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NewsHospitalityLOCAL ENTREPRENEUR GOES DOWN UNDER WITH MASSIVE DEAL WORTH $220k WITH...

LOCAL ENTREPRENEUR GOES DOWN UNDER WITH MASSIVE DEAL WORTH $220k WITH THE WOOLWORTHS GROUP

Rockstar Spirits – Britain’s Most Exciting Independent Rum Brand To Hit Shelves In 226 Stores Across Australia.

Rockstar Spirits, an award-winning independent rum brand based in Manchester, has secured a distribution deal with Australia’s largest retail company, Woolworths Group Ltd.

The deal will see four Rockstar Spirits brands sold in Dan Murphy’s, an Australian liquor supermarket chain owned by the Woolworths Group, with 226 stores across the country.

The Dan Murphy’s launch range will include the Captn Webb Two Swallows series, with Citrus & Salted Caramel, Cherry & Salted Caramel and Orange & Ginger, and the Banana Bomb, a 57% Navy Strength rum.

The brand, which was last week awarded triple gold at the Rum & Cachaça Masters 2021* for its Captn Webb’s Two Swallows Citrus & Salted Caramel, Pineapple Grenade and Banana Bomb rum, saw a sales increase of 550% in 2020 taking the growing market by storm.

Now this new deal, which founder Tom negotiated with the internationally renowned brand, will secure an immediate national footprint across Australia, with a presence in every major town and city, taking rum connoisseurs and virgins on a journey of discovery with its unique flavour profiles.

The value of the first orders secured at Dan Murphy’s will deliver $220k Australian Dollars worth of rum through the tills initially, with a goal of delivering $500k worth of rum in the first year. The initial stock is currently being shipped to Australia to be in stores early May.

Rockstar Spirit was launched in November 2018 by Tom Hurst, 43, who waved goodbye to a 20-year corporate career in the drinks industry to realise his dream of launching his own rum brand and to create a rum perfect for mixing with coke.

Talks of the deal started in July 2020, when a buyer from the Woolworths Group contacted Tom after seeing the Captn Webb Two Swallows series online.

Tom Hurst, founder and CEO of Rockstar Spirits said: “I set a key goal every year for Rockstar, and in 2020 the goal was to deliver a national listing with a top supermarket in the UK, which I delivered with a Sainsburys listing in Q1. The goal for 2021 was to deliver our first major export deal and I believe that working with Woolworths has delivered this objective in Q1 again and puts us in a good place to continue our strong growth curve despite all the challenges we have seen from events of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Rockstar Spirits comprises three distinct series, Captn Webb’s Two Swallows, The Grenade Series and Banana Bomb.

Sourcing spirits from the world’s greatest rum distilleries, The Grenade and Two Swallows ranges use the finest
rum from Diamond Distillery in Guyana as their starting point, with Banana Bomb sourced from the most
awarded rum distillery in Panama that takes ethical and sustainable production to new levels.

Captn Webb’s Two Swallows range of spiced rums use the finest rum from Guyana married with incredible flavour combinations. The range consists of Citrus & Salted Caramel, Cherry & Salted Caramel and Orange & Ginger.

The Grenade Series from Rockstar Spirits consists of three 65% premium rums, Pineapple Grenade, Grapefruit Grenade and Passionfruit Grenade.

Banana Bomb sources fair trade rum from Panama that is carbon neutral and the distillery is run entirely on renewable biomass energy. The rum is aged for 2 years in oak ex Bourbon Casks and distilled to Navy Strength 57% abv. Giving the incredible spirit a Rockstar twist, it is then infused with natural Banana, Spices and Salted Caramel to create an incredibly well rounded and smooth spiced rum. Great with coke, lemonade or ginger beer and makes a killer Banana Daiquiri.

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