Constellation Brands has dialled down its spirits presence even further, offloading Tennessee-based Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery back to the descendants of its original founder.
Belle Meade Spirits, a company created by Andy and Charlie Nelson and named after an American whiskey brand initially produced at Nelson’s Green Brier, has regained ownership of the facility. The transaction, for an undisclosed sum, comes almost exactly two years after Constellation sold off the Svedka vodka brand, reducing its spirits footprint to the Casa Noble and Mi Campo tequilas alongside American whiskies from High West Distillery and – at the time – Nelson’s Green Brier.
Founded by Charles Nelson in 1860, Nelson’s Green Brier, which is based in central Nashville, grew to become one of the largest whiskey distillers in the US before it ceased operations in 1909 due to a state-wide alcohol ban. Nelson’s great-great-great-grandsons reopened the facility in 2014, with Constellation buying in two years later, taking a minority stake through its Constellation Ventures corporate venture capital business.
The group took majority control in 2019, followed by securing outright ownership two years ago.
Constellation, whose US beer operations account for around 93% of group sales, enjoyed a prosperous second quarter, posting a top-line increase from the three months to the end of August of 6%. For the first half of fiscal 2027, sales sit at +4% versus the corresponding six-month period of fiscal 2026.
