Beam Suntory said it acquired On The Rocks Premium Cocktails, a rapidly growing premium ready-to-drink cocktail brand. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Beam Suntory previously owned a minority interest in On The Rocks, which features Beam Suntory’s brands in its range of premium spirits-based pre-mixed cocktails.
“On the Rocks is the pioneer in the premium pre-mixed cocktails category, and joining forces couldn’t come at a better time,” said Albert Baladi, president & CEO of Beam Suntory. “We have an ambition to become #1 in the spirits-based ready-to-drink market, and On The Rocks will be a key growth platform that we’ll build along with our fast-growing pre-mixed highball products. We see tremendous opportunity to expand the OTR brand to new occasions, formats, cocktail recipes, and the low-ABV space.”
Spirits-based RTD is one of the fastest growing segment of the U.S. RTD market, and sales for On The Rocks Premium Cocktails doubled in the first six months of 2020. Among the brand’s signature cocktail products are the Knob Creek Old Fashioned, Hornitos Margarita, EFFEN Cosmopolitan and Cruzan Mai Tai. The brand is currently distributed primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
On the Rocks was co-founded in 2015 by Patrick Halbert, an entrepreneur and restauranteur, and Rocco Milano, a bartender, who started out by experimenting with spirits in a garage. Halbert and Milano came up with a concept to develop and bottle premium-quality cocktails with all-natural ingredients. In 2016, they began establishing partnerships to capture occasions such as air travel, hotel room service, and major sporting events. Halbert and Milano will continue to play leading roles with the brand as it joins the Beam Suntory portfolio.