Tennessee’s Ole Smoky Distillery has folded the recently-purchased Tanteo Spirits tequila business into its existing distribution arrangement in the US.
The moonshine & American whiskey company has secured an agreement from Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits that the distributor will take on the Tanteo tequila portfolio in 36 states, along with the District of Columbia. The deal marks an expansion of the spiced tequila’s current US availability, according to Ole Smoky, although more specific details were not disclosed.
The takeover transaction, announced in August, has been followed by an integration of management and sales personnel, while Tanteo’s production tie-up with Distilladora Juanacatlan in Jalisco remains in place. Warehousing and shipping, meanwhile, have been brought into Ole Smoky’s facility in Tennessee.
“Our team is excited to present the Tanteo brand to a broader audience nationwide through the newly aligned distributor network and integration in Ole Smoky’s warehousing and shipping facilities,” said Ole Smoky’s president of wholesale, Michael Bender.
Supply constraints, which have shaped the tequila industry over recent years, appear to have eased recently: Speaking to Global Drinks Intel earlier this month, Tierra de Agaves CEO Francisco Quijano talked of an “inflection point”.
“There will never be a balance between agave availability and tequila demand,” he said. “The lines may cross at certain parts of the cycle, but they’ll never balance. Today, we’re at an inflection point, with plenty of young agave reaching full maturity and it’s more than the industry can take. That means the price of agave is going down substantially quickly.”
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