Charlie Morgan and Jackson Quinn were just 19 and 21 respectively when they set up Au Vodka.
The two childhood friends wanted to create a British version of the likes of Hennessy, Armand de Brignac and Luc Belaire – aspirational booze brands frequently cited in the lyrics of US rappers including Snoop Dogg, 2Pac and Jay-Z.
A little over a decade on, the pair look set to become multimillionaires in their own right, having agreed to sell Au to US spirits giant Sazerac in a deal that could be worth more than £500m.
Morgan and Quinn had already sold stakes in Au to DJ Charlie Sloth in 2017, and private equity firm Metric Capital in 2023, but will still receive a bumper payout from the deal.
To the two lads from Swansea for whom the sky was the limit, it must feel like a dream come true.
Viral success
From humble beginnings, Au Vodka’s stature grew after Sloth introduced the brand to a world of musicians, celebrities and influencers happy to promote it on social media.
But the real turning point came when the brand hired a private jet and enlisted British rapper Fredo to promote a new Black Grape flavoured vodka in 2019.
“The private jet had to be pulled along; it didn’t actually fly,” Morgan told The Grocer in 2025, “but the photos and video went insanely viral.”
Moving into flavoured vodka was a shrewd move that meant for the first time, shoppers weren’t just buying Au as some kind of status symbol; they were actually buying it to drink it.
More success followed after Au extended into premixed cocktails in 2022, launching wacky flavours including Blue Raspberry, Bubblegum and Sticky Toffee. This year, two Tango-branded variants soon joined the lineup.
Purists might scoff at products that sound more like vape flavours than cocktails, but today Au’s drinks are enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of shoppers, all across the UK. The brand arguably laid the groundwork for its soon-to-be Sazerac-owned peer BuzzBallz’s storming success, and it remains the second-largest ready-to-drink brand in the UK. Between them, Au and BuzzBallz account for a fifth of the off-trade RTD market by value, so it will be interesting to see if the CMA thinks the deal warrants an investigation.
Flashy marketing
Au’s founders haven’t always got everything right. The brand has found itself on the wrong side of the Portman Group on more than one occasion, including for launching an ill-advised gun-shaped piece of merchandise in 2023.
Many an observer has also been quick to sneer at the brand’s ostentatious approach to marketing. It once paid influencer Jake Paul £200k to get a fake Au tattoo before fighting Tommy Fury, while its Swansea brand home has gold-plated Lamborghinis parked outside and boasts a golden mini-golf course.
These criticisms feel more than a little rooted in snobbery, however. The two young men I met last year were down to earth, thoughtful and – if anything – a little unsure of themselves.
Their payday is a fitting reward for years of hard graft, and deserves to be celebrated.
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