There are some potential shake ups coming for the international company behind White Claw hard seltzer. The Sunday Independent in Ireland is reporting that Davin Nugent, current chief executive officer of Mark Anthony Brands International, has resigned from his position.

Nugent has held the position of CEO for the Dublin-based and Canadian-owned company for approximately seven years. The Independent based their reporting on “filings made with the Companies Registration Office,” according to a story published on August 29.

The soon-to-be former CEO “headed up the Irish arm of the business that developed the hard seltzer success story White Claw.”

The Sunday Independent is reporting that the filings also indicate Nugent also resigned from a director position at Glendalough Irish Whiskey, the spirits company that Mark Anthony Brands purchased in 2019.

The story suggested that Nugent let the company know of his plans at the beginning of the summer season, yet agreed to stay on until the end of the year while Mark Anthony seeks his replacement.

In spite of the shakeup, Anthony von Mandl remains at the helm of Mark Anthony Group, the company behind such sensations as Mike’s Hard Lemonade and White Claw.

White Claw currently enjoys around 60% of the US hard seltzer market, and its popularity has been growing in the UK as well.

“Mark Anthony Brands is Dublin-based. It is an innovation, brand distribution and brand development company. Our objective is to create mutually-owned brands – as well as develop our existing portfolio – across all alcohol beverage sectors. We have a good track record within that, ranging from spirits to RTDs and now to hard seltzers,” Nugent told Drinks Retailing News in June of last year.

“We created White Claw back in 2016 and it was off the back of doing extensive research in understanding the better-for-you, healthier and active lifestyle consumer behaviours that were occurring predominantly in America. We decided to test this in America first where we had distribution for our other brands and it was also where we had seen huge growth in non-alcoholic seltzers.”

Nugent was with Mark Anthony Brands International since its biggest product launch since Mike’s Hard Lemonade – widely credited as being one of the first ready-to-drink (RTD) pre-made cocktails – took the drinks world by storm in the early 2000s.

Back in 2016, no one could have predicted the success of White Claw, or hard seltzer in general – an industry that was worth $2.5 billion in 2019.

“From an alcohol perspective, hard seltzer is arguably the most successful new alcohol category and White Claw is the most successful new alcohol brand in a generation in the US,” said Nugent.

The CEO oversaw a massive launch for the company, and helped develop one of the most popular and iconic spiked and sparkling brands in the world.

What does this potential change mean for the world’s most popular hard seltzer brand? What is coming next for Nugent? While these questions are unanswered for now, we are excited to see what the future holds for Mark Anthony Brands Intl., White Claw, and the massive, multi-billion dollar industry it spawned.

Erin Grafton
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