About Us

Associated Brands (The Blue Ridge Distributing Company, Inc.), was founded in April, 1955 under  the ownership and direction of William Richard McClure and his wife,  the former Sara Elizabeth Alexander. Prior to establish the company Mr.  McClure, or “Poor Richard” as he liked to refer to himself, earned his  credentials working for the Hudepohl Brewing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio.   He later served as General Manager for State Distributing Company’s  branch, a wine wholesaler operation, located in the Hickory area.  This  post served to provide him with an interest in wines and the training to  manage a multi-brand beverage distributorship.

The company initially acquired the Ballentine Brewery Beer franchise  and through the years developed franchise relationships with brands such  as Carling Black Label, Pabst Brewing Company, Miller High Life,  Rolling Rock, and Heineken, among many other brands.

In the early 1960’s, the company began distributing wines, including E  & J Gallo Winery and Paul Masson Winery brands, to name a few.  Shortly thereafter, in order to compliment the company’s portfolio,  non-alcoholic products such as Canada Dry Mixers, Perrier, and Evian  Water were added. Following several acquisitions the wine and  non-alcoholic brands were split off in 1983 and began doing business  under the name of Associated Brands, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of  The Blue Ridge Distributing Company.

Associated Brands currently services markets in the counties of  Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Gaston, Cleveland, Rutherford, McDowell,  Avery, Caldwell, Burke, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, and Alexander.