Molson Coors Beverage Co has strengthened its presence in spirits, readying the purchase of Kentucky-based craft distiller Blue Run Spirits.
The transaction, the financial details of which were not disclosed, is the Coors Light brand owner’s first in spirits. Subsequently, the group has also set up Coors Spirits Co, a unit that will oversee Blue Run along with the Five Trail American whiskey and Barmen 1873 Bourbon brands.
Blue Run co-founder Mike Montgomery will move with the company to become VP of Molson Coors’ spirits operations while his fellow founders, Tim Sparapani, Jesse McKnight and Andy Brown, will continue in their existing roles.
“Molson Coors has been on a journey to broaden beyond our beer roots and build powerful brands in growing categories, and Blue Run joining us is an exciting next step as we establish Coors Spirits Co.,” said CCO Michelle St. Jacques. “Blue Run has accomplished in three years what many brands hope to do in a generation and has done it at the luxury end of the whiskey category.”
Blue Run’s plan to build a distillery in Georgetown, Kentucky, announced earlier this year, remains on track.
Earlier this month, Molson Coors posted a 12% lift in year-on-year sales from the three months to the end of June.
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