Well its been a busy couple of weeks since I posted my thoughts on the growth in Craft Brewing.  Since then, Tony Foglio and Keith Greggor of Griffin Group (Formerly Skyy and in the old days Diageo/UDV/Paddington) purchased the Anchor Brewery from Fritz Maytag.  Wow!  I’d like to say they read my post, and went shopping, but of course, they’d been working on this deal for some time.  These are two of the smartest people I know in the beverage alcohol industry and this big commitment to the craft brewing and artisan distilling categories is yet another indication that the trends we are all seeing are gaining momentum and are here to stay.  Congratulations guys! I know they will keep the integrity of the Anchor brand while giving it just the right touch to take it to new heights.  Just like they did with Skyy Vodka.

Along these lines, I’m very excited by our new partnership with W. L. Lyons Brown III and Altamar Brands.  Lyons is the oldest of the 5th generation Brown family which control Brown-Forman Corp (Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Finlandia).  Lyons left Brown-Forman a while back to form his own Spirits company, Altamar, which was intensely focused on artisan ultra premium brands.  (See “Southern Discomfort”, Forbes).  His initial brand of Tequila was launched and subsequently sold for an incredible return on investment.  Lyons then re-invested into three ultra premium, hand crafted brands – Right Gin, Kubler Absinthe, and Tequila Ocho.  These three brands each have their own unique place in the market and most importantly, incredible liquid in the bottle.  Lyons and I have been talking since mid 2009 about ways in which smaller, entrepreneurial companies and brands can be successful in a market dominated by the likes of Diageo, Fortune Brands, Bacardi, Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman.  The result is yesterday’s announcement of our strategic partnership between Altamar and Pelican Brands (below).  This is a very exciting time in the industry.  Those that can figure out how to manage their platform costs (read sales force, back of house infrastructure etc) and the complicated and difficult distribution landscape while nurturing hand crafted brands whether they be beers, spirits, wines or other niche categories will have tremendous success in the years to come.  This is precisely what Pelican Brands has set out to do.  I look forward to sharing more on our exciting journey.

For now, grab a Napa Smith Organic IPA, a Singha from exotic Thailand, a Swedish born Right Gin martini, a newly released vintage Tequila Ocho, a “Velvet” made with Kubler Absinthe or an Arta Tequila  in a snifter and sit back and enjoy the ride.

Smoke

Press Release here your your convenience:

FOR RELEASE MAY 4 2010

Media contact:

Samira Seiller  - Altamar Brands

630-215-6753/ Sam@Altamarbrands.com

Altamar Brands, LLC And Pelican Brands Form Wide Ranging Strategic Partnership To Develop, Market & Sell Premium Spirits Brands

Altamar Brands Is A Luxury Spirits Company founded By W.L. Lyons Brown, III

Pelican Brands Is The Fastest Growing Full Service Brand Platform In The Global Beverage Industry

Corona del Mar, California & Carmel, IN, USA – May 4, 2010 – Altamar Brands and Pelican Brands today announced a wide ranging strategic partnership created to develop, market and sell premium spirits brands.

W.L. Lyons Brown III, CEO of Altamar said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Smoke and his team. We presently face a perfect storm of challenges in building luxury brands through a small company model in this economic environment and, after careful study; we are convinced that Pelican Brands is uniquely positioned to help us meet them.”

“We are honored and privileged to partner with Lyons and the Altamar team”, said J. Smoke Wallin, Chairman of Pelican Brands.  He continued, “We created Pelican Brands on a foundation of innovation with an eye to achieving extraordinary results for exceptional brand partners and building meaningful scale in each product category in which we choose to compete.  This strategic partnership with Altamar serves as a catalyst for our luxury spirits platform and continues the momentum Pelican has built since inception.”

This deal follows Pelican Brands’ previous announcements of its exclusive U.S. rights to the brand management of Singha beer Thailand’s no.1 export beer, Napa Smith, handcrafted beers from the Napa Valley and the exciting launch of Artá Hand Crafted Ultra Premium Tequila with a Conscience.

Don Hammond, President of Pelican Brands, said, “The care and attention to detail with which Altamar has nurtured Right Gin, Kubler Absinthe and Ocho Tequila sets the bar in the ultra premium spirits sector.  Combining our strengths in distribution, national accounts and in-market execution will only serve to drive the business forward as the economy and importantly the premium on-premise sectors show signs of improvement.”

About Altamar Brands, LLC

Altamar Brands, LLC was founded by W. L. Lyons Brown, III in 2005 for the purpose of developing luxury spirits brands that change perception. The company is located in Corona Del Mar, California. Altamar imports and markets 3 brands, Kubler Absinthe from Switzerland, Right Gin from Sweden and Tequila Ocho from Arandas, Mexico. It is Altamar’s intention to develop a presence in all spirits categories with highly distinctive product stories that support a premium brand positioning. More detail on the company, the brands and all press is available at www.altamarbrands.com.

Follow-up Contact: Samira Seiller 630-215-6753/ Sam@Altamarbrands.com

About Pelican Brands

Pelican Brands nurtures and builds brands in the global beverage alcohol space.  Our team and partners have extensive experience in the global beverage and consumer packaged goods industries.   Pelican Brands is headquartered in Carmel, IN with offices in the United Kingdom and a sales team covering the U.S. and select international markets.  Pelican’s growing portfolio of brands include super premium entrants in spirits, beer, wine and mixers.

• Pelican Brands Beer Portfolio:  Thailand’s #1 export, Singha Beer www.singhabeer.com, Napa, CA’s award winning craft beers from Napa Smith Brewery www.napasmithbrewery.com,
• Pelican Brands current Spirits Portfolio: Artá Hand Crafted Ultra Premium Tequila with a Conscience www.artatequila.com, The Margarita King, the fun, passionate and a great tasting margarita cocktail in a bottle www.themargaritaking.com
• Pelican Brands Mixer Portfolio: bold and spicy, Red Eye Texas Style Bloody Mary mix www.redeyebrand.com.

For more information on Pelican Brands our website is www.pelican-brands.com.