News Briefs for May 11, 2017
May 11, 2017•Heaven Hill Brands has named Denny Potter as vice president of operations and master distiller. Potter, who previously served as master distiller and plant manager at Louisville’s Bernheim Distillery, will now have a leadership role in all Heaven Hill production operations, which include Bardstown bottling operations, Bernheim Distillery and Deep Eddy Vodka’s Austin, Texas, distillery and production facility. Additionally, Potter will continue performing his current distilling responsibilities.
•Sazerac is reportedly lining up some changes to Southern Comfort, which it acquired from Brown-Forman along with Tuaca early last year for $544 million. Southern Comfort will be rolling out new packaging in July, and is changing its recipe to include whiskey rather than grain neutral spirit, the New York Times reports. The brand will also debut a whiskey-forward 80-proof version alongside its existing 70- and 100-proof offerings, and will phase out flavored editions like Lime and Caramel Comfort. According to Impact Databank, Southern Comfort was down 4% to 1 million cases in the U.S. last year.
•Destilería Serrallés has released the second iteration of its Single Barrel rum collection, the limited-edition Don Q Signature Release Single Barrel 2007. Aged for nine years in American white oak and bottled directly from the barrel without blending, the 40% abv Single Barrel 2007 retails at $39.99 a 750-ml. and is available at select off-premise accounts across the country. Only 4,000 cases of Don Q Signature Release Single Barrel 2007 were released.
•Breakthru Beverage has named Peter Lijewski as vice president, supply chain, reporting directly to Art Wirtz, executive vice president, corporate operations and IT. Lijewski has nearly 20 years’ experience in the beverage alcohol industry, and held a series of supply chain roles with Constellation from 1997-2015.
Subscribe to Shanken News Daily’s Email Newsletter, delivered to your inbox each morning.Tagged : Bernheim Distilery, Breakthru Beverage, Deep Eddy, Destilería Serrallés, Don Q, Heaven Hill, Sazerac Co., Southern Comfort
