Attracting drinkers with music and low-alcohol brandy

ALFONSO Brandy drinkers trooped to Katipunan’s Pop Up, one of the city’s hives for (very) young adults to watch bands like SSUT, Hulu, John Roa, I Belong To The Zoo, and Urbandub on Saturday in an event called “Alfie Alley”.

Last year, The Keepers Holdings, Inc. (TKHI) acquired 50% of Alfonso Brandy manufacturer Bodegas Williams & Humbert, SA. TKHI owns the subsidiaries Montosco, Inc., which had distributed the brandy in the Philippines for over 20 years, and products from spirits giant Diageo; as well as Premier Wine and Spirits, Inc., and Meritus Prime Distributions, Inc. All of these are under the umbrella of Lucio Co’s Cosco Capital, Inc., which owns the Puregold supermarkets.

Lauren Tanganco, Sales and Marketing Director at Montosco, Inc., told BusinessWorld at the sidelines of the concert, “It’s a strategic move for a long-term partnership between the two companies, and also cements our company’s position, and it secures the lifeline of their biggest flagship brand —  which is Alfonso Brandy. We move from [being] a distribution company, to now, a manufacturing company. Because of that move, we can further expand.”

In 2019, the IWSR Drinks Market Analysis listed Alfonso Brandy as number 32 on the list of the world’s fastest-growing spirits, with a 49.9% change from 2017 to 2018 in Absolute Volume Growth. (For another touch of #pinoypride, LT Group’s Tanduay Rum ranked No. 6). In 2021, IWSR also rated the Philippines as the world’s second-largest brandy market, behind India and ahead of Russia and the United States.

Alfonso Brandy is fast becoming a staple on some tables, displacing more established brands. “At the core is the product. The product is really what makes the difference. We use the finest grapes from La Mancha,” said Ms. Tanganco who added that their popularity started with the release of Alfonso Light, which has an alcohol content of 25% (the concentration of alcohol in a regular brandy ranges from 35% to 60%). “The big win was coming up with a low-alcohol brandy. That really spurred the growth of Alfonso in the market,” she said.

“If you have a lower alcohol content, they can enjoy it more. They can savor the experience,” she said. “If it has a higher alcohol content, they’d have to mix it… with a 25% alcohol content, they’re able to extend; they’re able to enjoy.”

The Alfie Alley party series will make stops in Tagaytay and La Union on May 20 and 27. —  Joseph L. Garcia