact Databank. Estate Winery, has purchased Ladera A price wasn’t disclosed. Concurrently, Vineyard’s 82-acre estate on Howell Jackson Family has announced plans Bronco Revamps Mountain from the Stotesbery family, to build a new small-lot winery in Red Truck Packaging according to Wine Spectator. The sale McMinnville, Oregon, dedicated to Bronco Wine Co. is unveiling new “helix” includes the winery, 74 acres of Cabernet producing Pinot Noir, and packaging for its Red Truck wine brand. Sauvignon and 3 acres of Sauvignon Pinot Gris. Construction began in Said to be the first of its kind to roll out in Blanc, but does not include the brand August, and the facility is expected to the U.S. wine market, the helix packaging or inventory. The Stotesberys plan to be operational by the 2017 harvest. In features a twist-open, recloseable cork continue the Ladera brand. Neither side addition to the newly added Willakenzie, stopper that works via an internal thread would disclose the price, but PlumpJack Jackson Family’s Oregon portfolio built into the neck of the glass bottle. general manager John Conover told includes Zena Crown Vineyard, Gran Red Truck ($11 a 750-ml. bottle) will Wine Spectator they paid “market Moraine and Penner-Ash. The company’s bring its new helix bottle to market begin- price,” which he defined as being roughly La Crema and Siduri brands also offer ning in January 2017. $300,000 a planted acre. That would Willamette Valley wines. exceed $32 million for the land, not Charles Banks Indicted including the winery. Wilson Daniels Adds In Federal Court Bisol Prosecco To Portfolio Terroir Capital founder Charles Banks was Precept Grows Drinks marketer Wilson Daniels has indicted in September on two counts of Washington Vineyard Holdings taken a big step in the booming Prosecco wire fraud. The case stems from allegations Seattle-based Precept Wine has boosted category by adding Bisol Prosecco to its made by former NBA star Tim Duncan, a its property holdings with the acquisition portfolio. Bisol moves to Wilson Daniels longtime Banks client, who says he was of 62 acres of land in Washington’s Yakima from Vias Imports. Bisol has more than duped out of millions of dollars in various Valley. The new tract, acquired for an 20 vineyards in the heart of the Prosecco investments Banks made on his behalf. undisclosed price, will be planted with region, and exports account for around Banks’ Terroir Capital has assembled a , Malbec and Petit 70 percent of its sales. Bisol sells around 500,000-case portfolio of wine brands that Verdot. It borders Precept’s existing Skyfall 20,000 cases in the U.S. market, with range from legendary Napa Valley Vineyard, and is projected to bring Skyfall’s prices ranging from the mid-$20s to winery Mayacamas to Santa Barbara planted footprint to 162 acres by next more than $80. The Bisol range is note- pioneer Qupé, among many others. spring. Precept acquired Skyfall Vineyard worthy for being more upscale than in 2013. Precept’s Pacific Northwest many of its competitors. In 2015, Champagne Anticipates portfolio continues to post gains. The Prosecco surged past the 4-million-case Disastrous Harvest group’s largest brand, House Wine (around threshold in the market on 22.6-percent Champagne may see its smallest harvest $11 a 750-ml. bottle), was up 3.6 percent growth, according to Impact Databank. in three decades this year owing to diffi- to 175,000 nine-liter cases last year, cult weather conditions throughout the according to Impact Databank. Also Constellation Updates vintage. The region’s CIVC trade group gaining ground is Precept’s Canoe Ridge Robert Mondavi Private Selection says the 2016 harvest could fall as much range ($15 to $24 a 750-ml. bottle), This fall, Constellation Brands is rolling as 30 percent compared with last year, which earned Impact “Hot Prospect” out new packaging for its Robert Mondavi Reuters reports, as frost, rain and severe honors after surging more than 37 percent Private Selection brand. The updated look heat took their toll at various points of to 73,000 cases last year. Washington features a new color scheme and bottle the growing season. Still, Champagne’s portfoliomate Waterbrook ($14 to $24) is shape with broader shoulders and a tapered production is expected to rise slightly also rising, passing the 100,000-case mark look for the red wines, along with heavier this year, as producers tap reserve wines on nearly 10-percent growth in 2015. glass weight. The portfolio will also see two to make up for the smaller 2016 crop.

