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Castle Brands is a developer and international marketer of premium and super premium beverage alcohol brands. Its core spirits include rum, whiskey/bourbon and liqueurs, which are marketed and sold in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia. [1]
In 1998, Castle Brands Inc. was founded by Mark Andrews. The company has built its portfolio with both wide market and niche liquor products, including Jefferson's Presidential Collection whiskies. [2]
It distributes its products in all 50 states in the United States and the District of Columbia, in thirteen primary international markets, including Ireland, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Bulgaria, France, Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, China and the Duty Free markets, and in a number of other countries in continental Europe, Asia and Latin America. [3]
The company was founded in 1998 by Mark Andrews under the name Great Spirits LLC, through Mr. Andrews’ contribution of family-owned Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey. Castle Brands Inc, was later established in 2003 and Great Spirits LLC was merged into Castle Brands. Between 2003 and 2006, Castle Brands acquired Roaring Water Bay Spirits, later acquired McLain & Kyne, established Gosling-Castle Partners and signed a distribution agreement with Pallini SpA. These four deals expanded the portfolio with Jefferson’s Bourbon, Boru Vodka, Clontarf Irish Whiskey, and Brady’s Irish Cream Liqueur and provided exclusive distribution rights to Gosling’s rums and Pallini Limoncello. [4]
Castle completed its IPO in April 2006, at $9.00 per share, and raised net $29.3 million on 3.5 million shares. Proceeds were used to fund product expansion with the October 2006 acquisition of McLain & Kyne as well as an increase in sales and marketing efforts. Additional private financing in later years allowed the company to add more product lines.
Since 2014, the company management focused on growing its current brands across four categories: rum, whiskey/bourbon, liqueurs and vodka. [4]
In October 2019, the company was purchased by the French group Pernod Ricard, second worldwide producer of wines and spirits.
Castle Brands’ current portfolio contains the following brands: [5]
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Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is a mixture of Canadian whisky, cinnamon flavoring and sweeteners that is produced by the Sazerac Company. Its foundation is Canadian whisky, and the taste otherwise resembles the candy with a similar name, Ferrara Candy Company's "Atomic Fireball" candy. It is bottled at 33% alcohol by volume.
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Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey is a brand of premium single malt Irish whiskey produced by the Irish Distillers subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. The brand is named for historic Knappogue Castle in County Clare, Ireland, originally built by Clan MacNamara in 1467. Knappogue Castle is known for bottling one of the oldest and rarest known Irish whiskies, Knappogue Castle 1951, a pot still whiskey produced at the now-defunct B. Daly Distillery.
Cinnamon liqueur may refer to one of several brands of alcoholic beverages.
Master distiller is a title often used for a distilling expert or a key leader or owner at modern distilleries. The title doesn't have a fixed definition and can mean different things at different companies. Although the craft of distilling has existed for centuries throughout history, the term "master distiller" only dates back as far as the 1800s when it was first used to acknowledge the distilling expertise and knowledge a person gained after practicing and perfecting the craft of distilling for many years. In more recent usage, the term can have a much broader meaning and is sometimes used for owners and company leaders who run their companies but do not actively create the distilling recipes and processes used at their distilleries.
