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Yellowstone’s Kelly Reilly joins Ammunition Whiskey
Yellowstone star Kelly Reilly has joined the leadership team at California-based Ammunition Wines & Whiskey as creative visionary and brand storyteller.
The English actor, best known for playing Beth Dutton on the Paramount TV series Yellowstone, has joined Ammunition Wines & Whiskey in an effort to help grow brand awareness. Reilly joins a team that includes co-founders Andy Wahl and Bill Kerr.
As a creative visionary for the brand, Reilly will lend her talents as part of a new Soil to Spirit campaign that celebrates the journey each drop of whiskey takes and aims to reshape the perceptions of women in whiskey. Ammunition says that Reilly instantly connected with the brand’s commitment to craftsmanship, quality, and honouring the land.
“I have always harboured a deep respect for the land and our natural resources,” said Reilly, who has also starred in True Detective and Pride & Prejudice. “I was immediately drawn to Ammunition’s commitment to create a stand-out product with a brand identity rooted in the spirit of the American West. I’m thrilled to partner with Ammunition and contribute my experiences and perspectives.”
The Soil to Spirit campaign will debut in early 2025 when the brand hopes to enhance its presence and storytelling across channels and leverage the partnership with Reilly to usher in a new creative era. The new partnership follows a year of growth for Ammunition which saw increased distribution at key retailers like Walmart, Publix, Total Wine & More, and ABC.
“When Bill and I decided to bring Ammunition to market, we set out to offer a brand that was accessible and unpretentious, discerning in its ingredients, and which championed the authentic, pioneering spirit of the American West,” Wahl, who serves as CEO and master blender, said. “We hadn’t planned to invite anyone else to the party, and then we met a kindred spirit and like mind in Kelly Reilly. Her passion for the American West and creative vision make her the ideal partner as we continue to grow our business and share our story with the world.”
From wine to whiskey
Wahl and Kerr founded Daylight Wine & Spirits in 2013. Wahl grew up in Northern California and was exposed to wine culture at an early age. He created the Ammunition brand as a way to break down some of the barriers to entry in the wine world and launched Ammunition Whiskey during the pandemic, using sourced Kentucky Bourbon and Indiana rye and focusing on wine cask finishes.
“We kicked off in 2021 and basically doubled our business in the first year. It really resonated with the marketplace, the fact that we’re a winery first,” Wahl said. “I took what I learned in terms of wine making and applied it to finishing whiskey.”
The Ammunition range of spirits includes a straight Bourbon finished in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels, a rye whiskey finished in Pinot Noir barrels, and a cask strength version of the Cabernet-finished Bourbon. Wahl says the whiskies are aged between two and four years old, and that he finishes them for between four and six months.
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