Pernod-Ricard is a French-based multinational corporation that is the world’s second-largest wine and spirits producer, after Diageo. See Diageo. The company was created in 1975 with the fusion of two longstanding rivals of the French aperitif culture: Pernod (founded in 1805) and Ricard (created in 1932). The two leaders, Jean Hémard (1917–1982) and Paul Ricard (1909–1997), joined forces so that they could redirect their energies from competing with each other to competing in the world market with the growing Anglo-American conglomerates such as Seagram’s and Grand Metropolitan, even though at the time fully 80 percent of their joint business was in France. By 1979 that was down to 60 percent.
That rapid growth was boosted by the succession of Patrick Ricard (1945–2012), Paul’s son, to the helm of the company upon Hémard’s retirement in 1978. Over the next thirty years, he pursued an ambitious acquisitions policy that successfully transformed the French business into an international leader in wines and spirits.
The company made its first overseas acquisition in 1980 when it purchased the American whisky brand Wild Turkey. See Wild Turkey. In 1986, the group started its involvement in Singapore, Japan, China, and other Asian markets. In 1988, it added Irish Distillers to the portfolio in a friendly takeover, bringing the company Jameson, Bushmills, and several other brands, along with Ireland’s two operating distilleries. See Irish Distillers Ltd (IDL). The year 1993 saw the company sign a joint development and marketing agreement with the Cuban government, giving it the international marketing rights to Havana Club rum. The company experienced three more major growth spurts with the acquisition in 2001 of a significant portion of Seagram’s assets, including the prestigious Martell cognac brand; of Allied Domecq in 2005; and of Absolut vodka in 2008. See
Today, the group employs eighteen thousand people worldwide. Its portfolio also includes such well-known brands as the Glenlivet, Ballantine’s, and Chivas Regal Scotch whiskies; Del Maguey mescal, Avion tequila, and Kahlúa coffee liqueur; the Czech herbal liqueur Becherovka; Beefeater and Plymouth gins; G. H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouët champagnes; the French aperitif Suze, the Italian digestive Ramazotti, and Wyborowa Polish vodka. See Beefeater; Chivas Regal; Del Maguey mezcal; Glenlivet; Plymouth gin; and Suze.
From the late 2000s through the late 2010s, Pernod-Ricard devoted an unusual level of resources to bartender education, including sponsoring the BarSmarts bartender certification program, which tested and certified literally thousands of US bartenders in basic knowledge of spirits and mixology. See BarSmarts.
See also spirits trade, history of.
Pernod-Ricard Annual Reports, 1976–2006, https://pernod-ricard.com/en/media/publications-and-reports/publications/archive-annual-reports/ (accessed March 21, 2021).
By: Fernando Castellon
Sasha Petraske at the final incarnation of Milk & Honey, on Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan, ca. 2014.
Courtesy of Gabi Porter.
Sasha Petraske at the final incarnation of Milk & Honey, on Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan, ca. 2014. Source: Courtesy of Gabi Porter.