Heublein

Heublein Inc. (also known as Heublein Spirits) was an American producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages and food throughout the 20th century. During the 1960s and 1970s its stock was regarded as one of the most stable financial investments, earning it inclusion in the Nifty Fifty. It was acquired in 1982 by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Its successor, RJR Nabisco, began selling off many of Heublein's assets in the years that followed, with the Heublein division purchased by Grand Metropolitan in 1987. After more sell-offs of Heublein brands, Grand Metropolitan ceased using the name, incorporating the business into International Distillers & Vintners. History Heublein began as a restaurant founded in 1862 in Hartford, Connecticut, by Andrew Heublein, a German American entrepreneur. His two sons, Gilbert F. and Louis, soon joined the business. In 1875 they accepted a large order for pre-mixed martini and manhattan cocktails for the annual picnic of the Governor's Foot Guard. Rain forced the event's cancellation. When a restaurant employee whom the brothers had instructed to dispose of the canceled cocktails several days later determined them to have withstood shelf storage safely, they began selling the pre-mixed cocktails from the restaurant. So popular were the ready-made cocktails that Heublein built a distillery just to satisfy the demand. When the focus of Andrew Heublein's business turned more heavily toward its lucrative line of ready-made cocktails in 1890, he transferred the business to his sons, and it became Gilbert F. Heublein and Bro. In 1892 they introduced their brand of “Club Cocktails” pre-mixed cocktails, an early form of ready to drink (RTD) cocktails.