Award-winning, international spirits company, Quintessential Brands Group, has announced the reorganization of its North American operations, forming a stand-alone business entity to serve the North American market, Quintessential Brands North America, LLC.
Following a comprehensive review of their US route to market, effective May 1st, Quintessential Brands North America takes over management and import responsibility for Quintessential Brands premium brands portfolio, which includes a diverse range of award-winning gin, Irish whiskey and Irish Cream brands, serving the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Quintessential Brands North America will also offer retailers, distributors and brand owners a vast array of spirits solutions services, including bottling, packaging and new product development across a wide range of spirits categories.
Quintessential Brands North America is the company’s first independent venture outside of Europe, where it continues to see particular success in the U.K market, and its creation is a statement of the high priority the Group has assigned to the US. Quintessential Brands North America will be led by Steve Ward as CEO; Ward joined Quintessential Brands as Vice President Business Development for the US and Canada in 2018 following 23 years in the industry, working for global companies such as Heineken and Edrington.
Having served the industry first as CEO of First Ireland Spirits and subsequently as CEO of Quintessential Brands North America, Bill Spann becomes Chairman. Philippe Roederer, who joined Quintessential Brands in 2017 following years in leadership roles at VOSS and Remy Cointreau, remains Commercial Director for North America, with Chris Song serving as Vice-President for Quintessential Brands Spirit Solutions. In line with the company’s ambitions, the Quintessential Brands North America team will expand with hires across trade marketing, regional sales, national accounts and customer service in the months ahead.
The changes to the US business follow the recent unveiling of Quintessential Brands’ new distillery[1] in the heart of Dublin, the Dublin Liberties Distillery, which opened in February to much acclaim. Led by renowned Master Distiller, Darryl McNally, the Dublin Liberties Distillery has been heralded as one of the most exciting new Irish whiskey distilleries to watch out for and is expected to be at the forefront of the Irish whiskey category’s continued global growth in the years ahead. Quintessential Brands has also been at the forefront of the global gin boom in recent years, with Master Distiller, Joanne Moore, responsible for creating some of the fastest growing gins in the world, including BLOOM Gin and Opihr Gin.
Co-Founder of Quintessential Brands Group and Executive Chairman, Enzo Visone, comments: “Since we established Quintessential Brands in 2011, we have enjoyed great success in the UK thanks to our clear dual focus on providing unrivalled innovation and quality, but as a company with global ambitions, we’ve always had great aspirations for North America when the time was right. We believe that time is now, so by taking ownership of our route to market in North America, we can now become the masters of our destiny in the continent. The team we’ve assembled to drive the success we aspire to in North America are highly capable and ambitious to achieve our goals, so I’m confident this is the start of a new exciting chapter for Quintessential Brands as we begin to unlock our true potential in the Americas.”
Steve Ward, CEO for Quintessential Brands North America, adds; “The scope of brands, products and services we bring to the market is second to none so as we now take control of our importing business in the US, we are determined to deliver a superior service to the distributors and retailers of our brands across America and drive improved awareness and resonance amongst consumers through a program of engaging marketing activity.”
Quintessential Brands’ dynamism and unique business model has seen it establish itself as one of the most exciting new international companies to emerge in the last decade, but its youth belies the 250-year heritage and provenance on which the business has been built. Over the last eight years, the company has acquired production sites that offer incomparable expertise in their specialism; from G&J Distillers, the world’s foremost gin distillery, producing 20% of the gin consumed in the world today including the world’s first London Dry Gin, Greenall’s, through to its new whiskey distillery in Dublin, the Dublin Liberties Distillery, which is making waves in the Irish whiskey scene as it pioneers new innovative styles of whiskey.
Ward and his team will be attending this month’s WSWA Convention & Exhibition at the Grande Lakes Orlando, where they will be showcasing the company’s premium brands portfolio. Please contact Becky Bollinger at [email protected] for an appointment.
ENDS
[1] 25% owned by Stock Spirits, a Central and Eastern European branded spirits producer.
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]
