Diageo has bookended a week in which multinational spirits brand owners have involved themselves with US craft spirits companies, announcing its acquisition of single malt specialist Balcones Distilling.
Following on from Campari Group’s purchase of majority control of Kentucky’s Wilderness Trail, the London-headquartered group has bought full control of Texas-based Balcones. Financial details were not disclosed, with Diageo funding the transaction “through existing cash resources”.
Fourteen-year-old Balcones joins Kentucky’s Bulleit Bourbon among Diageo’s American whiskey ranks. The company’s brands, which sit at the super-premium-and-above end of the segment’s price spectrum, include Texas ‘1’ American single malt [online SRP of US$69.99], Lineage American single malt [$43.99] and Baby Blue corn whisky [also $43.99].
As well as its domestic presence, the craft distiller also exports to 11 markets, including the UK.
According to figures from trade association The Distilled Spirits Council of the US, the super-premium end of the American whiskey category has been posting healthy growth domestically in recent years: Volumes in the US at the more expensive end, defined as $210+ per nine litres in supplier revenue, have soared from 2.4m nine-litre cases in 2017 to 4.7m cases last year - a compound annual growth rate of 14.4%.
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