It’s a bit convoluted. But we’ll get there.
The bottom line is this…
- Existing brands (Rossville Union Rye and George Remus) made by MGP for MGP (not 3rd party) are now to be referred as being made at ‘Ross and Squibb Distillery’. The main gist, if it’s made at MGP and not sold to an outside company, it’s made at Ross and Squibb Distillery.
- The name of MGP’s Lawrenceburg operations responsible for the sale of distilled spirits to third-party brands remains unchanged. Essentially, you buy sourced juice from MGP and start your own whiskey company, you can say its from MGP if you want.
Now lets back up a moment. Earlier this year, MGP acquired and merged with Luxco Spirits, a family owned liquor company HQ’d in St. Louis. You may know them for their newly built Lux Row Distillery in Bardstown, KY. MGP reportedly paid $475M in cash and MGP stock value to Luxco. Luxco wasn’t exactly hurting prior to this, as their reported 2020 net revenue being $202M.
Through the deal, Luxco now oversees the in house brands of MGP (Now Ross & Squibb) such as Rossville Union and George Remus.
Ross and Squibb: Name Origins
Both names have deep distilling roots to Lawrenceburg, IN. ‘Ross’ refers to George Ross who founded Rossville Distillery in 1847 on MGP’s current campus. This being the namesake for Rossville Union Rye. “Squibb” refers to the Squibb Distillery founded in 1869 and later purchased by famed bootlegger George Remus in 1921 which was sold following Prohibition.
David Bratcher, COO and President of MGP branded spirits notes, “In rebranding our Lawrenceburg distillery, we sought to celebrate Indiana’s rich and important distilling history, particularly as it involves the inspiration behind our branded spirits. All Ross & Squibb brands find their inspiration in Indiana distilling history, so it is fitting the distillery itself now does as well.”
In 2011, MGP (Midwest Grain Producers) bought the titanus Lawrenceburg distillery which was known as Seagrams following Prohibition up until around 2000. The distillery site, considered the mecca of rye supply for NDP’s (non distilling producer), is aged 174 years.
We hope we’ve been able to shed some useful light on this development. If not, just pour yourself a drink and all will be well:)
