Welcome back to the BevNET spirits newsletter! This week we’re digging into who scored big in 2024. 

What insiders are reading: Check out a chat with the Austin Cocktails sisters on their mistakes and my look at who will win the billion-dollar adult non-alc market?

Thanks for reading! 

-BevNET spirits editor, Ferron Salniker

Analysts have claimed the premiumization trend is “all but dead” but investments backing higher-end products are certainly still kicking. We compiled a list of the top raises secured by private companies last year:

Top Private Raises in 2024

Papa's Pilar Rum: $15 million, August

Sprinter: $12.8 million, May

Ghost Tequila: $12 million, November

Long Drink: $11.4 million, June

Casa Azul: $9.6 million, January

Playboy Spirits: $9.2 million, January

Brown Sugar Bourbon: $8.3 million, February

Desert Door Sotol: $5.1 million, February

Long Drink: $5 million, June

Juneshine: $5 million, January

Wild Common: $5 million, June

Hello Soju: $5 million, October

Brother’s Bond: $4.9 million, August

Meilli Vodka: $4 million, October

High Basin Brands: $4 million, November

So, what trends can we spot?

Celeb-backed products raked it in. The social capital and actual capital hierarchy is real: six of the biggest raises last year were for companies backed by Kylie Jenner (Sprinter), Jason Momoa (Meilli Vodka), Miles Teller (Long Drink), Travis Kelce & Eiza González (Casa Azul), Jamie Foxx (Brown Sugar Bourbon), and the Vampire Diaries co-stars (Brother’s Bond). 

The mantra these days is that celeb-backed brands are hot-or-not to investors based on the brand’s intrinsic appeal, and there is certainly evidence of some of that here. While the Jenners are in their own influencer category, Brother’s Bond, Casa Azul and Meilli Vodka do all have some sustainability or better-for-you components, and Long Drink has somehow made a gin soda one of the top-selling RTDs for years now. 

Agave or agave-adjacent spirits, like Casa Azul, Texas-based Desert Door Sotol (not agave but mistaken for it!), Ghost Tequila, and Wild Common tequila and mezcal are all offering above premium positioned products. It will be interesting to follow Desert Door’s trajectory as a U.S.-based producer of a traditionally Mexican spirit, especially with tariffs abound. 

Industry vets are also behind several of these names. Papa’s Pilar comes from Steve Groth, co-founder of Angel’s Envy, and Playboy Spirits also sprouts from the same roots, led by Marc Bushala, co-founder and former CEO of Angel’s Envy and co-founder of Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door Spirits. Meanwhile, beverage innovator Lance Collins entered into bev-alc via Casa Azul. Finally, created by former team members of On The Rocks (OTR), High Basin Brands (HBB) marked its launch in Texas last year by purchasing Treaty Oak Brewing and Distilling, one of Texas’ oldest distilleries.

And I hate to end on a personally depressing note, but the omnipresent trend in spirits fundraising is clear here too: only two of these brands are not founded and led by white men.

As always, we’re tracking what brands might be next, and you can catch up on our predictions for 2025. 

Trust me, I’m as sick as you are of the word tariffs. But here we are, at the beginning of a trade war now that the 25% tariff on imported goods from Canada and Mexico has gone into effect. Retaliatory actions are already underway from Canada, and Mexico is slated to announce its plans on Sunday. We summed up the potential impact on jobs and the backbar, but I also want to know how tariffs are impacting your business. Email me. 

Brown-Forman maintained its annual forecast even as it weathers flat whiskey sales and prepares for the impact of tariffs, the company announced in its Q3 FY25 financials release and earnings call. We broke down the company’s plans to revitalize whiskey sales and give el Jimador a glow up. 

When Adam Spiegel founded Sonoma Distilling Company in 2010, it was the 15th distillery to open in California. Now the Golden State boasts more than 300 distilleries, more than any other state, and Spiegel is embarking on a new chapter aiming to help revitalize what he calls a “broken three-tier system.” He said it, not me. Read about the new Freebrook Imports.

Speaking of the three-tier system, the CEO of Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) has left following the distributor’s loss of two major suppliers in the country’s largest spirits market. The swift departure came after Brown-Forman and Tito’s Handmade Vodka announced they were both ditching RNDC for evolving total-beverage distributor Reyes Beverage Group in California. Read about troubles at the distributor.

This report from CGA and Pernod Ricard offers a forecast on bars over the next decade (when the century will be ⅓ over already?!), activating a crystal ball with the help of factoids like: 

• 30% of consumers have moved towards lighter serves because they want to keep stronger ones for special occasions. 
• And 39% of consumers base their drink choice on what will look good on social media. I wonder what the stats are in LA!
  Read the report.