Pendleton Whisky Acquired By Parent Of Jose Cuervo

Popular Canadian whisky brand Pendleton Whisky has long been a staple of Oregon mid-size distiller Hood River Distillers’ wide ranging spirits portfolio. First launched in 2003, the core offering has met with enough success that it has seen a spawning of additional bottlings over the years. All of these whiskies now belong to new owners via acquisition of the brand by Becle S.A.B. de C.V., the parent company of tequila giant Jose Cuervo.

The acquisition of Pendleton, according to those behind it, comes with price tag of $205 million. For this Becle acquires the brand assets rights to the core Pendleton Whisky expression, along with the Pendleton Midnight, Pendleton 1910 and Pendleton Directors’ Reserve variants. Hood River Distillers will continue to bottle the Pendleton portfolio of products for Proximo, the US subsidiary of Becle, and will also continue to operate with its remaining brands.

“We are excited to announce this transaction today,” said Mark Teasdale, President & Chief Executive Officer of Proximo Spirits, in a prepared statement. “The Pendleton Whisky brand will fill an important strategic position in our portfolio, as we add a fast-growing, super premium whisky to complement our broad selection of international spirits.”

Following the successful acquisitions of Bushmills Irish Whiskey and Stranahan’s Rocky Mountain Single Malt Whiskey, and the rapid growth of Tincup American Whiskey, we view Pendleton as the next step in developing our world-class portfolio of whiskies. We expect to build on the remarkable success of Pendleton using our resources as a full-service, global spirits company.”

“We are very pleased with how the Pendleton Whisky brand has grown over the past fifteen years,” added Ronald R. Dodge, CEO of Hood River Distillers. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the brand. Proximo has the resources, the market reach and the commitment to turn our dreams for the Pendleton brand into reality. While this represents a major shift for Hood River Distillers, we are extremely proud of our team for growing Pendleton to where it is today and helping us achieve this outstanding accomplishment.”