The other big growth company is Pernod Ricard, which bought much of the Canadian-based Seagrams in 2000.

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Drinks makers, such as Seagrams, and the South Carolina Liquor Wholesalers Association, want to keep things as they are.

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As we wrote in the Forbes 400 issue, Seagrams spirit heir Charles Bronfman and 5-hour Energy founder Manoj Bhargava talked with us about their decisions to join.

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Companies like Deep Eddy (Texas), Jeremiah Weed (Connecticut), Sweet Carolina (Maine) and Seagrams (California) soon popped up to sell their own versions of the concoction.

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