Pernod Ricard invests further in American whiskey with new global brand company

Yesterday, Pernod Ricard unveiled a new global brand company, North American Distillers (NADL). The new business stands as a development of its existing American whiskey portfolio which was launched as an independent unit incubated within Pernod Ricard USA.

NADL follows on from Pernod Ricard's progressive incremental increases in investment into the sector, which has seen it significantly grow its American whiskey portfolio over the past five years. This includes committing more than AUD $​​382 million (€238m) in 2022 to a five year plan to develop a carbon neutral distillery and ageing warehouses for its Jefferson’s Bourbon brand. 

“Our investments made in Jefferson's, Rabbit Hole, Smooth Ambler, Skrewball and TX, underscore our ambitious commitment,” said Richard Black, CEO of NADL. Richard Black brings with him more than 23 years of executive leadership experience at Pernod Ricard in whiskey and cognac, including time at Chivas Brothers and most recently as Martell’s Global Marketing Director. 

“My mission is to harness this potential and drive a singular focus on these brands and our operations, driving us towards our goals and creating a top-tier marketing and sustainable operations team on the back of our peoples' deep-rooted expertise."

Pernod Ricard's new global brand company comes at a time of major growth for US spirits in Australia, which reached $132 million in November 2023, up 7.3% on the year prior. The Distilled Spirits Council of the US largely credits this to the dynamic nature of Australia’s spirits market, which makes it willing to trial and experiment with new brands and styles. 

"American whiskey is a dynamic spirits category, and our portfolio shows immense potential for future growth,” said Richard Black. 

One of the new whiskey brands and styles in Pernod Ricard’s portfolio, Skrewball peanut butter whiskey, was recently added to Pernod Ricard’s Australian portfolio. The expansion follows multiple years of rapid growth since it was launched in the US in 2018. It is currently the number one peanut butter whiskey flavoured liqueur in the world, leading out its nearest competitor 15:1 by both value and volume. It also currently stands as the number five flavoured whiskey brand overall.

The creation of NADL will align Pernod Ricard’s American Whiskey operations with its proven global operations structure reflected in its Irish and Scotch whisk(e)y entities, Irish Distillers and Chivas Brothers. The new company will be responsible for all Pernod Ricard’s American North America operations sites and will seek out growth via leveraging the company’s global network.