Founded in Mercer County
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 26, 2017) — Stoli Group USA, LLC announced that it will take over the national distribution, sales and marketing and global rollout for the Kentucky Owl brand, effective immediately. Stoli will initially focus on expanding Kentucky Owl’s presence in southern US states.
Kentucky Owl was created in 1879 in Mercer County by Charles Mortimer Dedman and was produced until 1916.
C.M.’s great-great-grandson and current Beaumont Inn proprietor, Dixon Dedman, joined forces with family friends and California winemakers, Mark and Sherri Carter, to bring Kentucky Owl small batches back to the market in 2008. In 2014, its Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was the Drinks Category Winner at Garden & Gun magazine’s “Made in the South” awards.
“When we began considering American whiskies, we were attracted to Kentucky Owl because of its complex, yet very smooth taste profile,” said Dmitry Efimov, CEO of S.P.I. Group. “Upon sitting down with the owners and hearing the story, we became really enthusiastic about revitalizing the brand and concluded that this would be the bourbon to anchor a whiskey line for S.P.I. Our USA team is poised to bring this to market.”
Patrick Piana, president of Stoli Group USA, said: “Kentucky Owl is a great next step for our portfolio of premium and luxury brands. Bourbons have been experiencing impressive growth recently and we see a strong opportunity in the super-premium sub-category, in particular. I’m looking forward to working together with Dixon Dedman to accelerate the trusted product his family built into the cult bourbon brand for the North American brown spirits consumer.”
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