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Endpoint: Seagram's V.O.



06:59
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created on: 3/06/2026
by: bob (10761)
 
 

Brand properties

General info :
Seagram's V.O. was a brand of Whisky from the The Seagram Company Ltd. and currently from Sazerac Company, Inc.
Family tradition states that "V.O." stands for "Very Own," as this was a whisky blend created for Joseph E. Seagram's own family. The story tells how Joseph's son, Thomas, had the distillery's blender, William Hortop, prepare a whisky blend for his personal use to celebrate his upcoming marriage in 1913 to Dorothy Pearson. Upon tasting the special blend, Joseph insisted that the family blend be put on the market. It went on to become one of Seagram's biggest sellers.

The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and, during the last five years of its existence, entertainment conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1857 as a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was in the 1990s the largest owner of alcoholic beverage brands in the world.

The three most popular Seagram distilled products in the 1960s through 1990s were Seven Crown, Seagram's V.O., and Crown Royal.

In 1995, Edgar Bronfman Jr. was eager to enter the film and electronic media business. On April 6, 1995, after being approached by Bronfman, DuPont announced a deal whereby the company would buy back its shares from Seagram for US$9 billion. Seagram was heavily criticized by the investment community. Bronfman used the proceeds of the sale to acquire a controlling interest in MCA from Matsushita, whose assets included Universal Pictures and its theme parks a year after.
Later in 1998, Seagram purchased PolyGram for $10.6 billion, and scattered the assets within Universal Studios, notably both Universal Music Group and Universal Pictures. The same year, Seagram sold its juice business Tropicana Products to PepsiCo for $3.1 billion.
In 2000, Seagram's entertainment division was sold to Vivendi, and, after Vivendi had acquired French media giant Groupe Canal+, it became part of the new company, Vivendi Universal, on 11 December 2000.
The beverage division was sold to Diageo and Pernod Ricard.

In a 2013 interview with The Globe and Mail, Charles Bronfman (uncle of Edgar Jr.) stated about the decisions leading to the demise of Seagram: "It was a disaster, it is a disaster, it will be a disaster. It was a family tragedy."

By the time Vivendi began auctioning off Seagram's beverages business, the once-renowned operation consisted of around 180 alcoholic drink brands and brand extensions in addition to its original high-profile brand names.[23]

In 2002, The Coca-Cola Company acquired Seagram's Mixers (ginger ale, tonic water, club soda, and seltzer water) from Pernod Ricard and Diageo, as well as signing a long-term agreement to use the Seagram name from Pernod Ricard for these products.


The Seagram name survives today in various well-known drinks. Seagram's Seven Crown, used to make the American cocktail 7 and 7, is produced by Diageo, while Seagram's V.O. is produced by Sazerac.
Relations :
Brand name used by [1989 -] : Sazerac Company, Inc.
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
Brand name used by : The Seagram Company Ltd.
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
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Item number : 72816

Submitted by : bob (10761)
on : 03/06/2026