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Maine State Senate President, The Honorabie Michaei Thibodeau
3 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333

May 15, 2017

Dear President Thibodeau:

My name is Mark Brown and i am the CEO of the Sazerac Company. Presentiy, we proudiy own and
operate the Sazerac of Maine facility in Lewiston, Maine. iwouid like to express our opposition to L0
56. Sazerac employs 130 people at our Boston Brands Lewiston facility, formerly known as the White
Rock distillery. The average salary there is $50,000.00

Our Boston Brands of Maine facility finishes and bottles Fireball whiskey, including bottling Fireball in
SO-miliiliter bottles otherwise known as "nips." This homegrown product has created numerous jobs
that L0 56 is now attempting to target and inadvertently diminish. In fact, the sale of Firebali 50mi
bottles account for roughly 50% of ali ?nip? safes in Maine.

Like you, we are concerned about the apparent littering problem as it pertains to the 50 mls. in fact, in
the spirit of being a good corporate citizen, we reached a compromise with Senator Tom Savielio. Under
that compromise, we concluded that we couid incorporate the 5 cent deposit into our costs without
passing it on to the consumer and without negatively impacting any of the 130 jobs in Lewiston.
Unfortunately, the situation in Augusta has changed and it has caused us to reevaluate our position.

When we first heard that Governor LePa'ge might delist 50 mis if LD 56 passed, we became concerned
about its impact on our operations in Maine. i have since confirmed with the Governor that his position
on deiisting is very reai. While we could have lived with a 5 cent redemption sticker if the state realiy
thought that wouid soive the littering probiem, we can no longer support the legislation while under the
threat of having 50 delisted. Such a move wouid be detrimentai to the state?s finances as this is one
of the fastest growing sectors in Maine. In fact, at present growth rates, 50mis of spirits will eventuaily
generate $8.4 miilion dollars a year for the state, and become a 200,000 case business. That equates to
15% of the state?s sale of spirits.

Not only would the state lose the profits from the saie of the products, it would aiso shift business to
neighboring states who wouid certainly see their sales of 50 rise. It would negatively impact the

 

finances of Maine corporate resident Sazerac, the largest producer of 50 in Maine. As a result, we
cannot support LD 56 or any other legislation that would have such a drastic impact on our company
and our employees

Sazerac is an American, independent and family~owned company. We are the largest distiller in the
United States and the fifth largest in the world. We presently have 2,200 employees and have
operations in Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia, California, Maryland, New Hampshire and
Maine. Over the last 35 years, we have doubled in size every five years. We are proud to be on this
iourney with Maine as our partner, unfortunately we see LD 56 as a threat to the goodwill we have
come to expect from our relationship. We urge you to help defeat this issue.

If you or your colleagues have any questions regarding our position or our operations in Lewiston,
please feel free to reach out to me directly at mbrown@sazerac.com. My number is 502. 695-5978 or
call our Jason Underwood at 502.376.3100. Thank you for letting us register our concerns and we look
forward to moving forward and growing our business in Maine.

Respectfully,

may

Mark Brown

CEO, Sazerac