Distiller magazine

162 distiller What is your philosophy on deciding what brands to stock and to invest in? Tara: Quality of flavor, appropriate price point and sustainable production. Taste is obviously the first factor. Even our wells [well bottles] are spir- its that we enjoy drinking straight. Redefining the term well is important to our program. Balanced, well-made spirits make for well-made cocktails and happy sipping. Price point must play a role, as we always want to keep the experience approachable for our guests. Spirits do not need to be over-the top-expensive to be delicious. While we have a selection of boutique spirits that are worthy of high price points, we also feel it is important to have the price match what's inside the bottle. We also consider ourselves a green property, and this extends to our spirit selection. We strive to sup- port smaller and more sustainable producers in our 500-plus bottle selection. Despite the fact that we are obsessed with booze from all over the world, we are also blessed by having so many amazing local distilleries that we still consider ourselves compar- ative localists. How do you educate customers on small- batch, quality spirits? Laura: In order to educate our guests, we have to be educated ourselves. We are constantly reading, learning and visiting distilleries to make sure we understand completely how the product is made and what specifically the producers do that contributes to the flavor and outcome of the spirit. Another aspect of educating guests is to dispel the long-held myths and misinformation surround- ing spirits. People still think that bourbon can only be made in Bourbon County and we have a duty to show them all the delicious small-batch bour- bons and other whiskeys made all over the country. Breaking through the blind brand name attach- ments people have to spirits is another way we edu- cate. We see this the most with vodka and tequila. For example, we carry a lot of beautiful craft vodkas but people are hesitant when we don't have the big name brands they are looking for. Knowing how the vodka is made, what it's made from and how that will translate into finding something similar to what they are looking for, we are able to confidently rec- ommend an alternative that will make them happy. Most importantly, when we are educating people about small-batch spirits, we do so in a kind and genuine way. It's important not to ever make peo- ple feel stupid or lecture them, otherwise thay may never feel comfortable asking a question to a bar- tender and miss the opportunity to be turned on to something new. How are you surviving pandemic and what new forms of business have you imple- mented? Laura: It has been a struggle for sure but we have managed to survive thanks to a multitude of things. We are lucky enough to have a kitchen on property, so we were able to sell food and cocktails to go right away after the shutdown. We imple- mented online ordering, while also taking phone and walk-up orders. Our location on the main plaza in Healdsburg and our accordion doors that open onto the street with a fold-down bar area allowed us a safe and easy pick-up area for online and walk-up, to-go orders. We created cocktail kits that we sold so people can pick up everything they need to make our cocktails at home, including ice. To go along with the kits, Cappy made YouTube videos of him making the drinks at home so people could follow along and make the cocktails. We began doing weekly Virtual Tastings with local distilleries where we would make up tasting kits that people would pick up ahead of time and then we would all taste together with the distiller via Zoom. After the tastings, we would sell the bottles at retail pricing. ose proved very suc- cessful and were a great way to sell existing inventory. But our most successful thing we've done is our canned cocktails. We began canning cocktails using a canner borrowed from our friends at Alley 6 Distillery. Cappy and Steven worked very hard to dial it all in so that we could can classics like an Old Fashioned and a Negroni but also our most popular carbonated tap cocktail the Fool's Paradise. We can't keep the cans on the shelf and are hoping to pivot that into a commercial business on the side. How do you envision the bar world evolving in the coming years? Steven: I think it will keep evolving in the direc- tion it already has been heading the last 10–20 years: more of a focus on quality, sustainability in products but also creating a quality of life and sustainabil- ity for employees as well. I believe that the current climate of the world and some of the issues it has brought to light will be addressed. I see the bar world all over moving more to what you are starting to see in big cities. Higher prices for drinks and food, but doing away with gratuities, therefore higher hourly rates for employees. Service charges to be used to provide employees with insur- ance and benefits. I think this pandemic has exposed

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