Angostura opens new liquor plant in Canada

Some 600 people, including dignitaries, suppliers and industry people, were expected to attend the event, which Horace Bhopalsingh said was designed to showcase the company and its brands to the community. The president of Angostura Canada said the company has spent $500,000 on renovations to the two-storey, 55,000-square-foot plant on Saulteaux Crescent in Murray Industrial Park since it moved in last August.

“We want people to know we’re a new company with a whole new outlook on the Canadian market. Our mission is to take the Angostura name to among the top brands in Canada. We want to infuse passion into our brand,” he said in an interview. Bhopalsingh said Angostura, the largest distiller in the Caribbean, was looking to get a beachhead in North America and the former Maple Leaf plant came up “at the right time.” It also has sister companies — a whisky distiller in Scotland, called Burn Stewart Distillers, and Hine Cognac, a premier cognac producer in France. Angostura products are marketed in more than 120 countries.

The Winnipeg plant became available after Maple Leaf, once touted as one of the fastest-growing companies in the province, was placed into bankruptcy earlier this year. Along with Protos and its two principal directors, Costas Ataliotis and David Wolinsky, it is the subject of numerous lawsuits.

Bhopalsingh, who was born in Trinidad and has more than two decades of experience in the liquor industry, said he hopes by focusing on the future that people will soon forget the past of the company whose former assets he now oversees.

“We have no relationship with (Maple Leaf or Protos), I haven’t met (Ataliotis and Wolinsky) and I don’t know them. My focus in on Angostura’s business,” he said.

Trinidad-based Angostura Ltd., a 180-year-old producer of rum and bitters, purchased Maple Leaf’s production equipment, real estate, and trademarks a year ago. Its Canadian portfolio includes 11 brands, including five that were bought from Maple Leaf, but Bhopalsingh said he hopes to expand to 18 in the near future. The former Maple Leaf brands, including Margarita Ice, Platinum Vodka, Norm’s Sour Power and Hoja Vieja tequila, have been “re-engineered,” he said.

“We bought some assets, we think they’re good assets, but we believe we had to upgrade them,” Bhopalsingh said.

When the Free Press first reported in the fall of 2005 that Angostura was in discussions to buy Maple Leaf, the purchase price was expected to be in the neighbourhood of $15 million. However, only the assets of the failed distillery were acquired, not the liabilities, and no purchase price was disclosed.

Bhopalsingh said he has been making the rounds with liquor commissions around the country and has Angostura products for sale in Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Bhopalsingh said its capacity is more than eight million litres annually. It has 25 employees, but that is expected to increase to 60 by the end of 2008, he said.