Brown-Forman has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Diplomático Rum and related assets from Destillers United Group in Spain.
The two companies agreed a deal in October, with some reports suggesting a price of US$725m for the super-premium rum brand.
Brown-Forman’s CEO and President, Lawson Whiting said: “Brown-Forman’s super-premium portfolio continues growing to meet the preferences of global spirits consumers.
“Today, we’re pleased to officially welcome more than 100 new employees to Brown-Forman as we close on our acquisition of the Diplomático Rum family of brands, and add the No. 1 super-premium and ultra-premium rum to our portfolio.”
As part of the acquisition, Brown-Forman has added an aging, bottling, and shipping production facility located in Panama to the company. Destillers United Group S.L. will continue to produce and age Diplomático Rum at its original distillery at the foot of the Andes mountains.
The news comes as Drinks International’s Rum Brands Report 2023 put Diplomático as the number one trending rum and number four best-selling, the magazine said that being top of the trending list is “normally an omen for progression in the best-selling list the following year”.
The report added: “The Venezuelan rum isn’t many bars’ house [pour] but instead dukes it out with Diageo’s Guatemalan [Ron] Zacapa for attention. These two sweethearts of the rum world may be more supporting cast than protagonists in most bars, but they are present among bars’ top three rums in 20 per cent of our sample.”