Sazerac-owned BuzzBallz has selected the Reyes Beverage Group as its distributor in California, Illinois, Indiana and South Carolina, the multistate wholesaler announced today.
BuzzBallz’s first shifts to the Reyes network will take place in California and Illinois in early September, followed by moves in Indiana and South Carolina in early October.
Spirits giant Sazerac acquired the orb-shaped, ready-to-drink (RTD) brand earlier this year. BuzzBallz is available with spirits, malt and wine bases, which allows the brand to be sold in a variety of retail channels.
“We’re excited to expand our partnership with Sazerac, one of the top 10 fastest growing spirits companies,” Reyes Beverage Group CEO Tom Day said in a press release. “Having the opportunity to represent a top-selling brand like BuzzBallz is a testament to the total bev-alc portfolio we are building and we look forward to winning with this brand in our markets.”
BuzzBallz has consistently recorded double-digit growth, significantly outpacing the spirits category. Off-premise dollar sales of the brand family have increased +58.5%, to $447.9 million, in the 52-week period ending August 10, according to market research firm NIQ. Volume increased +68.6%. The brand has also gained +0.23 sharepoints in spirits dollar share, to 0.63% of the category, according to NIQ.
Those gains have propelled BuzzBallz to hold “the largest share of the premixed cocktail segment” and rank No. 3 in “all spirits dollar and share growth,” according to the release.
BuzzBallz is the eighth largest RTD cocktail brand in the fourth category, the release said.
Sazerac began moving its brands to beer wholesalers in 2022 by dipping its toes in the water with beer distributors in Washington and Colorado. It dove in further in early 2023, when it announced plans to leave Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC), one of the largest wine and spirits wholesalers in the country, and move to a combination of beer and spirits distributors, including the Reyes Beverage Group in California, Hawaii and some markets in Texas.
“Reyes Beverage Group has been a great distributor partner to us and we’re happy with their performance and results over the past year,” Sazerac president and CEO Jake Wenz said in the release. “We are excited for Reyes to apply their reach and service to BuzzBallz so the retail trade and consumers can enjoy the brand at their favorite shops.”
Hear more about the BuzzBallz brand from founder Merrilee Kick during a panel discussion at the Brewbound Live business conference in December 2023.