Halewood International Ltd

John Halewood founded the company in 1978, initially selling Bulgarian wines from his garage. It later launched its first product, Club Royal (sherry), and in 1987, expanded its portfolio by buying Hall & Bramley and Lamb and Watt. In 1990, he created a joint venture in Romania, followed by the acquisition of Red Square Vodka in 1991. He later launched Lambrini sparkling wine, which quickly became the company's best-selling product. Halewood bought the Crabbie's ginger wine brand from Glenmorangie in 2002 and then created ginger ale in 2009. The company then built a whiskey still in Edinburgh. In 2009, Halewood bought Whitley Neill Gin from Johnny Neill.