Decadent American Whiskey
This is Virginia Black.
Brent Hocking is a passionate and proven spirits producer known for an incredible palate and his unconventional “luxury with an edge” approach to lifestyle branding, the inspiration for which is drawn from his diverse knowledge of music, fashion, and design.
Hocking founded ultra-premium spirits brand DeLeón Tequila in 2009 and sold it to Diageo PLC, the largest spirits company in the world, less than five years later. He earned worldwide recognition for the Diageo sale and won “M&A International Consumer Retail & Products Deal of the Year."
As Founder & CEO of the original DeLeón Tequila, Hocking was meticulous in his approach – overseeing all aspects of the brand from spirit production and barrel aging to marketing efforts and exit strategy. Hocking forever changed barrel aging in tequila by utilizing French Sauternes Barrels instead of caramel flavoring. He is credited with pioneering “a whole new class of tequila.”
Hocking received Robb Report’s “Spirit of the Year” award three years in a row – the only person in the 25-year history of the magazine to reach this accomplishment. He won the top five industry awards, five consecutive years for five different tequilas under the DeLeón brand and was also named Back-to-Back Grand Champion at the World Beverage Competition in Geneva, Switzerland two years in a row.
Credited with altering the landscape of tequila and alcohol branding. Hocking curated the now infamous DeLeón Rock Lounge music series bringing private intimate performances by huge stadium acts such as Depeche Mode, Guns N Roses, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to life during New York Fashion Week. The series garnered worldwide attention for the brand, the culmination of which was summarized in a quote from Page Six; “DeLeón Tequila is to Fashion week what Budweiser is to baseball.”
He has been a regular fixture on Bloomberg, CNN Money, Fox Business News, Yahoo, The Daily Ticker, Forbes, and Fortune Magazine offering insight and expertise into the changing luxury spirits market.
He recently created and launched Virginia Black Decadent American Whiskey in a joint venture with Drake and Proximo Spirits. Hocking continues to develop spirits, brands and design custom homes from his branded showroom space in West Hollywood, California.
As one of the most accomplished artists of his generation, Drake’s magnitude of influence and crossover appeal are unparalleled.
Drake has received over 280 recording nominations and 52 awards since 2009. He holds the most #1 Singles in both the R&B/Hip Hop and Rap categories, is the fourth musical act ever to total 100 Hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and is one of only two artists to ever occupy Billboard chart’s top three positions simultaneously.
His 2015 album, “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart and set a record for most digital streams in its debut week. He was the first artist in any category to receive platinum status on an album in 2015 and continued to shatter barriers in March 2015 when he placed 14 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously – matching a world record set by The Beatles in April of 1964. Before Drake’s meteoric rise, The Beatles had been the only musical act in history to achieve this feat. “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” marked Drake’s fourth consecutive album to debut at Number One. He is set to release his fifth album, “Views from the 6,” in April 2016.
In addition to having one of the largest social media followings and fan base of any male celebrity, Drake —a Toronto native—was named the Executive Global Ambassador for the Toronto Raptors NBA franchise. The Raptors hosted the NBA All-Star game in 2016 and Drake received the key to the city from the Mayor of Toronto.
Drake hosted the nationally televised ESPY awards in 2014. He headlined the Coachella Valley Music in 2015 and was selected by Apple Music to represent its steaming service. Six months after launch, Apple Music accumulated over 10 million paid subscribers.
Drake won “Crossover Artist of the Year” at the Billboard Latin Music Awards and was the most-searched Hip-Hop/Rap artist of 2015. His “Hotline Bling” video registered 557.95 million views on YouTube and his T-Mobile commercial for Super Bowl 50 was seen by 112 million Super Bowl viewers and received 54.7 million social media impressions.
There were over one billion impressions at this year’s annual “Undefined Drake Night” at a Toronto Raptor’s game. This, along with unprecedented collaborations like the one between Nike’s Air Jordan and his OVO (October’s Very Own) brand further demonstrates Drake's versatility, vision and supreme positioning power.
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