Proximo buys Lawrenceburg bottling plant

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Liquor distributor Proximo Spirits Inc. has acquired the bottling and packaging operations of Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI) LLC in Lawrenceburg.

Financial terms of the purchase from Trindad-based CL Financial weren’t disclosed. But the deal was done in tandem with MGP Ingredients Inc., which late last year purchased the alcohol fermentation and distilling operations of LDI for $11 million.

The distillery, located north of U.S. 50, and the bottling and packaging operation, located south of the highway, were operated for many years as a single entity by Joseph E. Seagram Sons Inc. The operation traces its history back 164 years and is considered one of the largest distilleries in the world with the capacity to produce 27 million gallons annually.

Atchison, Kan.-based MGPI is a wholesale supplier of industrial alcohol and doesn’t bottle alcohol for retail consumption.

Like the distillery operation, the bottling and packaging operation is huge. It encompasses about 800,000 square feet in three buildings and includes seven bottling lines, a warehouse and a blending facility.

CL Financial acquired the distillery and bottling operation in 2007 from Pernod Ricard. Over the last decade, the facility has evolved from producing for a single company or brand into a contract supplier for a variety of whiskey, vodka, rum and gin producers.

Scott Niemiec, operations manager for New Jersey-based Proximo, said “we’re excited to be in Lawrenceburg and look forward to the bottling operation supporting our future growth.”

Proximo is one of the largest bottling customers at the distillery, which packages its Three Olives Vodka and Kraken Black Spiced Rum.

Niemiec said Proximo plans to use the bottling operation, which employs about 80, to continue producing those brands and others it acquires, as well as doing contract bottling for others if it makes economic sense.

Started four years ago, privately held Proximo’s other brands include 1800 Tequila, Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and several other tequila and vodka brands.

Proximo also owns Stranahan’s small batch distillery in Denver.