In remarks prepared for delivery today at the JP Morgan Diversified Industries Conference, Fortune Brands chairman and chief executive officer Bruce Carbonari said, "While consumers remain very cautious and the U.S. housing market remains challenged, we're encouraged by improvements in key economic measures, including consumer confidence and sales of new and existing homes. Additionally, our third quarter order patterns are tracking to our expectations and we're continuing to gain share in key product categories. Taken together, these factors enhance our confidence that we'll achieve our full-year earnings target for diluted EPS before charges/gains to be in the range of $2.00 to $2.30."

The company also reaffirmed its expectation to generate free cash flow for 2009 in the range of $400 million after dividends and net capital expenditures.

Fortune Brands plans to report results for the third quarter of 2009 on October 23rd.

About Fortune Brands

Fortune Brands, Inc. is a leading consumer brands company. Its operating companies have premier brands and leading market positions in distilled spirits, home and hardware, and golf products. Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. is the company's premium spirits business. Major spirits brands include Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon, Sauza tequila, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Cruzan rum, Teacher's and Laphroaig Scotch, EFFEN vodka and DeKuyper cordials. Home and hardware brands include Moen faucets, Aristokraft, Omega, Diamond and Kitchen Craft cabinetry, Therma-Tru door systems, Simonton windows, Master Lock security products and Waterloo storage and organization products sold by units of Fortune Brands Home & Hardware LLC. Acushnet Company's golf brands include Titleist, Cobra and FootJoy. Fortune Brands, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FO and is included in the S&P 500 Index and the MSCI World Index.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.