SB’s most-read stories from July
With changes at the top of the world’s biggest spirits company, a downing of tools at one of Ireland’s distilleries, and a long-awaited offloading of one particular whisky brand, news in July was as hot as the weather.
It’s officially financial results season, and one company’s full-year performance was less than ideal – much to the intrigue of our readership. Meanwhile, there was news that one of the world’s most recognisable whiskey brands has received a small facelift, and a heavyweight of the spirits world was revealed.
Keep scrolling to find out which stories had the most eyes on them in July.
Master of Malt marks 40 years with global retail debut
Previously, Master of Malt’s bottlings have been available exclusively from the brand’s website. Now, the online retailer and independent bottler has marked a monumental milestone with the launch of a series of single cask and small-batch spirits that are available in global retail for the first time.
William Grant FY profit drops 30%
William Grant & Sons cited ‘significant destocking’ as the reason for its plunge in profits in 2024.
The Scottish spirits firm reported a profit before tax decrease of 30% to £388 million (US$520.6m) and a 6.5% revenue drop to £1.83 billion (US$2.46bn). The family-led company attributed the declines to ‘industry-wide challenges’, with Søren Hagh, who became CEO in January last year, noting that “2024 was a challenging year for the spirits industry, with both global economic conditions and continued destocking weighing heavily on performance in comparison to 2023.”
Top-selling Indian whisky Brand Champions
Last month, many of our round-ups from the Brand Champions 2025 report featured in our top 10 most-read countdown, but this month, only one made it into the list. It’s no surprise to the SB team that it’s best-selling Indian whiskies list, because our readers love an Indian whisky – and rightly so!
Powerscourt Distillery files for examinership
Saving the business was top of the agenda for Ireland’s Powerscourt Distillery in July, as the County Wicklow-based producer petitioned the court for the appointment of an interim examiner to help keep it afloat.
Under Irish law, examinership is a process where a company facing financial difficulties can obtain court protection to help the business survive.
The move came just four days after Mark Degnan of Interpath Advisory was appointed as a receiver for Powerscourt – another story that had many of our readers clicking in July.
Jameson revamps Original bottle
This green bottle is perhaps one of the most recognisable in the Irish whiskey category, but this week, Jameson Irish Whiskey showcased a refresh of the design in a move that has kicked off a packaging overhaul for the entire brand.
Features of the new-look bottle of Jameson’s Original triple-distilled expression include a brighter colour palette for greater shelf impact, a refined logo, and ‘elevated tactile elements’. The brand has also increased foil cover on the bottle and introduced textured varnishes, embossing and micro-embossing.
Pernod to offload Imperial Blue whisky
In a move that has been rumoured for a while now, Pernod Ricard agreed to sell Indian whisky Imperial Blue to Tilaknagar Industries for €412.6 million (US$485m) last month.
The deal, made through Pernod Ricard’s Indian arm, includes the Imperial Blue business and two units and services from co-manufacturing bottlers across the country.
While it may seem a little strange that the French firm would want to offload the world’s third biggest-selling Indian whisky, with case sales of 22.9m last year (an uptick of 0.4% on 2023), the company said the divestment would enable the business to ‘fully tap into premiumisation trends and support sustained, profitable growth’.
Glenfiddich and Aston Martin F1 launch 65YO into Harrods
To mark its ‘historic’ British partnership with Aston Martin Formula One, Glenfiddich launched an ultra-rare Scotch whisky last month, exclusive to luxury London store Harrods.
Glenfiddich 1959, which was first revealed at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last autumn, pays tribute to the year Aston Martin first joined Formula One. The ultra-rare expression is said to celebrate the ‘enduring legacies of two homegrown icons of craftsmanship and innovation’, and it definitely caught the attention of our readers last month.
Diageo CEO Debra Crew steps down
In a major plot twist for the world’s biggest spirits firm, last month Debra Crew gave up her CEO role at Diageo, along with her seat in the company’s boardroom, despite the firm posting positive growth over the past few years under her watch. We’ll find out next week whether the numbers have taken a sudden tumble when the company announces its interim full-year results, but the official party line is that the move was by mutual agreement. Perhaps we’ll never know the reason why she left the company, despite rife speculation online.
She has been temporarily succeeded by the firm’s CFO by Nik Jhangiani. Diageo’s former president of North America, Deirdre Mahlan, who retired from the company in 2020, will take over the role later this month.
Don Julio takes world’s strongest spirit title
In July, research consultant Brand Finance released its annual ranking of the world’s most valuable spirits, as well as revealing the top 10 strongest spirits brands.
Brand Finance determines the brand strength index (BSI) score through metrics such as marketing spend, awareness, consideration, reputation, acquisition, retention, market share, volume, and price premium. Once all was calculated, it was Diageo’s Don Julio that took the position of the world’s strongest spirit, with a BSI score of 94.2 out of 100.
Roe & Co pauses production
Our most-read story for the month is a third consecutive Diageo-related story – this time, the news that its Irish whiskey brand Roe & Co was the latest distillery to halt production.
A Diageo spokesperson said: “In order to optimise resources and support the sustainable future growth of our business, we have made the decision to put an extended pause on distillation at the Roe & Co Distillery.
“The visitor centre will remain open to the public, and we will continue to blend and package Roe & Co to meet existing and new consumer demand using existing inventory.”
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