Brand Scorecard. (Currents).

It's a fact of life in the consolidating beverage alcohol business that brands migrate from one house to another. To keep our readers up with the latest moves, Cheers inaugurates the Brand Scorecard, which we hope helps everyone keep things straight.

The final impediment to completion of the Diageo/Pernod buy-out of Seagram has been removed, as Allied Domecq and Diageo settled the Capt. Morgan brouhaha by agreeing that Allied would take over the Malibu Rum brand and Diageo would hold onto Capt. Morgan's...Meanwhile, Seagram's Coolers, one of the few coolers which have survived into the 2000s, have come under the wings of Pernod Ricard USA but will be distributed and marketed along with Rick's Spiked Lemonade, by United States Beverage. Head of USB is Joseph Fisch, formerly president of Seagram Beverage...Van Winkle bourbons and ryes, the brainchild of Julian Van Winkle, grandson of famed bourbon maker "Pappy" Van Winkle, have become part of Buffalo Trace in the Sazerac house... Skyy Spirits, now a subsidiary of the Campari Group, has become the exclusive US distributor of the Ron Matusalem brand of premium rums. The three rums, which will be distributed under the agreement, are Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva, Classico and Platino. Details will be released soon...A news report that Ruffino, a major Italian wine brand in the U.S. and one of the largest wineries in Tuscany, has sold half its business to E & J Gallo is "completely false," according to Adolfo Folonari, proprietor of Ruffino. "We have never h ad any conversations with Gallo representatives about anything like this." Ruffino sold an estimated 500,000 9-liter cases in the U.S. in 2001, according to Adams Beverage Research, and has recently made a major investment by purchasing Borgo Conventi, a well-known estate in Italy's Friuli region, for $8.5 million.