Wild Turkey Expansion

[cowdery]

Apparently, the Skyy Vodka PR team in San Francisco is now the Wild Turkey PR team too (both brands are owned by Gruppo Campari).

In the course of investigating the reported Wild Turkey shortage in the northern suburbs of Chicago, I also asked about the distillery expansion. I was told that all of the new equipment is now on-site and the new buildings are going up. They told me it's all going "surprisingly well."

Actually, if you look at the Skyy Spirits web site, Skyy Spirits -- rather than Gruppo Campari -- appears to be the corporate umbrella they are using in the USA, under which they're marketing Skyy Vodka, Wild Turkey Bourbon, Cabo Wabo Tequila, Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey, and Campari itself.

[mobourbon]

Chuck, I heard another still is being built at WT. It should be finished Sept. 2010. Maybe making Skyy in Lawrenceburg, KY?

[cowdery]

Chuck, I heard another still is being built at WT. It should be finished Sept. 2010. Maybe making Skyy in Lawrenceburg, KY?

A second still has been part of the expansion plan from the beginning. Are you talking about a third still?

The production of Skyy Vodka is entirely outsourced. The spirit itself has been made at MGP in Pekin, IL, which is one of the half-dozen or so GNS plants that make virtually all domestic vodka. I've seen Skyy being bottled at Brown-Forman but that's just a contract job too. Both could be done anywhere.

As you well know, one of and perhaps the only company is the USA that actually makes the vodka it sells is Sazerac.

[p_elliott]

Chuck

Is there any word yet if they are going to open the bottling line back up at WT or not? Now that they not owned by Penrod Richard who is currently doing their bottling?

Paul

[funknik]

As you well know, one of and perhaps the only company is the USA that actually makes the vodka it sells is Sazerac.

There is a very small distillery around here that makes potato vodka and I think they're pretty homegrown, but may have a parent company . . . here's a link:

http://www.coldrivervodka.com/home.php

[cowdery]

I haven't heard anything about bottling. As I mentioned to Fred above, Skyy has always used contract bottlers and it wouldn't surprise me if they did the same for Turkey. On the other hand, and depending on their plans for their whole brand group, they may take the fact that they have to have a distillery as an opportunity to set up their own bottling operation.

There are a few micro-distilleries that make vodka from scratch but even some of them buy GNS from the major producers and just redistill it, or they mix it with their own house-made GNS.

[cowdery]

The following was released today, a typical quarterly earnings statement. This is the first couple of paragraphs.

"Gruppo Campari has reported a rise in net sales for the first nine months of 2009, boosted by its acquisition of Wild Turkey Bourbon.

"Net sales for the nine months to the end of September rose by 7.2% to EUR696.5m (US$1bn), compared to EUR649.6m in the same period of 2008, the Italian drinks group said today (11 November).

"Wild Turkey Bourbon, which Campari acquired from Pernod Ricard earlier this year for EUR417.5m, contributed strongly to sales in the third quarter. Like-for-like sales for the nine-month period, excluding acquisitions, fell by 1.3%.

"Pretax profits for the nine months rose by nearly 15% to EUR133.7m, with operating profits (edbitda) up 19% to EUR175.8m."

[p_elliott]

Campari can send me my kick back now or just give me stocks:cool: