Edward M. Brown, President, CEO, The Patrón Spirits Company
What’s the hippest and most popular ultra-premium spirit, the brand Tom Cruise, Paris Hilton, Robin Leach, and a host of the hottest A-list celebrities reach for? It is Patrón tequila, which has exploded into the world’s No. 1 ultra-premium tequila in record time.
From their company’s humble begin-nings in 1989, John Paul DeJoria and Martin Crowley set out to create the world’s best tequila from a little-known distillery located in the hills of Jalisco, Mexico. In 2001, Ed Brown came on board The Patrón Spirits Company as president and CEO and helped take Patrón to the next incredible level.
"In the beginning, Martin brought back this great tequila from Mexico," recalls Ed. "John Paul said this tequila was unbelievable. Let’s make up 1,000 cases. Worst case, even if we can’t sell it, we will still have gifts for all our friends and family for every birthday and Christmas to come."
Closing out their first decade, Patrón’s market share peaked at 75,000 cases a year. Brown, a former top executive at Seagram’s, then took the helm of Patrón and leveraged his sales and marketing experience to expand the Patrón brand.
"When I came on board, we had only five or six employees. Today, we have 30. Our world headquarters and distribution center is here in Las Vegas. We also have 310 people in Mexico and 25 in Anguilla, British West Indies. We sold an amazing 342,000 cases in 2004. We estimate we are going to do about 685,000 cases this year, in the U.S. alone.
"The brand is exceeding even our wildest expectations. Patrón is not really seen as a tequila. It is seen as a chic brand, that cool, hip thing to drink, and that is one reason it is so popular. Our products have the authenticity of Mexico, the care and the touch. We have over 70 different sets of eyes and hands that touch each and every bottle in Mexico in order for it to live up to Patrón’s highest quality assurance standards.
"A good friend of John Paul’s is Dan Ackroyd, who is Canadian. He absolutely loves Patrón and is now our Canadian distributor. Also, four-time world bartending champ Tony Abou-Ganim shares his latest creations on video on our growing Web site." Just click on www.patronspirits.com for the latest mouthwatering recipes for watermelon margaritas and more.
Nine very distinctive products now share the Patrón label: Gran Patrón, Patrón Anejo, Patrón Resposado, Patrón Silver, Patrón XO Cafe, Patrón Citronge, Pyrat Cask and Pyrat XO Reserve. The newest is Gran Patrón Platinum, an extraordinary triple distilled pure tequila, which retails at a premium of around $200 a bottle.
"We rolled out Gran Patrón at the Tiger Woods "Tiger Jam" at Mandalay Bay last year. MGM then jumped on it and now offers a $100 Margarita for Two at Diego, their new Mexican restaurant."
In 2004 and 2005, Patrón Tequila was recognized by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences with its Five Star Diamond Award. Patrón is the first spirits brand ever to receive this prestigious award.
Ed Brown, along with John Paul DeJoria and their dedicated Patrón Spirits team, continues to expand their rare, rapidly-growing multi-billion dollar brand by offering the very best of spirits. Perhaps most importantly, they continue to give back generously to the Las Vegas community. Salud to Patrón!
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What’s the hippest and most popular ultra-premium spirit, the brand Tom Cruise, Paris Hilton, Robin Leach, and a host of the hottest A-list celebrities reach for? It is Patrón tequila, which has exploded into the world’s No. 1 ultra-premium tequila in record time.
Closing out their first decade, Patrón’s market share peaked at 75,000 cases a year. Brown, a former top executive at Seagram’s, then took the helm of Patrón and leveraged his sales and marketing experience to expand the Patrón brand.
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