Hugues Pietrini & Georges Alexandre Congost Are Driving the Spirits Industry with Spirit Brothers
In 2020, Hugues Pietrini and Georges Alexandre Congost co-founded a company named Spirit Brothers. Aimed at creating new brands and design-friendly bottles for the growing beverage industry, the trend-backed business umbrella encompasses an array of spirits categories—including Celosa tequila, Romanov vodka, Mahani mezcal, Duke bourbon, Gouverneur 1648 rum, and Belle Rive gin—in hand-blown glass bottles featuring commissioned work by artists. On a quest to bring the world’s best distillers and artisans together for the consumer market, Spirit Brothers honors craftsmanship and authenticity by bottling the best ingredients in hand-created vessels.
Whitewall spoke with Pietrini and Congost about driving the spirits industry forward with consideration for art, sustainability, community, and more.
Courtesy of Spirit Brothers.
WHITEWALL: How did your backgrounds lead you to co-found Spirit Brothers?
HUGUES PIETRINI: I’m a French guy and educated in the U.S., in Vermont. I went to college and then to large companies, particularly in drinks. My last three positions were CEO of Orangina Schweppes, then CEO of Moët Hennessy worldwide, and the CEO of Stoli Group worldwide, also.
I decided when I turned 50 that it was great to create value for interesting shareholders, but maybe it was the time for me to start building my own brands and really be engaged in this new and very exciting way. I’m not a big fan of craft spirits, so I would modify what we do as haute couture. It’s really going into developing unique products that you can’t buy in supermarkets, really dedicated to special customers. I decided to create the company with my partner, Georges, who I’ve been working with in past companies.
GEORGES ALEXANDRE CONGOST: I’m French-born and -bred. Coming from the Southwest of France, after a professional rugby career, I decided logically to turn to spirits. It was something suited to a certain lifestyle, but also savoir vivre, when you get a taste for good things. Logically, I turned to a company, LVMH, where I met Hugues. I was based in London back in the day, covering the night channel, and a member’s club party destination. Like Hugues, working and learning from different experiences, I quickly understood that what would drive my life would be also something more reliable with also somebody who has this vision of building something new into the new consumption aspect. Do something different, but always in the respect of the consumers, which I feel is very important from an integrity point of view.
Courtesy of Spirit Brothers.
WW: The brand goes beyond the traditional landscape of spirits to involve the community and talk about craftsmanship and philanthropy. How would you describe the community of the Spirit Brothers brand?
HP: We try to give meaning to everything we do. The name itself incorporates a lot of inside meanings. It’s not just a corporate name. Of course, our job is spirits, but as you know “spirit” also means “spiritual.” On our logo, we have this sort of sun with five points, which illustrates the four elements—fire, air, earth, and water—that are essential to make spirits. And the fifth element is a touch of magic.
“Brothers” is really something that is key to our values, which means that we want to create a real community; a family sense in what we do. That incorporates, of course, the people that work in the company, but also our partners who produce our spirits—particularly, I would say, the agave spirits, which is a big specialty because we are passionate about that. Mexico is my favorite country—besides Australia, and of course France and the U.S. I spend three months per year in Mexico. The way we work there on mezcal is very special.
When we created Mahani, we actually built a bank in the village about 12 hours from Oaxaca and allowed our mezcal maestro to work properly with his family. We financed that with our partners. We want to give back to the village as the brand starts to grow. In everything we do, we partner with people who are in love with what we do from a partnership point of view. We develop the liquid together. We have this philosophy of trying to find a touch of magic, but in a family spirit.
“We try to give meaning to everything we do,” said Pietrini of Spirit Brothers.
WW: The creation of spirits consists of more than the bottling, the production, the distribution, the consumption, and the recycling. How are you thinking about your brand as it relates to an eco-responsible approach?
GAC: Today we have to be aware of what trace we’re going to leave on earth. Leaving no trace is very important. For Mahani, we decided to go deep into the process of creating sustainably, finding a way to recycle glass. It’s handmade glass—so blown, recycled. Each bottle is absolutely unique. We do as much as possible. One hundred percent of our transport is port shipping. We avoid airplanes. In terms of boxes, everything is recyclable. We are not really into the plastic postconsumer materials. It is about only the product, based on the product. I would not say that it’s easy. It’s very, very, very, very difficult because at some point on your supply chain, something will come. It’s all top of the line, but in this way we try to have the best green approach in the respect of our consumers and of the next generation.
Courtesy of Spirit Brothers.
WW: Spirit Brothers works with artists on packaging. How does art impact the brand and its approach to visuals?
GAC: We are using artists directly as much as possible. We believe that our approach to our brands is an “haute couture” approach—from the liquid we create to the bottles, labels, design, and brand content, including photos, videos, or music. For this, we only work with artists. We strongly believe that an artistic approach on our brands can rightly convey emotions and a real luxury feel to our brands as we want to create a unique experience with our customers and consumers.
We have worked on our gin Belle Rive with Marie Field, who developed our visual identity. Marie Field is an up-and-coming painter, which has brought a very modern touch to an Art Deco feel that we wanted to give to the brand from the name, the shape of the bottle, which is a celebration of the luxury French Riviera.
On our mezcal, Mahani, and our rum, Gouverneur 1648, we have worked with a young Mexican artist, Eduardo Ramon, who is an amazing artist specialized in handmade illustrations.
Courtesy of Spirit Brothers.
Hugues Pietrini and Georges Alexandre Congost
