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Boby Kurian

BANGALORE, Feb. 11

McDowell & Co Ltd, the flagship spirits company of the UB group, has entered into a strategic tie-up with Independent Liquor of New Zealand to pursue an aggressive growth strategy in the ready-to-drink (RTD) segment of the domestic alcoholic beverage market.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Vijay Rekhi, President of the UB Spirits Division, said the strategic partner would help McDowell with significant knowledge transfer in the high growth segment of RTD. "We will also be bringing in some of their leading brands into India which will strengthen our portfolio. Like in other alcoholic beverage businesses, we want to be leaders in this emerging segment as well," he said. McDowell entered the RTD segment last year with the launch of Shotz, a vodka-based offering.

The over $200-million Independent Liquor, a privately-held company, is considered as one of the forerunners in the RTD business. It must be mentioned that Independent's core markets are New Zealand and Australia, where it controls 35 per cent of the RTD market. Independent Liquor's RTD brands include Vodka Cruiser, Voodoo Majic, Havana Gold, KGB Vodka, Stinger, and Woodstock Bourbon. It is learnt that Vodka Cruiser, which is one of Independent's best selling brands, will be shortly bottled and marketed in India by McDowell & Co. Cruiser, which is a fruit-flavoured vodka-based drink, comes in 21 exotic flavours. This include blueberry, passion fruit and strawberry. This could be followed by products such as Havana Gold, which is a mix of white rum and coconut liqueur, Stinger, an alcoholic soda, or Woodstock, a bourbon cola drink.

Mr Rekhi said McDowell would soon ramp up the RTD manufacturing capacity in its existing distilleries across the country. "We already have a line in Goa and we're close to commissioning another one in Chandigarh. We are looking at building capacities in Hyderabad or in Kumbalgodu and at another location in the east. Broadly, the aim is to set up two lakh cases monthly capacity for RTDs," he said.

The tie-up with Independent is also expected to strengthen McDowell's pitch against multinational spirits giants such as Bacardi and UDV in the RTD market.

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McDowell ties up with Independent Liquor — Plans big push in ready-to-drink segment

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