News Briefs for March 26, 2025
•Jim Beam is extending its flavor lineup with a Pineapple variant. A blend of pineapple flavor with Kentucky Straight Bourbon, the new entry is Beam’s first flavor launch in four years and is recommended to be served with lemon-lime soda or in a Pica y Piña with lime juice, simple syrup, jalapeños, and a tajin rim. Jim Beam Pineapple (32.5% abv) is now available nationwide at select retailers for a suggested retail price of $20 per 750-ml. bottle. Jim Beam had U.S. volume of 5.5 million cases last year, including flavors but excluding RTDs.
•Banfi Vintners has entered the gin category, adding on Northern Ireland’s The Boatyard Distillery as an agency brand. The move will make Banfi the exclusive sales agent for the Boatyard Double Gin in the U.S., where it will be marketed nationally for a suggested price of $40. The gin is made with eight botanicals, including a double dose of juniper at the beginning and end of the infusion process. The 46% abv gin is also made with coriander, angelica, orris, and citrus, among other botanicals.
•Tequila Ocho, part of Heaven Hill’s Samson & Surrey portfolio, is releasing an Añejo Tequila aged in Old Fitzgerald whiskey barrels. The Tequila is bottled at 48% abv and was distilled from agave plants sourced from Rancho Corralillos and Rancho Potrero Grande. The Tequila is aged for one year before bottling and carries a suggested price of $110 a bottle. Tequila Ocho is releasing 3,200 cases of the new offering to the U.S. market.
•The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States has gathered 13,000 signatures on a petition urging the U.S. government to exempt spirits from any upcoming tariffs. The announcement, made with the Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition, comes as part of a wider Spirits United campaign bringing together all tiers of the three-tier system to advocate for fair trade for spirits. “The coalition is urging everyone connected to the spirits and wine industries, from bartenders, consumers, manufacturers, farmers, importers, and exporters, to tell the administration that tariffs on distilled spirits and wines put American jobs at risk and must be eliminated,” said Chris Swonger, DISCUS president and CEO.
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Tagged : Banfi, Boatyard Distillery, DISCUS, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Samson & Surrey, Suntory, Tequila Ocho
