Heritage Distilling Names Michael P. Carrosino as Chief Financial Officer

Veteran finance executive with more than 40 years’ experience to lead Heritage’s financial operations and manage capital market transactions

GIG HARBOR, Wash., Dec. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Heritage Distilling Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: CASK) (“HDC” or “Heritage” or “The Company,”) a leading craft distiller of innovative premium brands, announced the appointment of Michael P. Carrosino as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). A veteran finance executive with over 40 years’ experience, Mr. Carrosino will be responsible for leading the Company’s financial planning and operations, managing liquidity, directing capital planning and guiding capital market transactions to ensure Heritage is well positioned to execute its expansion strategy.

Justin Stiefel, Chief Executive Officer of HDC, commented, “We are thrilled to have Michael join Heritage as our new CFO. His impressive track record across multiple industries, combined with his accounting, financial operations and public company experience, will bolster our leadership team and corporate structure. Michael will be instrumental in supporting our growth plans at a pivotal time in Heritage’s evolution. I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to expand our offerings to consumers and grow the value of our enterprise.”

Mr. Carrosino is a senior finance and operations executive with experience across multiple industries with both public and private companies. His expertise includes general financial and operational management, including scaling internal finance functions, accounting, public company reporting, fundraisings, restructurings and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Previously, he held multiple senior-level finance and CFO positions for companies that included several interim CFO consulting roles, as well as several full-time senior-level and CFO positions. Some of these companies include Tatoosh Distillery, Foss Maritime, The Space Needle, TomboyX, Hyperion Innovations / ColdHeat, Pacific Biometrics, and VacationSpot.com. Mr. Carrosino’s prior experience also includes tenures with Classmates.com, Cell Therapeutics, Inc., Esterline Technologies and Arthur Andersen. He received a B.A. degree in Humanities and a B.A. degree in Business Administration – Accounting from Seattle University.

Mr. Carrosino added, “Heritage’s values of innovation, quality and independence resonate strongly with me, and I am excited to be joining this unique leader in the craft distilling industry. Leveraging a strong reputation and award-winning portfolio, Heritage has a tremendous opportunity to further elevate its industry position and expand into new markets across the country. I am pleased to join this highly motivated and successful team.”

The appointment of Mr. Carrosino follows on the heels of the Company’s recent appointment of Troy Alstead (former Chief Operations Officer at Starbucks and current Director at Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG), Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE: LEVI), Array Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY), OYO Global, and RASA Indian Grill, and Andrew Varga, former Chief Marketing Officer at Brown-Foreman Corporation, Papa John’s International and as president of Zimmerman Advertising, to its board of directors.

About Heritage Distilling Company, Inc.
Heritage is among the premier independent craft distilleries in the United States offering a variety of whiskeys, vodkas, gins, rums and ready-to-drink canned cocktails. Heritage has been the most awarded craft distillery in North America by the American Distilling Institute for ten years in a row out of the more than 2,600 craft producers, plus numerous other Best of Class, Double Gold, and Gold medals from multiple national and international spirits competitions. It is one of the largest craft spirits producers on the West Coast based on revenues and is developing a national reach in the U.S. through traditional sales channels (wholesale, on-premises, and e-commerce) and its unique and recently-developed Tribal Beverage Network (“TBN”) sales channel, which is collaborating with Native American tribes to develop Heritage-branded distilleries, brands, and tasting rooms and to develop brands unique to the tribes, to serve patrons of tribal casinos and entertainment venues, creating compelling social and economic benefits for participating tribal communities while allowing the tribes another channel through which to exercise tribal sovereignty.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,” “seeks,” “will,” and variations of these words or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any such statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding anticipated results or benefits anticipated from Heritage’s executive appointments.

Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on Heritage’s current expectations, estimates and projections only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks of expanding sales and revenue due to the addition of new members of the executive team or new directors to the board. These and other risks concerning Heritage’s programs and operations are described in additional detail in its registration statement on Form S-1, and its quarterly 10-Q filings, which are on file with the SEC. Heritage explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.