Sazerac Company

Sazerac Company
Private
Industry Alcoholic beverages
Founded 1850 (1850)
Founder Thomas H. Handy
Headquarters Metairie, Louisiana, United States
Key people
 William Goldring, Chairman of its Board of Directors[1][2]
Products Spirits
Website www.sazerac.com

The Sazerac Company is a privately held alcoholic beverages company with headquarters in Metairie, Louisiana (in the New Orleans metropolitan area).[3] It is the largest distilling company in the United States.[4] Its distilleries include the Barton Brands distillery (in Bardstown, Kentucky), the Buffalo Trace Distillery (in Frankfort, Kentucky), the former Glenmore Distillery (now a bottling plant in Owensboro, Kentucky), and the A. Smith Bowman Distillery (a microdistillery in Fredericksburg, Virginia).[3] The products of the company and its subsidiaries include various types of whiskey, vodka, gin, tequila, rum, brandy, cognac, cocktails, cordials, liqueurs, "shooters", and wine.[3]

History

The company was founded after the purchase of a bar known as the Sazerac Coffee House in 1869 by Thomas H. Handy.[3] After this purchase, Handy's company began to acquire and market brands of liquor. According to the company, the Sazerac Coffee House itself was named after a cocktail called the Sazerac that was created in the mid-1800s by the Creole immigrant Antoine Amédée Peychaud, who operated a pharmacy on the French Quarter's Royal Street in 1838.[3] The company publishes a Sazerac recipe and produces a Peychaud's Bitters named after Peychaud, which is an ingredient in the traditional Sazerac cocktail.[5][6]

In 1991, Sazerac purchased the George T. Stagg Distillery (now known as Buffalo Trace Distillery) in Frankfort, Kentucky, at which time the company’s primary focus became the production of bourbon whiskey (a product that is primarily distilled, aged, and bottled in Kentucky), and in 2009 the principal office was moved to Louisville, Ky. Sazerac Company maintains an active presence in the city of New Orleans, and also has operations in Carson, California; Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Bardstown and Owensboro, Kentucky; Montreal, Canada; Lewiston, Maine; and Londonderry, New Hampshire.[7]

In 2016 Sazerac completed the purchase of the historic Southern Comfort brand of bourbon liqueur from Brown-Forman, Inc., best known as the maker of Jack Daniel's.

Awards and honors

The International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) named the Sazerac Company "Distiller of the Year", in London in November 2014, and a year later, awarded it the Americas & Caribbean Spirits Producer of the Year Trophy.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Clancy DuBos, New Orleanian of the Year Bill Goldring, Gambit Weekly: Best of New Orleans, January 6, 2004. (Access date December 6, 2010.)
  2. ↑ Forman, Jay, Lifting a Glass – Bill Goldring: Recipient of the 2012 Ella Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award, New Orleans Magazine, May 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 The Sazerac Company Web Site. (Access date December 6, 2010.)
  4. ↑ Goldring to Receive Lifetime Leadership Award at WSWA Annual Convention, Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, December 21, 2010.
  5. ↑ New Orleans Declares Sazerac Its Cocktail of Choice, National Public Radio All Things Considered, June 26, 2008. (Access date December 6, 2010.)
  6. ↑ "The Sazerac – Official Cocktail of New Orleans: How the Sazerac Cocktail Came to Be", on the Sazerac Company web site. (Access date December 6, 2010.)
  7. ↑ Sazerac Company
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