Taaka Liqueur Distributor on Jefferson Hyw, a question of it's existence

This is largely right, but here are some corrections and elaborations.

  1. Taaka is indeed "made" by Sazerac, but it's not necessarily distilled by Sazerac. Most likely, it's the cheapest industrial ethanol available, watered down and bottled by Sazerac.

  2. Sazerac is indeed owned by Bill Goldring. His Daddy is the one who started it, so he was born on third base with a silver spoon in his mouth.

  3. RNDC (Republic National Distributing Company) is the correct name. Goldring formerly owned his own distributorship, called Magnolia Marketing (not Magnolia Distributing) which he was allowed to own, in addition to Sazerac, due to an interesting exception to the 3-tier system in Louisiana law. I don't have the exact citation, but it's in Title 26. It doesn't mention the company in particular, but says something like "anyone who was both a manufacturer and distributor prior to 1942 may continue to do so." Since 1942 isn't coming around again, only one company can ever qualify. There is a similar exception which allows Martin's (retail) to also own Wines Unlimited (distributor). The dates written into law vary, and there are several of these special allowances, so you would have to read the law very closely to find out exactly who is benefitting from these exceptions.

RNDC started in Florida; they began buying up other distributors and eventually bought Magnolia. My understanding is that Louisiana then said the special exception no longer applied as RNDC was a "new" company in the market and forced Goldring to sell his share of RNDC.

  1. Yes.

  2. Not sure if they "made" Taaka on Claiborne; that might have been his daddy, and was again, probably trucked-in ethanol. No, Goldring does not have anything close to the entire bourbon market cornered. There are a number of bourbon distilleries in Kentucky that are just as big as the ones owned by Sazerac, if not bigger. Check DISCUS reports on market share for more granular detail.

  3. When it comes to distributors, the major liquor companies tell the distributors what to do. Sazerac is somewhere around the 4th to 6th largest liquor company in the USA (estimated; and depending on how you measure) so they can tell RNDC exactly what to do with all of their brands.

  4. Interesting. Not sure if this is correct. RNDC operates more by consensus decision-making. Lots of Vice Presidents.

  5. He has major influence, but to say his is "in charge" is not exactly true.

  6. Precisely. More precisely, you need a retail liquor license. Also, they bring the booze to you.

  7. Goldring owns half of Crescent Crown, the other half is owned by Jim Bob Moffet, of FreePort McMoRan. That is the guy who is involved in some very sleazy gold mining and human rights abuses in Indonesia.

TLDR: Goldring has a major chunk of the liquor business but to say he "owns most of the alcohol you drink" is an exaggeration.

/r/NewOrleans Thread Parent