William Grant & Sons and Southern Glazer's Veteran to Lead Howler Head Bourbon Brand and Future Innovation Introductions in World's Largest Premium Spirits Market
LONDON, Nov. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Catalyst Spirits, the maker of fast-growing Howler Head Bourbon, today announced the appointment of Heather Alper as Managing Director U.S. and Canada, reporting directly to CEO Simon Hunt. Alper was previously Regional Managing Director, U.S. and Canada for global premium drinks company William Grant & Sons.
Alper is a 25-year veteran of the U.S. spirits industry. As a Board-level Director at William Grant & Sons, she was responsible for driving the global commercial change agenda to ensure profitable sales growth, brand premiumization and efficient advertising & trade investments in the US and Canada. This role leveraged her experience building cross-functional partnerships internally across sales, marketing, finance, and supply chain and externally with distributors and agencies. Prior to that post, Alper held executive roles at Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits/Glazer's Distributors for over ten years with experience in eCom, trade marketing and sales. Other notable positions include five years as an Advisory Board Member for the WSWA Women's Leadership Council and nearly eleven years at luxury giant Moët Hennessy USA (LVMH) in variety of sales and marketing roles.
"It is a testament to what we are building here at Catalyst Spirits to attract such top-level talent as Heather," said Simon Hunt, CEO of Catalyst Spirits. "Following the minority equity investment by Campari in both Catalyst Spirits and our top-selling brand Howler Head, we continue to build our global team. Heather's leadership and deep industry relationships will help fuel exponential growth across North American markets where we are currently seeing growth in excess of +50% year over year."
Catalyst Spirits is a new global spirits incubator company helmed by industry veteran Simon Hunt focused on leveraging the new economy and the company's extensive experience to build and rapidly grow premium brands. Beyond Howler Head - the official flavored bourbon whiskey of UFC - the company's spirits portfolio includes The Oceanus Hibernicus, a unique blend of Irish and Scotch malt whisk(e)y, as well as a number of other exciting brands in development.
The Catalyst Spirits team seeks scalable opportunities and leverages unique brand partners to create and develop impactful brands and bring them to market with pace, building them with exceptional marketing, retail, ecommerce and distributor support.
Howler Head Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey with Natural Banana Flavor has quickly become one of the fastest-growing whiskey brands in the United States. It launched nationally in the U.S. in 2021, and in its first full year of operations, sold over 50,000 9L cases primarily to the U.S. and Canada markets only, and generated overall net sales of USD6.7 million in accordance with local GAAP. The brand is currently available in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, with further global expansion planned for 2023.
Howler Head is the original banana Bourbon. It starts with real Straight Bourbon Whiskey made with the finest grains, mineral-rich water and carefully crafted distillation. Following aging of at least two years, the fine Bourbon is then blended with natural banana flavor. Howler Head is 80 proof and retails in the U.S. for $29.99 SRP for a 750ml.
News on Campari's Investment in Catalyst Spirits can be found HERE and in Howler Head can be found HERE.
Media images for Catalyst Spirits can be found HERE.
Media Contact
Customer Service, Catalyst Spirits, 1 415-710-0245, [email protected]
SOURCE Catalyst Spirits
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