London – 22 July 2013
News Release – International Spirts Group Forms New Company
Quintessential Brands, the European independent spirits group established by Enzo Visone, former CEO of the Campari Group and investment banker Warren Scott, has announced the formation of new company Essential Drinks.
Essential Drinks will be a key part of the group’s vision to become a leading, independent European spirits company with global reach and world-class production and brand-building capabilities. Essential Drinks offers commercial production, as well as sales and distribution services to UK and international B2B partners.
Karl Hayes, Managing Director of Essential Drinks, comments: “Our role is to provide a full menu of services for brand owners. In addition to world-class production solutions, we offer customers unrivalled access in the UK to all key off-trade partners and a flexible ‘scale to bespoke’ on-trade solution, including full logistics management.”
Essential Drinks’ current partners include some of the world’s best-known, premium and international spirits brands, as well as fast-growing boutique brands. Essential Drinks also provides UK grocery, convenience and wholesale customers with retailer brand solutions across a number of spirit categories.
Enzo Visone comments: “Essential Drinks is an end-to-end solution for retailers and independent brand owners, adding capability where value can best be unlocked in the most effective and efficient manner. By working with Essential Drinks, brand owners are able to invest resource in areas where they have their own competitive advantage and can make use of Essential Drinks’ access and capabilities in a very low cost and effective manner.”
The formation of Essential Drinks is a further step in the expansion of the Quintessential Brands group following the 2011 acquisition of G&J Greenall, the world’s second largest gin distiller which was founded in 1761. This follows on from the recent announcement of Quintessential Brands’ partnership with Marblehead, one of the UK’s leading premium brand agencies.
In the future, Quintessential Brands group plans to expand its production capabilities across a number of spirit categories, as well as broadening its existing distribution platform in international markets through further acquisitions and joint venture partnerships.
Notes to Editors:
Enzo Visone, Quintessential Brands Founding Partner and Chairman, has had a 25 year career in the wine and spirits industry. He spent over 20 years with Campari and for 15 years of that was responsible for Campari’s expansion internationally. Enzo is also CEO of of the luxury cruise liner group, Silversea Cruises.
Warren Scott, Quintessential Brands Founding Partner and Director, spent over 25 years as a European investment banker during which time he worked for JP Morgan, Investec, KPMG, Jeffries Inc and Canaccord Genuity Hawkpoint. Over the last 10 years, Warren focused on the European consumer markets sector. In the UK he helped create and chaired Cambria Automobiles plc, a top 20 publicly quoted automotive distributor.
Karl Hayes, Essential Drinks Managing Director, has over 23 years’ experience in the drinks industry with Diageo plc and, more recently, as Commercial Director of G&J Greenall Ltd.
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ABOUT QUINTESSENTIAL BRANDS
Quintessential Brands owns an award-winning portfolio of world-class spirit brands, which is powered by a strong entrepreneurial vision and passion for innovation, backed by centuries of handcrafted distilling expertise.
Quintessential Brands Group was established in 2011 with the acquisition of G&J Distillers, the UK’s foremost gin distillery, which evolved from Thomas Dakin’s original 1761 operation and now produces an unrivalled quality gin selection. In Ireland, Dublin Liberties Distillery is our home of modern Irish whiskeys and First Ireland Spirits in Abbeyleix crafts award-winning Irish creams. Our French hub, L&L France, creates fine French fruit liqueurs, cognacs, brandies and vodka.
For more information, please contact the communications team at Quintessential Brands by e-mail: [email protected]
