Heaven Hill Brands— the owners of popular labels such as Evan Williams, Rittenhouse Rye, and Deep Eddy’s Vodka— acquired Samson & Surrey’s entire portfolio of “super-premium brands in several of the industry’s fastest growing categories” and their facilities on Feb. 1.
Samson & Surrey’s current portfolio features a strong line-up of six craft-spirits brands: Tequila Ocho, Widow Jane American Whiskey, FEW Spirits, Brenne French Whisky, Bluecoat Gin and Mezcal Vago. The company was founded in 2016 by former Bacardi executives Robert-Furniss-Roe and Juan Rovira, with the mission “to create, together, the most admired premium independent spirits portfolio in the world.”
“We believe strongly in the potential of our brands which are perfectly positioned to capitalize on the key spirits market trends,” said Rovira in a Heaven Hill press release. “We could not be more delighted to join Heaven Hill and work together to continue building a strong portfolio in the premium and super-premium segments.”
The press release further emphasized the value of adding premium brands such as Tequila Ocho and Widow Jane to the Heaven Hill portfolio— citing one article from Shanken News Daily claiming that premium spirits have grown more than 10% in the past five years, with ultra-premium tequila and whiskeys leading the charge.
Tequila Ocho, one of the few terroir-focused tequila brands available in the US market, was ranked as one of VinePair’s Top 50 Spirits of 2021.