Spirits Capital Partners Announces First Investment Partnership with Real McCoy Spirits

Spirits Capital Partners (SCP), launched last fall by spirits industry veteran Todd Martin, has formed its first investment partnership, with Real McCoy Spirits.

Real McCoy Spirits is led by filmmaker Bailey Pryor, who won five Emmy awards for his 2012 documentary on Bill McCoy. McCoy was the famed Prohibition-era smuggler whose rums were acclaimed as “The Real McCoy” because of their high and reliable quality, not being cut with harsh alcohols like other bootleg spirits. Inspired by McCoy’s story, Pryor partnered with the historic Barbados distillery Foursquare to produce rums based upon McCoy’s original recipes. The Real McCoy brand includes a 3-year old rum ($19.99), a 5-year old ($28.99) and a 12-year old ($44.99).

This week Universal Pictures was reported to have landed the feature film rights for The Real McCoy and contracted with hot young star Chris Pratt to portray McCoy. The Real McCoy film script was written by Bailey Pryor.

The Real McCoy Rum - New Offerings

Todd Martin said “The Real McCoy small-batch rum portfolio from Barbados has tremendous potential in the rapidly growing aged craft spirits space, both within rum and across all of aged dark spirits. The Real McCoy has truly outstanding rums, having won over 40 top awards in their first two years. Just as critical, Real McCoy Spirits is led by an extremely capable CEO and board.” Martin will be joining the Real McCoy Spirits board, whose members include CEO Bailey Pryor, former Apple CEO John Sculley, Foursquare owner Richard Seale, and Outback and Bonefish Grill co-founder Tim Gannon.

The Real McCoy is imported by Davos Brands, whose portfolio includes the Ty Ku Sake and Aviation Gin brands. Davos is led by Ty Ku founder Andrew Chrisomalis and Svedka founder Guillaume Cuvelier, and is partnered nationally with Southern Wine & Spirits and with Glazer’s in nine states.

Martin said “Real McCoy Spirits is truly a first class organization built for success with a terrific spirits brand. SCP is delighted to join this proven team and contribute our spirits brand building expertise along with growth capital.”

Spirits Capital Partners is the first private equity investment partnership focused exclusively on distilled spirits. SCP is led by former Allied Domecq North America president and Daucourt Martin Imports founder Todd Martin. Martin is partnered with Vince Hemmer, founder of Silver Pine Partners and former consumer practice leader at private equity firm GTCR. SCP targets investments of between $5 million and $25 million in very high potential premium spirits brands led by talented founding entrepreneurs and strong leadership teams.