just the Preview – Beam Global Spirits & Wine’s Q1

Fortune Brands, the parent company of Beam Global Spirits & Wine, is set to release its first-quarter results tomorrow (29 April). Below, we take a look at the highs and lows for the unit in the three months to the end of March.

• Early in the quarter, Beam Global appointed its first vice president for whiskey. Byron Hoover assumed the role from specialist advertising and design agency Arnell. He had previously been chief marketing officer of Diageo’s Jose Cuervo International.

• Then, in mid-January, Beam Global said its Laphroaig Scotch whisky brand would sponsor the US Curling Association, ahead of the Winter Olympics in Canada.

• Following the release of its full-year results (see below), at the end of January, Fortune said that it was on the lookout for potential acquisitions for Beam Global, particularly in the rum and vodka categories.

• Fortune also credited its Red Stag by Jim Beam flavoured brand extension with driving Bourbon sales since its launch in June last year. “Red Stag blew away our forecasts and became one the hottest new Bourbon products in years,” said Fortune’s CEO, Bruce Carbonari, in January.

• Finally, just after the end of the first quarter, Beam Global won a lawsuit in the US against Diageo to protect the copyright of the red wax seal used on bottles of Maker’s Mark Bourbon. Diageo had been using a red wax seal on its Jose Cuervo Tequila in the country.

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