Campari Group is moving deeper into American whiskey, agreeing to acquire a 70 percent stake in Howler Head, the banana-flavored Kentucky straight bourbon backed by UFC president Dana White and fighter Kacper "Kapo" Tobiasz. According to The Spirits Business and Reuters, the deal values Howler Head at around €140 million, with an option for Campari to buy the remaining 30 percent stake in the future. The brand will sit alongside Wild Turkey in Campari’s U.S. whiskey portfolio, signaling that flavored bourbon is not a sideshow but a strategic growth lane. For bar operators and portfolio managers, this is another clear read on where the big houses think the next tranche of spirits volume and margin lives. Howler Head has been built on combat sports, entertainment marketing, and high-energy on-premise activations, not age statements and quiet sipping rooms. Campari is effectively buying a turnkey lifestyle brand that can plug into its global route-to-market and cross-promotional muscle. What to watch: how aggressively Campari pushes Howler Head into more traditional cocktail and highball programs, and whether this emboldens rivals to pursue similarly loud, flavor-led whiskey plays. If you’re programming whiskey for 2026 and beyond, this deal is a strong nudge to treat flavored bourbon as a serious, scalable category, not just a novelty backbar SKU.
Sources: - The Spirits Business: https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2026/07/campari-group-to-acquire-majority-stake-in-howler-head-bourbon - Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/campari-buy-majority-stake-howler-head-bourbon-2026-07-05
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