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The global Champagne market grew Five Points will be led by general manager Cider is projected to produce about unconstitutional. The same firm is Wine Journalist Greg Walter 1.8 percent to 26 million cases last year, Charles Littlefield, formerly director of 21,000 barrels this year, while Two Beers preparing a similar complaint in Missouri. Dies At 58 according to Impact Databank, while commercial planning and activation at is aiming for 8,000 barrels. The Illinois suit states that Chicago-area Veteran wine journalist Greg Walter the U.S. market advanced 5 percent to Bacardi. Heineken says the move will resident Irwin Berkley wants to buy died at his home in Yountville, California, 1.4 million cases. allow it to continue focusing on core Dogfish Head Unveils “wines that are sold-out in Illinois but in September after a long battle with brands like Heineken, Dos Equis, Tecate New Packaging are still available from retail stores in cancer. He was 58. Walter was working Supplier News—Beer and Strongbow while also developing Milton, Delaware–based Dogfish Head other states, older vintage wines and as a clerk in a San Diego wine shop in new acquisitions such as Red Stripe, Brewery is introducing a new packaging limited-production allocated wines” and 1980 when the owner saw a help-wanted A-B InBev Buys which it acquired from Diageo last year. design across the portfolio. The company’s have them shipped to his home from ad for a fledgling newspaper called SpikedSeltzer, Belgian Brewer beer labels will feature illustrations of Cap n’ Cork, a chain of Indiana stores The Wine Spectator and suggested Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B InBev) has Genesee Brewery Plans ingredients and flavor expectations, as owned by fellow plaintiff Lebamoff Walter apply. He did, launching a career made a move into the burgeoning hard Facility Expansion well as brewing processes. Created in part- Enterprises, but can’t due to Illinois law. that spanned 14 years at the publica- seltzer category, acquiring SpikedSeltzer North American Breweries (NAB) is nership with Colorado-based design and The suit builds on Granholm v. Heald, tion, where he rose to the position of marketer Boathouse Beverage for an expanding its Genesee Brewery with the branding firm Interact Boulder, the new a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that president, and another 22 years in wine undisclosed sum. SpikedSeltzer is available help of New York State’s government. look will debut on seven Dogfish Head found states could not block out-of-state and publishing, including his own in around 15 states and expected to sell NAB is planning a $49 million renova- offerings this month, with additional beers wineries from shipping to local consumers newsletter, The Pinot Report. “Greg around 40,000 barrels this year. A-B InBev tion of Genesee—one of New York’s to follow later this year. Dogfish Head is if they allowed in-state wineries to do so, was one of the very first employees of is expected to ramp up production of the oldest breweries, founded in 1878—that currently available in 31 states. since such laws would be discriminatory Wine Spectator back when it was 6-percent abv SpikedSeltzer, which offers will include an 18,000-square-foot expan- against interstate commerce. The suit launched in San Diego,” recalled Cape Cod Cranberry, Valencia Orange, sion of its Rochester-based brewing plant. Brew Hub Expands comes just after Illinois tightened its Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher West Indies Lime and Indian River NAB is putting roughly $39.5 million Florida Contract Facility prohibition on out-of-state wine retailers. of Wine Spectator. “For many, many Grapefruit flavors. The Norwalk, into the project, while the state is St. Louis–based contract brewer Brew Hub On August 26th, Governor Bruce Rauner years he was a key contributor, rising to Connecticut–based Boathouse, which was kicking in another $9.5 million through is expanding its Lakeland, Florida brewery signed a new law stiffening penalties president of the magazine. Greg was a founded in 2013, currently sub-contracts its Upstate Revitalization Initiative and for the third time since 2014. Slated to be against out-of-state parties for ship- dear friend, a very popular person and production of its seltzer brand to North other aid, including tax breaks. The complete by March 2017, the project will ping wine into the state without the one of the leaders of our team, a solid American Breweries and Blues City project is expected to add nearly 130 new grow the brewery’s annual capacity from necessary licenses. rock and a pioneer in wine journalism. Brewery, but will soon shift to A-B InBev’s workers at the brewery, which is currently 100,000 barrels to 130,000 barrels. The He helped the magazine grow into what brewery in Baldswinville, New York. staffed by around 600. NAB is currently expansion will also add new fermenters In Memoriam it is today.” In addition, A-B InBev