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The Eagles get into the booze business with Bird Gang Spirits’ vodka and bourbon

Under the deal with BOTLD and branding agency WeHolden, the football team expects to have fun with the affiliation.

Bird Gang Spirits' new vodka and bourbon are being offered in collaboration with BOTLD, a Pennsylvania distillery.
Bird Gang Spirits' new vodka and bourbon are being offered in collaboration with BOTLD, a Pennsylvania distillery.Read moreCourtesy of Michael Persico / WeHolden

The Birds are in the booze business now.

In a new sideline business, the Philadelphia Eagles are partners in Bird Gang Spirits, a home-grown affiliation between the team and BOTLD, a Philadelphia distiller working with a local brand-marketing agency, WeHolden.

The first Bird Gang products — labeled in kelly green to dovetail with the marketing push surrounding the team’s new retro uniforms — are vodka and straight American whiskey. They are available for a limited time at BOTLD’s shop at 119 S. 18th St., near Rittenhouse Square, and online for delivery within Pennsylvania. The Eagles and BOTLD will also sell bottles at a pop-up event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday in Lincoln Financial Field’s Lot K.

The bottles are 750ml, and are priced at $28 for the vodka and $38 for the bourbon. Andrew Auwerda, founder of BOTLD, said he was trying to work with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on selling through Fine Wine and Good Spirits stores.

BOTLD’s tasting notes say that the 82-proof whiskey offers “rich and robust notes of corn, rye, and a hint of malted barley,” while the vodka (80 proof) is made from 100% corn and offers “a smooth, clean, slightly sweet taste with subtle notes of corn and pepper.”

The NFL has a long history with alcohol partnerships. The Eagles themselves have relationships with brands including Diageo (Crown Royal) and Pernod Ricard (Absolut and Jameson), as well as a new deal with Philadelphia-born comedian Kevin Hart’s Gran Coramino tequila, said Brian Napoli, senior vice president of corporate partnerships.

The BOTLD partnership is unique because the spirits are produced exclusively in the Philadelphia area. BOTLD, which opened last year, bottles and sells spirits from producers that are too small to find their way into the PLCB’s inventory, even on the special-order list.

BOTLD doesn’t do the fermentation or distilling — those steps are done by a company that Auwerda declined to disclose — but it blends, ages, proofs, and filters the product.

Additional Bird Gang Spirits will be released by the Eagles and BOTLD over the next several years to commemorate milestones and historical team moments, the team said.

Auwerda, considered a pioneer in Pennsylvania spirit-making, in 2005 cofounded Philadelphia Distilling, known for Bluecoat Gin. He left in 2021, before the company was sold, to run BOTLD.

Armed with his working relationship with WeHolden, Auwerda said, he approached the Eagles with the idea of creating a booze brand that would be “more than a label.”

Napoli said the team signed on because of the “fun in their marketing” and the passion they bring to their products.

“We think of it as a whole lifestyle brand,” Auwerda said. “It’s about the community of the Eagles fans, the diehards, the tailgaters, the people that have been through thick and thin with the Eagles and are super loyal. We’re going to have some fun with it.”