This was the gamble taken by Ryan Reynolds when he decided to acquire Gin Aviation in 2018. And the $610 million that DIAGEO (the world’s leading spirits company) has just paid to buy the brand suggests that he was right on the money.
Aviation American Gin, shortened to “Aviation Gin”, was founded in 2006 by Christian Krogstad and Ryan Magarian in Portland, Oregon. Although still distilled at the same location, House Spirits Distillery sold “Aviation Gin” to New York distributor Davos Brands in 2016, a company specializing in trend spotting and emerging brands in spirits that also owned Astral tequila, Sombra mezcal and Tyku sake.
Then, in 2018, Ryan Reynolds decided to buy a stake in the Gin Aviation brand, becoming its co-owner and creative director.
It was Davos Brand that Diageo decided to buy out on August 17, 2020, for the modest sum of $335 million, plus up to a further $275 million depending on the gin’s performance over the next 10 years. Diageo declares that Reynolds will always retain an “ongoing stake” in Gin Aviation!
The brand will enable Diageo to strengthen its presence in the super-premium gin segment in the USA. Aviation American Gin, which costs $27 per 75cl, is the second-largest super-premium gin brand in the country, having doubled its volumes in 2019.
Keen to capitalize on the “premiumization” of the spirits market, Diageo seems reassured by the presence of stars with its new brands. As a reminder, the company signed a commercial partnership with rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs for his Ciroc vodka, and then jointly acquired luxury tequila DeLeon. Then came David Beckham’s Whisky Haig Club in 2014, and the highlight of the show in June 2017 when George Clooney and two of his friends sold their high-end tequila brand “Casamigos” for the modest sum of $1 billion… Again to Diageo!
It might be time to think about creating your own brand of Gin…
