Blue Buffalo founders become investment partners in New Canaan’s ‘Merican Mule

The Bishop family, founders of Blue Buffalo and SoBe Beverages, have made what they call “a major investment” in New Canaan-based canned cocktail brand ”˜Merican Mule.

Founded in 2015 by Dean Mahoney and two partners, ”˜Merican Mule produces ready-to-drink Moscow Mules using distilled spirits, proprietary ginger beer, and natural ingredients.

“While there are many ready-to-drink cocktail products on the market, we were eager to invest in ”˜Merican Mule given the brand”™s distinct positioning and outperformance of the canned cocktail category”™s rapid growth, which per Nielsen has increased over 90% compared to 2019,” said Billy Bishop, a partner in the Bishop family”™s Seminole Investment Management group.

Since the brand”™s introduction, it has steadily grown and is now available in 12 states across New England and the southern U.S., “with tremendous growth potential ahead,” Bishop added.

In addition to their role as investors for the premium Moscow Mule brand, the Bishop family will also become active advisers to Mahoney, who noted that the Bishops built SoBe into a $220 million business over four years, and led Blue Buffalo to sales of over $1 billion before selling it to General Mills for $8 billion in 2018.

Also joining the company as a strategic adviser is David Holmes, who is credited with creating the hard seltzer category with SpikedSeltzer (now Bon & Viv) before selling it to AB InBev in 2016.  He currently serves as partner of Knockback Partners, which invests in beverage companies.