Diageo-backed Distill Ventures has entered into a strategic partnership with House Spirits Distillery's Westward American single-malt whiskey, the company has announced.
The investment is expected to boost Westward's production capacity by 40% next year and help the brand in meeting growing demands.
Brand Expansion
Distill Ventures has invested in House Spirits Distillery's Portland facility, as well as its American single-malt brand and inventory.
The chief executive and co-owner of Westward American single-malt whiskey, Thomas Mooney, said, “We are thrilled to bring our Westward American single-malt whiskey into the Distill Ventures family – an exciting and logical next step, as we expand our brand across the United States and into export markets around the world.
“This strategic partnership with Distill Ventures and Diageo brings deep production expertise, an enhanced route to market, and the capital that we need to realise the full potential of our Westward American single-malt whiskey programme,” Mooney added.
Other spirits under the House Spirits Distillery umbrella, including Krogstad aquavit, Volstead vodka and Casa Magdalena rum, are not part of the investment, however, they will continue to be produced at the Portland distillery and supplied through the existing distributor network.
An Opportunity To Grow
Like other companies that work with Distill Ventures, the founders and current investors of Westward whiskey will retain majority ownership and continue to run the business independently.
Gonzalo de la Pezuela, the managing director of Distill Ventures North America, said, “The Distill Ventures model offers the best entrepreneurs the opportunity to scale and grow their businesses independently, with specialised acceleration resources on a global basis.
“Our team is deeply committed to working with strong founders like Westward’s Thomas Mooney and Christian Krogstad, who deliver on innovation and excel at brand-building. Westward American single-malt whiskey is an unparalleled spirit that perfectly delivers on the vision of placing a US brand amongst the world’s most coveted single-malts,” de la Pezuela added.
According to IWSR, American single-malts grew at a rate of 131% between 2014 and 2017.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
