COCKTAIL LIQUEUR EXPERT DE KUYPER ROYAL DISTILLERS STRENGTHENS LEADING POSITION BY ACQUIRING BRITISH PEACH LIQUEUR LEGEND ARCHERS

Schiedam, 8 September 2022. De Kuyper Royal Distillers adds a new brand hero to its international liqueur portfolio. The Dutch family company is acquiring Archers Peach Schnapps from Diageo. The British brand icon is the perfect complement to De Kuyper’s premium cocktail liqueurs portfolio and makes the four times in a row Liqueur Producer of the Year the world leader in the peach liqueurs category. In keeping with its “Own the Cocktail” vision De Kuyper is further strengthening its position, especially in the UK, the second most important cocktail market in the world.

“We want to own the peach category. With Peachtree we do so in a number of important cocktail markets, but in UK the peach category is historically owned by Archers. We had the choice to keep competing with Archers or to try to acquire Archers and add the brand to our premium liqueur portfolio. We decided to do the latter,” explains Mark de Witte, CEO of De Kuyper. “Archers is a high-quality liqueur with a great heritage, deeply rooted in UK consumers’ minds when it comes to peach liqueurs. This strong brand performs very stably and has remained relevant for consumers in the UK ever since its launch. For De Kuyper the brand will have high priority and we will contribute our over 325 years of expertise in liqueurs and our specific knowledge in the peach category to bring out the best in Archers.”

Archers Peach Schnapps is a clear fruit schnapps that is sold internationally. The subtle sweet liqueur with the full flavours of fresh peach comes in an instantly recognizable, elegant white frosted bottle. After its launch in 1986 this British bar legend became one of the fastest growing drink brands in the UK market and founded a whole new category. Today, Archers is a very well-known brand in the UK for both consumption at home and in bars and restaurants. The famous peach liqueur is essential in many classic cocktails such as WooWoo and Sex on the Beach. The British also love Archers Lemonade, the perfect blend of Archers with refreshing lemonade.

“We see an interesting growth platform for Archers in the category of cocktails and will utilize the insights, experience and best practices we gained with Peachtree. Our focus stays on the current audience where the brand is popular and which is fitting very well with the cocktail-drinker target group,” explains Godelief van Erve, Global Marketing Director at De Kuyper.

Owning the two leading brands in this category, Peachtree and Archers, De Kuyper Royal Distillers is the world leader in the peach liqueurs category and comes an important step closer to its vision of “Owning the Cocktail”.