Stoli will begin by expanding the footprint of Loch Lomond and Glen Scotia whiskies in the U.S.
Colin Matthews, President & CEO of Loch Lomond Group commented: “The strength of the Loch Lomond brands and our heritage, packaging, and product quality, along with the depth and breadth of our stocks, will combine with Stoli Group USA’s sales and marketing expertise and its distributor network in order to enable us to accelerate growth significantly in the USA, the world’s No.1 single malt Scotch market in volume and value. Forbes McMullin, our Vice President of Sales for the U.S., will be leading the transition for Loch Lomond Group.”
Patrick Piana, President & CEO of Stoli Group USA, said, “We’ve continued to significantly build our eponymous core vodka brand whilst introducing innovations and entering new categories, including tequila, bourbon, rum, and now, single malt Scotch whisky through our distribution partnership with the Loch Lomond Group. Beyond the compatibility of our portfolios, we felt this was a strong fit as our companies’ cultures combine expertize, rigor and structure with an empowering, and entrepreneurial spirit.”
Brian Cox, CMO of Stoli Group USA, added, “These single malt Scotch whiskies will be marketed in a new and distinctive manner, so that they constitute a set of truly differentiated assets for our distributor and retail partners to take to market. The brand equity, stock profile and retail selling price range will enable us to enter not only the mainstream single malt market, but also the broader whiskey category in order to compete with Bourbon, Irish and Canadian whiskies, and thereby recruit new consumers into the Scotch whisky category.”