Toasting a good year

Despite some difficulties attributed to the region’s unstable geopolitical situation in 2015, the major Lebanese global spirits distributors nonetheless had cause to celebrate a generally successful year. Last year saw increased consumption of some key alcohol categories among Lebanese as well as some changing trends in drinking habits which worked in the interests of these distributors. A year of growth The spirits distributors Executive spoke to all boasted an annual growth in sales in 2015. Carlo Vincenti, who currently runs G. Vincenti & Sons, says the company’s overall growth reached 10 percent, with the spirits division alone witnessing an increase of 35 percent. While Vincenti attributes part of this growth to the continuing positive performance of their main brands, he says the strongest driver was the significant growth of the Jim Beam spirits group, including Jim Beam bourbon, for which they fully took over distribution in Lebanon in April 2014.