Beer Marketer's Insights - Liquid Death "Strengthens" Distribution; Moves From 3 More AB One Branches on West Coast

About one month after Liquid Death moved from AB One branch in NYC (just prior to AB One NYC sale to Southern Glazer's), co announced move from several other branches too, including AB One in Seattle, Eugene and LA. Liquid Death reportedly staying with AB One in OK. This morn, Liquid Death said it has signed agreements with 4 new distribs, Sunset Dist in LA metro (Hand Family Cos), Odom Corp in Seattle, Bigfoot Bev in Eugene, OR and Summit in rural Phoenix, OR (pop. 4400). Those distribs reportedly taking on brand before year-end. Liquid Death called these moves an "upgrade" that "strengthen Liquid Death's presence along the West Coast as it scales to meet rapidly growing consumer demand." Liquid Death founder/ceo Mike Cessario added: "These best-in-class distribution partners will bring us the highest level of execution and deep local expertise in these key markets." Liquid Death is one of the more prominent non-AB brands that was sold by AB One branches, along with BeatBox and Novamex. But unlike BeatBox, which is in talks to sell to AB for $700 mil, according to WSJ (see yesterday's issue), Liquid Death's clearly looking to go a different route. Its move also likely motivated at least in part because of its own about-to-launch energy drink as AB One is focused on Phorm Energy.In NYC, leading non-alc indie distrib Big Geyser landed Liquid Death. Like Geyser, Sunset seeks to develop broader role as brand incubator. "At Sunset, we've created a powerful route to market in Southern California that's unmatched," said Hand Family Cos ceo JR Hand in release. "We are thrilled to bring that to Liquid Death and its disruptive brand." Odom Corp veep Brandon Odom added that Liquid Death "is a natural fit" for Odom portfolio.Liquid Death built to over $300 mil in tracked scan data sales nationally in 2024 from next to nothing in just a few yrs. Its larger sparkling water brand is still up double digits in Nielsen data, and its tea brand is growing fast, while its still water down. Co seeks strong growth of around 40% nationally next yr, INSIGHTS hears. Liquid Death will again have Super Bowl ad in 2026.

Liquid Death "Strengthens" Distribution; Moves From 3 More AB One Branches on West Coast

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