has reportedly owned by the Florida Ice and Farm Co. and a pasteurizer, which will allow Brew acquired Brouwerij Bosteels, the Belgian of Costa Rica, which purchased it from Hub to produce and package cider. Brew Margrit Biever Mondavi D.C. Retailer Ruth Bassin brewer best known in the U.S. market for investment firm KPS in 2012. The Hub plans to open four additional brew- Dies at 91 Dies At 89 its Tripel Karmeliet and Pauwel Kwak company brews its own brands—including eries over the next few years, with a Margrit Biever Mondavi, one of America’s Ruth Bassin, owner and president of brews, according to Belgian news sources. Genesee and Dundee—at the facility and Chesterfield, Missouri–based facility leading wine ambassadors, died in Napa Addy Bassin’s MacArthur Beverages in While financial terms of the deal weren’t also does contract-brewing for several slated to open in 2017. Meanwhile, Brew Valley on September 2nd of cancer. She Washington, D.C., passed away on disclosed, A-B InBev is said to have paid craft players. Hub has inked its first international part- was 91. Alongside her husband Robert August 21st. She was 89. Bassin founded around €200 million ($225 million) for nership, linking with South Korea’s Mondavi, Margrit helped promote MacArthur in 1957 with her husband, Brouwerij Bosteels, which Heineken French Firm Acquires The Booth Brewing Co. to produce Kieuk California wine in its infancy. A pres- Addy, who died in 1986. Along with was also said to be pursuing. This is the Seattle Craft Brewer Session IPA and Kukmin IPA for export ence in her own right, she was known Calvert Woodley and Schneider’s of second recent international brewery Seattle-based Two Beers Brewing Co. and at its Lakeland site. for her class, charm and intellect, creating Capitol Hill, MacArthur stands at the acquisition for A-B InBev, which acquired sister company Seattle Cider Co. have an atmosphere of warmth and hospitality top tier among wine and spirits retailers London-based Camden Town Brewery in merged with French agribusiness coopera- Legislative News for visitors that inspired other wineries in the nation’s capital, with a focus on December 2015. tive Agrial Group. Financial terms weren’t to do the same. The example she set at high-end wine and a clientele that has disclosed. The brands will continue to Retailers Fight Back Robert Mondavi Winery established it always included famous names in poli- Heineken Debuts operate independently under founder and Against Direct-Shipping Laws as a showpiece for Napa’s wines during tics and journalism. Bassin was named Specialty Import Division CEO Joel VandenBrink, and Agrial—the Lawyers representing an Indiana retailer the 1970s and 1980s. She was also a Market Watch Leader in 2005, and Heineken USA is set to launch Five largest cider producer in France—will and an Illinois consumer filed a instrumental in guiding Napa’s cultural she won the Market Watch Leaders Points Trading Co., a new division that help them expand domestically and complaint in a federal court in September, awakening, helping to shape it into the Alumni Award for Community Service will import and market a range of global internationally. In addition to enhancing arguing that an Illinois prohibition on thriving center of wine, food and art it in 2009. mw beer brands in the United States. The investment and distribution behind the retailer-to-consumer direct shipping is is today. The Editors new venture will assume U.S. importer Seattle brands, Agrial is planning to of record rights for the Red Stripe, Tiger, begin importing its Louis Raison French MARKET WATCH (ISSN 0277-9277) is published 11 times a year: January/February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October, November and December and one special issue in September, by M. Shanken Communications, Inc., Worldwide Plaza, 825 Eighth Avenue, 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10019. (212) 684-4224. Periodicals paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MARKET WATCH, P.O. Box 1260, Skokie, IL 60076. Subscription rates are: United States, $60 per year; Canada, $70 per year; Foreign, $85 per year. Canadian and foreign subscriptions are Birra Moretti, Affligem, Murphy’s stout, cider brand to the United States. payable in advance in U.S. funds. Subscription inquiries: Please write to Market Watch, P.O. Box 1260, Skokie, IL 60076, or call 1-800-848-7113. Return postage must accompany all unsolicited materials if they are to be returned and no responsibility can be assumed for such material. All “Letters to the Editor” should be sent to the Editor at the aforementioned address. All rights in letters sent to Market Watch will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to Market Watch’s unrestricted right to edit and to comment editorially. “Market Watch” is a registered trademark of Prestige, Sagres and Mort Subite brands. Distributed across 12 states, Seattle M. Shanken Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. 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