Carolina Eagle Distributing Company, Inc., is a third generation beer distributorship that began in Wyandotte, Michigan with Joe Saputo’s grandfather Mr. Joe Barraco in 1933. Joe’s father, Mr. Russell Saputo, Sr., began his career in 1949 in Wayne, Michigan. Joe started working for his father in 1968. He then purchased his own distributorship in upstate New York in 1979. At that time he serviced four counties (Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster) until 1995 when he sold the company to purchase Carolina Eagle Distributing Co., Inc. In 2005 the 4th generation of Saputo’s entered the company, Russ Saputo. Upon graduating from East Carolina University in 1999, Russ went to work for Anheuser-Busch in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He stayed in Tulsa and excelled from Merchandiser to a District Sales Manager. Russ then became the Market Manager for Anheuser-Busch in Springfield, Illinois. He was responsible for 8 local wholesalers. Russ remained in Illinois until his departure to purchase Carolina Eagle Distributing. He is currently Co-Owner and Vice President of the company. In addition he is currently serving a 3 year term on the prestigious Anheuser-Busch Wholesaler Advisory Panel where he represents Region 2 Wholesalers for Anheuser Busch. In 2019 with time and growth on their side, Joe and Russ made the decision to expand Carolina Eagle Distributing Co., Inc. and purchased the distributorship in Greenville, NC. Russ being an ECU Pirate himself, felt at home returning as the Budweiser Distributor.

Carolina Eagle services retail accounts in parts of 11 Counties including; Nash, Edgecombe, Franklin, Warren, North-Hampton Counties and all of Halifax County from the Rocky Mount Location and Pitt, Martin, Washington and Beaufort Counties from the Greenville Location.

The company employs roughly 100 people and has locations with temperature controlled buildings in Rocky Mount, NC and the newly acquired location in Greenville, NC with a combined warehousing space of 100,000 square feet. The company currently runs 30 daily routes and operates 60 various vehicles for sales, service, and merchandising efforts.

Carolina Eagle sells over 3 million cases of Anheuser-Busch products yearly. Some of which include; Budweiser, Bud Light, Budweiser Select, Select 55, Bud Ice, Natural Light, Natural Ice, Michelob, Michelob Light, Michelob Ultra, Michelob Amber Bock, Busch, Busch Light, Busch NA, Odouls NA, Red Hook, Hurricane High Gravity, King Cobra Malt, Montejo, Goose Island and Blue Point Brewing along with many other non alcoholic brands.