Exclusive Interview: Southern Glazer’s Invests In A1rwater, Led By Bacardi Veteran Pete Carr
November 3, 2025After an illustrious career in the beverage alcohol industry, former Bacardi executive Pete Carr last year became CEO of A1rwater, an atmospheric water company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which produces drinking water directly from humidity in the air. The company currently operates in the UAE, and has also begun U.S. production in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A1rwater recently announced a distribution deal with Southern Glazer’s, which also became an investor through its Southern Glazer’s Ventures arm.
A1rwater also recently struck a deal to combine with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. III, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The combined company will be named Air Water Ventures Limited, and shares will be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol “WATR”. SND executive editor Daniel Marsteller spoke with Carr and Southern Glazer’s CEO Wayne Chaplin to learn more.
SND: What makes distributing and investing in A1rwater an attractive opportunity for Southern Glazer’s?
Chaplin: When you think about us and looking at beverage alcohol and where our strengths have been, and then our recent move in New York with the A-B operation [ed note: see below], we continue to see opportunities outside the traditional wine and spirits business. When Pete came to us with this idea about A1rwater, it hit all cylinders for us. Diversifying our portfolio number-one, but then with a unique product that no one else is out there doing. And with all the interest around artisanal and premium water, the environmental benefits, and this whole new way of bringing product to market, it was incredibly exciting. Then you add somebody like Pete in the mix who is a visionary and an incredibly hard worker, super creative, and someone that we really know how to partner with—it’s like a 12-cylinder race car ready to go.
SND: Pete, what benefits do you see from the partnership?
Carr: There’s not another family business that covers 47 states, the Caribbean and Canada, and that allows us to scale really quickly when we’re ready. I don’t hire consultants, especially if I’m working with Southern, because the sales rep and the management teams, they’re your best consultants. Those are the ones that have the answers. And going back to what Wayne said about Southern’s diversification, A1rwater allows Southern to go everywhere now, where before it was limited to licensed accounts.
SND: Where do you see significant opportunities for early growth?
Carr: What I really like about it is I can market to somebody who’s a year old or a hundred years old. Water is one of the few categories that’s showing growth, with almost a 6% CAGR to 2030. We all know on-premise is where brands are built. “Still or sparkling” is the first question you get when you sit down at a table in a restaurant.
Everybody obviously wants to get away from plastic, so we will do cans and glass bottles. We’ll have a high-end bottle for upscale restaurants. Then we’ll have everyday bottle usage, and we’ll also do slim 12-ounce cans, 16-ounce cans, and then aluminum bottles as well. We’ll kick out our new SKUs with Southern by the end of November. We’re already the official water of the Miami Heat in the NBA. We will be priced at a premium, because atmospheric water is a new category, so it’ll be a buck, minimum, above anybody else.
We’ll have more with Pete Carr and Wayne Chaplin in the second part of this interview.
Tagged : A1rwater, Southern Glazer's
