Our Company
This year, Amber Beverage UK integrated fully with Indie Brands, combining the entrepreneurial spirit of Indie Brands with the scale, structure and systems support of Amber Beverage.
From August 2023, Amber Beverage UK has been offering a consolidated portfolio and consolidated warehouse stockholding. This development enabled trade customers of either business to place a single order comprising products that previously sat across the two business’ separate portfolios. We have refined this portfolio to provide greater focus and clarity to our teams and customers alike around key categories, brands and products.
The integration means that trade customers will benefit from a streamlined and more efficient process, whereby they can hold a single account, place a single order and receive a single delivery together with a single invoice. Indie Brands has historically been very well established in the Scottish on-trade, with strong brand recognition for the likes of Arran Scotch Whisky, Fortaleza Tequila and Don Papa.
We are proud to retain these brands and continue to represent them under Amber Beverage UK, now incorporated into the broader portfolio. Amber Beverage UK is a wholly owned business unit of Amber Beverage Group: a Luxembourg-headquartered global company that produces, bottles, distributes and markets a range of drinks in over 70 international markets.
Our Brands
Amber Beverage Group produces brands including Moskovskaya Vodka, Rooster Rojo and KAH Tequila. Moskovskaya Vodka has grown substantially in Scotland in 2023, with a slew of new listings.
The most notable of these is an exclusive listing as house pour vodka across all 40 venues operated by Scotsman Hospitality Group, and more recently as house vodka across all 10 Monterey Jack’s venues and all five CRU Holdings venues in Inverness. Rooster Rojo offers a range of five 100% Blue Weber agave tequilas – Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, Smoked Pineapple, Ahumado – and launched its first Mezcal in 2023.
Rooster Rojo Mezcal’s UK launch was at Edinburgh Cocktail Week in October 2023, where buyers and decision-makers from key Scottish on-trade groups were among the first in the UK to sample the product. Stock will be landing in the UK in January 2024.
In addition to Amber Beverage Group’s owned brands, we are delighted to represent a range of third-party brands in the UK. These include Luxardo liqueurs, wines from Familia Martínez Zabala and Finest Call syrups and mixers. This range means that our portfolio covers all major spirits categories, offering options from pouring to prestige price points.
Our People
Amber Beverage Group acquired a majority share in Indie Brands in 2020, and for a period of time, the management and operations of ABUK and Indie Brands remained distinct. Following the appointment of Sam Thackeray (pictured left) as the new CEO of ABUK in January 2023, the business committed to the exhaustive integration process to consolidate all functions and operations.
We are delighted to have retained some of the key team members who drove Indie Brands’ early growth and success. In particular, Grant Cunningham (pictured right) has remained with ABUK as Scotland Sales Team Manager. Based in Glasgow, Grant was with Indie Brands since 2012 and now manages a team that spans Scotland from East to West.
Most recently, Grant attended the Scottish Italian Awards with Carolina Daneu, from Amaretto Adriatico who sponsored the event. Over the course of the year, Grant’s team and the ABUK portfolio of brands have supported a raft of trade events up and down Scotland, from the National Whisky Festival and Whisky Fringe, through the Fife Whisky Festival, Alhambra Whisky Festival to the Neighbourgood Festival and most notably, the launch of Rooster Rojo Mezcal at Edinburgh Cocktail Week.
Looking ahead to 2024
We have strong relationships and distribution in the Scottish ontrade through Dunn’s, Inverarity Morton, Tennents and most national wholesalers. In 2024, our focus will be to deepen our relationships with these strategic regional routes-to-market, providing better access to our portfolio for the Scottish on-trade, training and education for front-ofhouse teams and opportunity for activation.
ABUK’s agave portfolio is a source of immense pride to us, so in 2024 we will focus on articulating the nuances of this offering, how each brand offers something unique and where we believe these should sit within the on-trade. While agave is still starting from a small base in the UK, at 1.2% of total UK spirits volumes in 2022, it is the category with the biggest forecast growth through to 2027 at a CAGR of 6.5%.
We are also excited to launch some NPD in 2024: as above, we are keen to articulate what each of these adds to our range, and how they complement current listings.
