Near Beer?

Orlando, FL

The 2006 American Home Brewers Association Conference: “Gator Tails and Better Ales” draws thousands of visitors to the Sunshine State to explore the latest trends in the brewing and consuming of beer products. This year the members of the American Brewers Association were given a treat as Liquor Group put on a Scotch Specialist and Bourbon Tasting Class with a packed house in attendance. Similarities between beer and whisky brewing made this a shoe in opportunity to be “Near (the) Beer” lovers’ conference, which proved to be a fun and educational time for all.

Lowell Newman, a representative from the Liquor Group highly trained and knowledgeable in spirits manufacturing and characteristics orchestrated the event and wowed the crowd by offering them a splendid array of scotches from Gordon & MacPhail, the World's Leading Malt Whisky Specialist.

For more than 110 years Gordon & MacPhail has been carefully selecting, maturing and bottling malt whiskies for the true Scotch connoisseurs’ enjoyment.

G&M is the largest Scotch Specialist in the world with product offerings from a broad range of operating and closed distilleries, some dating back into the 1800s.

Liquor Group represents the top 3 Scotch Specialists, G&M, Signatory and Murray McDavid, as well as several smaller specialists, which provides it the broadest and best Scotch portfolio available in the United States.

As an added bonus the guests were allowed the privilege of sampling the finest bourbons available in the world: Black Maple Hill’s 11 and 16 year Single Barrel Bourbon offerings.

Guests also enjoyed a sampling of Maker's Mark, the only bourbon distillery to use pure, iron-free limestone spring water exclusively, not processed city, well or river water; supplied by a 10-acre limestone spring-fed lake at the distillery. At the end of the event, a select group of members of the board of the American Brewers Association were given an additional treat as they were given samples of Empire Distilleries hand crafted Rye Vodka, Orangegella and Limonella Liqueurs.

Knightly Liquors, a sophisticated independent Liquor Store chain throughout the Orlando area hosted the event, providing these libations at a special price for the attendees. Nearly every guest left with a bottle in tow, or a special order for that special occasion, which left these beer brewers in “high spirits”.

For more information visit
www.LiquorGroup.com
Contact: Press@LiquorGroup.com
or call 904-565-2633

Motor City Madness!!!

Novi, MI

Liquor Group, a liquor distribution and sales organization currently operating in 31 US States and several International markets has once again expanded their operations. The creation of Liquor Group Michigan, a licensed liquor brokerage and wholesale wine & beer and bar supplies operation marks the next in a series of growth that has made this company a player in the US liquor market. The new Liquor Group Michigan office is based in suburbs of the “Motor City” Detroit, in Novi Michigan.

Although a small portion of Liquor Group’s portfolio of products have been distributed in Michigan for years, the brokerage support for these products were spread across several of the major Spirits Brokers within the state, none of which provided adequate support to meet the needs of those brands. This prompted Liquor Group to begin the planning for the creation of an independent brokerage house in Michigan in December of 2005. “The state controlled liquor distribution infrastructure of Michigan creates a unique opportunity for Liquor Group…” says Gray C. Solomon, Managing Member of Liquor Group “…and the unavailability of sales support through the existing major brokerage houses coupled with the tremendous market fragmentation allows us to move in with our entire portfolio with relative ease and to offer other spirits brands a harbor in the storm.”


Months into the planning development of this new venture, the opportunity arose to hire one of the most well known and respected fixtures of the Michigan liquor industry to manage the new company: Steven Dodge. Dodge has more than 25 years experience in spirits, wine and beer distribution and implementation, the most recent 19 of which was spent as the General Manger for General Wine & Liquor Company, the second largest Authorized Distribution Agent (ADA) in Michigan, with 6.5 Million case movements per annum in the market.

Dodge brings to Liquor Group Michigan a breadth of understanding of the Michigan market, the intricacies of the supply chain and the fundamentals that other brokerages cannot currently provide to major brands in the market. Realizing that the majority of brokerage houses in Michigan are derivatives of the three ADA’s in the state, and as such cannot offer complete service to the multitude of brands listed for sale in the state, Dodge turns this into an advantage of Liquor Group by offering major brands the opportunity to have dedicated sales staff for their specific brands under the umbrella of Liquor Group Michigan.

