![]() ![]() “I’m always looking for opportunities to expand, especially abroad, to have as much business outside the United States as in, and we are getting there.” “It’s eat or be eaten,” he says, explaining a part of his business philosophy. And his holdings continue to grow The Sazerac Company is one of America’s largest distillers, and still proud to call New Orleans home. “As a distiller you sell your own brands, and as of today we produce over 300 brands, and are in all 50 states and over 100 countries,” Goldring says, his modesty on display as he delivers this statistic with his trademark unassuming manner. Today, bottles of Sazerac brands line shelves of retailers across the nation and the world. And the quest for the Holy Grail continued. At a time when most men of his age may have considered retirement, perhaps to perfect his already sharp skills on the tennis court, Goldring immersed himself in his newest business interests. ![]() Goldring wanted to strengthen his acumen as a distiller. The year 2010 found Goldring reevaluating his future, and he shifted his attention to The Sazerac Company, which had experienced steady growth since his father’s days at the helm of Magnolia. Under Bill’s leadership and vision, the businesses experienced unprecedented growth and acquisitions, eventually evolving into one of the nation’s largest and most successful wholesale liquor and distribution companies.Īlong the way, there were corporate name changes and mergers as well, and by 2006, Goldring’s business interests were under the banner Republic National Distributing Company. He also was named chairman of the Sazerac Company. He succeeded his father as president in 1982 and was named chairman of the company in 1991. He assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer in 1972 and renamed the company Magnolia Marketing Company, while growing and expanding the company’s holdings. He honed his beverage skills for a year, working for Seagram’s in New York, New Jersey and Maryland, always with an eye on returning home to work under his father’s tutelage.Īnd so he did, and within five years the younger Goldring had earned the role of executive vice president of Magnolia, responsible for all day-to-day operations of the growing company. The father insisted the son first get a college education, and so Bill did, finishing Tulane University in three years, a business degree in hand. “I’ve never thought of doing anything else,” says the third generation Goldring, recalling his desire to work for his father in the family business. Seagram was Montreal-based at the time.Īmong the partners’ earliest acquisitions was the Sazerac Company in 1949, one of the oldest family-owned business in New Orleans, dating back to 1850s.īoth men, steeped in the philosophy that to whom much is given, much is expected, created foundations to support civic endeavors to serve the greater good. The two had become acquainted when the Canadian-born Woldenberg, one of the first employees of Seagram’s distillers in the United States, paid a sales call to Goldring. In 1944, Stephen Goldring expanded his business into New Orleans, a city known for its love of all things spirits, founding the Magnolia Liquor Company, a wholesale liquor company, with his long-time business partner, Malcolm Woldenberg. Following the repeal of Prohibition in December 1933, the second generation Goldring returned to Florida in 1939, opening a small wholesale liquor distributorship. ![]() Newman’s son, Stephen, was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1908 and moved with his family to Chicago during Prohibition. His grandfather, Newman Goldring, was in the business in 1898 in Florida before Prohibition. William Goldring, known to everyone as “Bill,” is from the third generation to lead the family in the beverage alcohol business. “I’m in search of the Holy Grail,” he says, with a mischievous grin.īut unlike the stuff of Arthurian legends -where the Holy Grail is usually a cup filled with food in infinite abundance- Goldring’s vessel would be brimming with the perfect whiskey, ideally one that would come from one of the many distilleries that are in his own current portfolio. ![]()
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