Redwood Empire's Owner Acquires Savage & Cooke Distillery

Sonoma County, California-based distiller Redwood Empire will soon be getting a new base of operations on Mare Island, the peninsula located on San Pablo Bay in Vallejo, California at the southern end of Napa Valley. Redwood’s owner Purple Brands today announced the acquisition of Mare Island-based Savage & Cooke Distillery from California vintner Dave Phinney, with a plan to use the distillery to expand production of Redwood Empire, which has risen to 55,000 9-liter cases in the U.S. and is growing at about 30% annually. Terms weren't disclosed.

“We'd been working with Dave and Savage & Cooke for years, producing some additional products to support our inventory,” Purple Brands CEO Aaron Webb told Whisky Advocate sister publication Shanken News Daily. “It includes several thousand barrels of inventory, which we need for Redwood Empire. Out of the gate, we'll be able to make between 2,500-3,000 barrels at Savage & Cooke, and we can expand that with additional fermentation capacity to as much as 7,000-9,000 barrels down the road.”

The deal includes the distillery on Mare Island, as well as the Savage & Cooke whiskey brand, which is currently at around 5,000 cases. The distillery houses a tasting room, restaurant, and private event space, which Purple aims to leverage to introduce more consumers to Redwood Empire.

Redwood Empire is known for Pipe Dream Bourbon and Emerald Giant Rye (both $35 a 750-ml.) and also includes a number of limited releases such as Grizzly Beast and Rocket Top bottled in bond whiskeys, Screaming Titan wheated bourbon, and a Haystack Needle grain-to-glass barrel program. Most recently, the brand debuted a higher-proof Pipe Dream 101 ($55), which has been well received. It’s currently making its whiskey at a winery in Graton, California in Sonoma County. About two-thirds of its liquid is own-make, with the remainder sourced from MGP and Bardstown Bourbon Co.

“We launched Redwood Empire during Covid, and our strategy initially was to do it in the on-premise,” Webb noted. “Then of course the world changed and we shifted the launch of Redwood into the chains and into off-premise, and we've had a lot of success there. In 2025, we’re going to put an enormous focus towards on-premise efforts to really shift back into that environment with the brand too.”

Other items in the Purple Brands portfolio, the Raeburn wine brand is continuing to see strong growth, projected to approach 250,000 cases this year on an 11% increase. “The Chardonnay is a more mature SKU, and we also have a Pinot Noir from Raeburn that's very successful,” said Webb. “A year and a half ago we also launched a Sonoma County Cab ($25). That product is on fire, still growing over 20% and gaining ground quickly.”

Purple Brands was founded by industry veteran Derek Benham and has an annual volume of 400,000 cases. Its other spirits brand besides Redwood Empire is D. George Benham’s Gin. Wines include Raeburn, Scattered Peaks, and Avalon, among others.