Ryan Reynolds Sells His Aviation Gin Brand For £466 Million

Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds is set to celebrate a big windfall as he sells his gin brand, Aviation American Gin, to the world’s leading spirits producers, Diageo, for a whopping £466 million!

Ryan Reynolds has been the face of Aviation Gin since he became co-owner of the company back in February 2018. The super-premium gin brand is the second largest in the United States and saw 100% growth in sales volumes just last year.

On 17 August Diageo announced that the deal is for an estimated $610m (£466m), depending on future sales, and that they would pay the Deadpool star $335m (£256m) upfront. However, this won’t be the last we see of Reynolds with Aviation, as under the terms of the deal he will remain as the public face of the gin for the next 10 years as well as retain an ongoing ownership interest in the brand.

Aviation American Gin was founded in 2006 and was named after the Aviation cocktail created in the 1900s. It is a small-batch gin produced in Portland, Oregon and distilled to an old Dutch recipe. It will now be joining the other brands in Diageo’s range of gins which currently include Tanqueray, Gordon’s and Jinzu.

After the announcement of the sale, Reynolds said in a statement: “A little over two years ago, I became an owner of Aviation Gin because I love the taste of Aviation more than any other spirit. What I didn’t expect was the sheer creative joy learning a new industry would bring.

“Growing the brand with my company, Maximum Effort Marketing, has been among the most fulfilling projects I’ve ever been involved with. I want to thank Diageo for their incredible team and passion. We’re so excited for the next chapter of Aviation Gin, which, I promise, will require just as little reading.”