Liquor Group has leveraged their relationships with brands represented in other states to create an immediate portfolio of products available for sale into Michigan numbering nearly 500 SKU’s from day one of the operation. This makes Liquor Group Michigan the fourth largest spirits brokerage portfolio in Michigan, before the doors ever opened! Brands normally associated with Liquor Group including Happy Vodka and the entire “Happy” product family is the first to begin to utilize the brokerage services of Liquor Group Michigan, and the proprietary electronic ordering system developed for Liquor Group will be immediately deployed to all sales representatives in the state. Other distillers and products such as Bendistillery, Three-D Spirits (Red Rum), Empire Distillery, Sans Wine & Sprits and Gordon & MacPhail are all entering the state for the first time with Liquor Group.

Liquor Group will work diligently to expand operations in new markets in tandem with their established markets, with a goal to open 2 states per year at a minimum. Whether control states or license states, if not already there, Liquor Group is coming to your state soon!

For more information visit
www.LiquorGroup.com
Contact: Press@LiquorGroup.com
or call 904-565-2633

Liquor Group experiences a growth spurt!

Liquor Group expanded it’s portfolio of spirits in several of the 21 US States in which it operates, to more than 530 offerings. This importer and distributor of award winning spirits, wines and specialty beers sees no signs of slowing growth, and recent activities in the spirits industry are helping to fuel the fire. The addition of products such as the Gordon & MacPhail Scotch Specialist Portfolio has given Liquor Group a lock on their already successful Scotch Specialty market in several US States, and their overall territory market share continues to grow with each brand that is added to the picture. With more than 100 brands in negotiations or on the horizon, the potential for growth seems unlimited.

After a 2005 growth curve of more than 800% in products and more than 8000% in total company sales, Liquor Group now stands to enjoy even more growth in 2006 due to recent successful negotiations with several major liquor brands. The consolidation in the industry has helped fuel the growth of Liquor Group, a company originally created just to manage the sales of Happy Vodka has parlayed the successes of that single brand into a multinational business operation ranking among some of the largest players in the field. One instance that is sure to bear out for Liquor Group is the pending merger/buyout between the second and third largest liquor distributors in Florida; Premiere Beverages and National Distributing.

Liquor Group’s Florida Division, whom already holds the 4th largest portfolio of spirits in Florida according to the Department of Business and Professional Regulations, will by default become the third largest spirits portfolio in Florida, and will likely pick up many brands left without a home due to the merger.

Brands, brand owners, suppliers and importers such as: Happy Vodka, Bend Distillery, Signatory, CVI Brands, Cia De Banana, Three D Spirits, Chesnique, Terra Vermelha, Fuego Pisco, Shotski’s and many more have enjoyed great increases in product sales due to the efforts of Liquor Group. Many of these companies choose to utilize Liquor Group in multiple states and countries in an effort to consolidate sales efforts, allow for sales representative cross training and house centralized shipping solutions made available as service options for suppliers.

The growth does not stop there, as the Michigan, Virginia and Georgia operations of Liquor Group are all showing promising double and triple digit growth numbers beyond the norm in the industry. Liquor Group has now commenced with merger and acquisitions of several vendor and broker companies, which will increase their overall size and ability to support the market.

The Innovative Distribution approach used by Liquor Group is another of the bevy of reasons why this organization has grown so much in what is considered a glacial 3% growth marketplace. Using a completely vertically digitally integrated order and delivery system developed internally by the company using cellular phone, blue tooth® and internet technology, the entire sales force, administrative, accounting and delivery teams are coordinated in their efforts to move products quickly and efficiently, with most customers receiving their orders within 24 hours of placing them... how’s that for innovative?

So what does the future hold for Liquor Group? Well without saying too much, you can expect much more "wine-ing" from the sales force in the near future, and you can expect new state markets to open throughout the US. Additionally, the company plans to continue the organic growth that it has enjoyed by adding more salespeople, introducing more products to the market and offering more services to their growing base of customers, rather than adding more management and executive staff that can hinder growth and productivity. With these types of performance figures, the growing pains are certainly worth the trouble!

For more information visit
www.DrinkHappy.com
Contact: Press@DrinkHappy.com
or call 904-565-2633

Don't Worry…Drink Happy! TM