Rising Spirits Player WES Brands Expecting To More Than Double Its Business This Year

Texas-based WES Brands is seeing its celebrity-focused strategy pay off as it projects volume to more than double in size this year across a portfolio including Flecha Azul Tequila (in partnership with Mark Wahlberg), BSB Flavored Whiskey (with Jamie Foxx), and Fraser & Thompson Whiskey (with Michael Bublé). The company tells SND it surpassed 100,000 cases in total last year, led by Flecha Azul, which roughly doubled to 60,000 cases. This year, the portfolio is projected to vault to 234,000 cases, with growth accelerating.

“For Flecha, we had a great year in Southern California,” WES Brands CEO Shawn Thurman tells SND. “We had a great year in Texas, Illinois, Florida, and because of investments and the fact that Mark Wahlberg lives here in Nevada, Las Vegas really overperforms. There’s new sizes available this year—50-ml. and 375-ml.—which is a huge upside for us in marketing Flecha Azul.” The Flecha Azul lineup includes a Blanco ($45 a 750-ml.), Reposado ($55), Añejo ($65), Cristalino ($115), and Extra Anejo ($320) and is produced by the Orendain family in Jalisco, Mexico.

Late last year saw the limited launch of Fraser & Thompson ($30), a blend of Canadian and American whiskies, in partnership with singer Michael Bublé. This year Thurman says it’s full speed ahead on that brand. “We’re going to go on a national rollout starting right now with our partners across 45, 50 states and sell everything we can get our hands on,” he says. “It’s with Southern, but we also have other partners in certain markets.”

This year, WES Brands is adding Aspen Vodka to its roster, made by Colorado’s Aspen Distillers. The 40% abv vodka is made from locally sourced Red Winter wheat and water from the Roaring Fork river. “We spent a couple of years looking for a vodka for the portfolio and I think we looked at north of 60 potential candidates,” says WES Brands executive chairman Marshall Watson. “Everyone was a hard pass there: undifferentiated, everybody wanted to be the next Tito’s. But Aspen already means something to people both domestically and internationally.” The brand has a strong following in its home region and is ripe for expansion, he adds.

“We’ve reached new highs in terms of brand visibility, brand growth on both BSB and Flecha Azul,” notes WES Brands president and COO Sean Penn. “Aspen Vodka and Fraser & Thompson for their own part have gotten off to incredible starts to finish off calendar year 2023. So we’re extremely optimistic about the growth opportunities for all core brands within the portfolio.”

Looking ahead, Penn explains that future celebrity partnerships for the company must be “a relevant match. The brand itself needs to personify and come to life through the celebrity. We’ve really got to understand their commitment to the brand. So beyond being an investor, which is a critical part of our model, they need to have an established platform to be able to communicate to their consumer and customer base, and they need to be willing to put in the hard work.”—Shane English

Tagged : Aspen Vodka, BSB, Flecha Azul, Fraser & Thompson, WES Brands

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