Beam Suntory takes stake in London gin maker Sipsmith

As in beer so in spirits: big corporate drinks companies are buying up craft distilleries. Spirits giant Beam Suntory, which was formed after the purchase of Jim Beam by Japan’s Suntory for USD 16 billion in 2014, has bought a controlling stake in Sipsmith to drive the global expansion of the pioneering London gin distillery.

As was reported on 16 December 2016, Sipsmith’s founders Sam Galsworthy and Fairfax Hall will continue to hand-craft their small-batch gin at the Chiswick-based distillery, but its products will now be sold through Suntory’s global supply routes.

The deal, which was agreed for an undisclosed sum, follows a flurry of similar tie-ups between global drinks giants and the independent craft beer and spirits makers whose popularity has emerged as a threat to mass-market drinks makers in recent years.

Also in 2016 France’s Pernod Ricard acquired a majority stake in the German gin brand Monkey 47. No transaction details were disclosed. Monkey 47 had a turnover of nearly EUR 3.0 million in 2014.

The Sipsmith brand has been credited with leading the resurgence of London dry gin after it opened the first traditional copper-pot distillery in the capital in 200 years in 2009.

Two thirds of Sipsmith’s sales are in the UK where sales of gin have surged 40 percent from 2010 to 2015 to just over GBP 1 billion in 2015 compared to steady sales of GBP 1.28 billion for Scotch whisky.

Beam Suntory was formed from the merger of US bourbon maker Jim Beam and Japanese drinks giant Suntory to become the world’s number three drinks company behind Diageo and Pernod Ricard.