A Historic Distillery Partners with the Biggest Wine and Spirits Distributor in the Country
Holladay Distillery, the bourbon maker out of Weston, Missouri with roots going back to 1856, just locked in a major distribution deal that's going to put its bottles in front of a whole lot more people. The distillery's parent company, McCormick Distilling Company, has signed a multi-state agreement with Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits — and if you know anything about the spirits business, you know that name carries serious weight.
The deal covers fifteen states: Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Texas. That's a wide stretch of the country, hitting everything from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast to New England.
What Southern Glazer's Actually Brings to the Table
Southern Glazer's isn't just any distributor. It's widely considered the largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States, and it has the kind of reach and infrastructure that most brands can only dream about. Getting them in your corner means better access to bars, restaurants, liquor stores, and retail chains — both the places you sit down and drink and the places you pick up a bottle on your way home.
For a brand like Holladay, which has a strong reputation among people who know Missouri bourbon, this is the kind of move that can take a well-kept secret and turn it into a shelf staple across a big chunk of the country.
Patrick Fee, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at McCormick Distilling, put it plainly in the announcement. "Southern Glazer's brings an unparalleled combination of scale, sophistication, and strategic insight," Fee said. "As we continue building momentum behind our premium portfolio, this partnership allows us to deepen our presence in key markets with a partner who understands long-term brand building and execution at every level."
That's the kind of language that means something specific in the distribution world. It's not just about getting bottles on shelves — it's about having people on the ground who know the accounts, who have the relationships, and who can actually move product.
The Brands That Will Benefit
The agreement covers more than just the Holladay Distillery lineup. Southern Glazer's will be representing a wider portfolio of McCormick premium brands across these markets, including Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur, Tequila Rose, Broker's Gin, and Hussong's Tequila.
But Holladay's own bourbon lineup is going to be a centerpiece of what Southern Glazer's is selling. The distillery produces what it calls Real Missouri Bourbon, with its flagship offerings including Holladay Soft Red Wheat and Ben Holladay Bourbon — the latter made from a recipe that's more than 160 years old. That's not marketing fluff. That recipe traces back to the distillery's founding by Ben Holladay himself back in 1856, making it one of the older continuously operating bourbon stories in the country.
The Holladay bourbons have also picked up awards along the way, which gives Southern Glazer's sales reps something concrete to talk about when they're walking into an account and trying to get a new bottle placed.
Why the Timing Makes Sense
The American bourbon market has gone through a remarkable run over the past decade or so. What used to be a category dominated by a few big Kentucky names has opened up considerably, with drinkers actively looking for craft producers, regional stories, and bottles that have something real behind them beyond just clever label design.
Missouri bourbon, specifically, doesn't get nearly the same attention as Kentucky bourbon even though the state has a legitimate claim to whiskey-making history. Holladay Distillery is arguably the strongest argument for taking Missouri seriously as a bourbon state. Its history predates a lot of the famous Kentucky distilleries that people line up to visit, and the distillery in Weston still offers tours so people can see the operation firsthand.
Getting into fifteen new major markets through a distributor like Southern Glazer's at this particular moment in the bourbon boom is smart timing. There's a genuine appetite for well-made American whiskey with a real story, and Holladay has that story in spades.
A Growing Operation
This distribution news comes on the heels of other signs that Holladay and McCormick are putting real investment into growing the brand. The distillery recently broke ground on a new rickhouse — the structure where barrels of bourbon age — which signals that the people running this operation are thinking about the long game, not just next quarter's numbers.
Matthew Metz, President of the Central Region for Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, spoke to what drew his company to the partnership. "We're excited to bring Holladay Distillery and McCormick Distilling Company's incredible portfolio to more consumers," Metz said. "Their legacy of craftsmanship and strong lineup of premium brands align with our commitment to delivering exceptional products and service. Together, we see meaningful opportunities to drive growth and expand distribution in key markets."
That language — legacy of craftsmanship — is the kind of thing that gets thrown around a lot in the spirits industry. In Holladay's case, it actually holds up. You don't keep a distillery running for nearly 170 years by cutting corners.
What Drinkers Can Expect
For people in the fifteen states covered by this agreement, the practical result should be pretty straightforward: Holladay bourbon and the rest of the McCormick premium portfolio should become easier to find. Whether that means spotting a bottle at a favorite local liquor store, seeing it listed at a restaurant bar, or finding it at a big-box retailer, the footprint is expanding.
For those who haven't tried Missouri bourbon before, this is a reasonable entry point into a category that deserves more attention than it typically gets. The Ben Holladay Bourbon in particular — built on that 160-plus year old recipe — is the kind of bottle that usually surprises people who come in expecting something unremarkable from outside Kentucky.
Weston, Missouri Is Worth Knowing About
The distillery's home base of Weston, Missouri sits in the northwest corner of the state, not far from Kansas City. It's a small town, but it has genuine history tied to the American frontier era, and Holladay Distillery is very much part of that history. Ben Holladay himself was a significant figure in 19th century American commerce — he was a stagecoach magnate and businessman whose name appears throughout that chapter of Western expansion.
The distillery kept his name and, more importantly, kept his bourbon recipe. That continuity matters in a spirits world that's flooded with newcomers trying to manufacture authenticity that Holladay came by honestly.
The Bigger Picture for McCormick Distilling
McCormick Distilling has been deliberately building out its premium portfolio, and this Southern Glazer's deal looks like part of a clear strategy rather than a one-off move. The company has been investing in production capacity with the new rickhouse, locking in top-tier distribution with a marquee partner, and competing in the awards circuit to validate product quality.
For a heritage brand that spent decades being something of an insider secret among people who knew where to look, this is the kind of infrastructure move that can meaningfully change its trajectory. Distribution is often the difference between a great product and a successful business, and McCormick appears to understand that clearly.
Whether bourbon drinkers in Texas or bourbon drinkers in Massachusetts are the ones who benefit most from this deal remains to be seen — but fifteen states is a substantial footprint, and Southern Glazer's has the horsepower to make the most of it.
The bottles are heading to more shelves. For a Missouri distillery that's been making bourbon since before the Civil War, it's about time the rest of the country had an easier time finding one.
