Allison Evanow

Square One Botanical finally "officially" launched at Tales of the Cocktail!

2009-07-27T18:19:00.001-07:00

How anyone finds the time these days to blog, check Facebook so you can live vicariously through your friends doing something more fun than you at the moment, or Tweet something useful rather than inane, is beyond me. I can't seem to keep up these days, which is why I am only just now posting about our newest addition to the Square One family! A few months already in a few markets (yes, Northern California you were first as always!), our official launch of Square One Botanical was announced at the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail!

We had a tasting room at Tales where everybody got to come and imbibe this newest spirit. We were lucky to have some of the best mixologists in the country making cocktails with Botanical - Gina Chersevani of PS7's in Washington, D.C., Scott Beattie, roving fresh market cocktail guru and author of the gorgeous cocktail book Artisanal Cocktails, and of course, none other than our own Square One Mixologist, H. Joseph Ehrmann. They did Botanical proud!

A Botanical spirit, what is that? Simply put, its not a flavored vodka in the sense that most of us are used to seeing a flavored vodka, like our Square One Cucumber. I mean, what does "Botanical" taste like? At 90 proof and with 8 organic botanicals - ranging from fruits to spices to herbs - it doesn't mix like a flavored vodka, nor is it a gin (no juniper) or an aquavit (no caraway). So we decided to shake up the stodgy government alcohol folks and are calling it a "Botanical Organic Spirit" which has the wonderfully boring legal classification of a "specialty spirit" in the eyes of the government. But beyond government legalese, its basically a new twist on what we think will be a new wave of spirits to come - Botanical Spirits with all kinds of different botanicals used that don't fit "neatly" into pre-existing categories like gin. We always said we wanted to do stuff that hadn't really been done much before, and Botanical is it! For full details, check out our press release found on our media page.

So now you are asking how to mix it, right? Well, with its lighter profile than most "botanical" spirits like gin or aquavit, and with more focus on the floral and fruit components of our botanical selection than the heavier medicinal herbs, I would just say to treat it gently . . . It is high proof, but it is still delicate. Two of my favorite cocktails where Botanical gets to play cocktail hero, are a variation on a Lemon Drop and a Smash cocktail. For the Botanical Drop, kick out the triple sec and use just a tiny rinse of the glass with absinthe instead. And instead of a regular sugar rim, why not try either a rose or lavender organic sugar (two of our 8 botanicals in our spirit) hand-made by our local Marin County friends at Allstar Organics. Our botanical loves other botanical spirits/liqueurs like absinthe, aperol, cynar, but only if the others are used with a light hand. My second one is a variation on a smash. It is still full-on summer peach season here in Northern California, so this is what I call "Peaches and Herb". With all the crushed ice, it is quite refreshing, but still packs a punch!

1) Muddle one thick slice of very ripe white peach with 2-3 lemon verbena leaves in the bottom of a rocks glass
2) Add a quick squirt of lemon (one barspoon at most) and an equal amount of agave nectar or simple syrup.
3) If you have it, a dash of Fee's Peach Bitters
4) Fill glass with crushed ice and pour in 1.5 to 2 oz. Square One Botanical (depending on how boozy you want your cocktail. Remember, this is a 90 proof spirit!)
5) Stir all ingredients and garnish with a thin peach slice with a lemon verbena leave poked through the middle. Be sure to eat the peach at the end. Its delicious!

Please help us spread the word about our new Botanical and email us at info@squareonevodka.com if you need to find out where to try it at a bar or buy it at retail.

Cheers,
Allison

Another Chocolate Cocktail

2009-01-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

My second entry into the Schraffenberger chocolate contest was really fun to make. Who would think that organic vodka, smoky organic mezcal, chiles and other spices blended with chocolate would be so sublime. Great for a party instead of dessert. I guess I was still in Mexico mode on this one, just like my last entry!

Chocolate Fumado

Chocolate-Chile Syrup
2 c. water
1 dried chile guajillo, cut into strips, stem removed
2 dried chiles pasilla, cut into strips, stem removed
2 tbsp. coriander seed
2 tbsp. piloncillo or dark brown sugar
1 oz. Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% cacao chocolate plus extra for garnish

Place water, chiles and coriander in a small saucepan and boil on medium-high until reduced to ¾ cup, about 20-25 minutes. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain liquid into a small, clean saucepan. Add piloncillo and chocolate and stir until completely melted and reduced to ½ cup. Cool to room temperature. Transfer to a small pitcher with pour spout or a small squeeze bottle. Makes 4 servings.

Cocktail Ingredients for 1 cocktail
1.5 oz. Square One Organic Vodka
.5 oz. Del Maguey organic Crema de Mezcal (for a less smoky version, use Del Maguey Santo Domingo Albarradas mezcal)
1 oz. chocolate-chile syrup
.5 oz. organic half and half
ice
Shaved chocolate and Rimmer blend* for garnish (*Optional –kosher salt, super fine sugar, guajillo chile powder and Scharffen Berger unsweetened cocoa powder)

Using a 3-piece cocktail shaker, pour all liquid ingredients into shaker and fill with ice. Shake vigorously for about 20 seconds. Strain into rimmed highball glass and garnish with shaved chocolate.

*Optional rimmer garnish: If you like the heat and smoke of guajillo chiles, combine 3 parts super fine sugar, 3 parts kosher salt, 1 part guajillo chile powder and 1 part Scharffen Berger cocoa powder and place on small plate. Place small amount of Crema de Mezcal in a low, wide bowl or rimmed plate. Dip rim of glass into mzcal, then into rimming blend, rotating slightly to fully coat the rim.

Choconegro Delicioso

2008-12-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

How come it doesn't surprise me that the only way to get me blogging again is to put me in my kitchen coming up with new cocktail recipes? The creative juices are flowing and while I still have some more fun ideas to come up with, my first attempt for the TuttiFoodie and Scharffen Berger recipe contest was a pretty good one if I may say so myself. I was in "Mexico" mode, so 4 Copas Organic Tequila was my libation of choice (stay tuned for the ones I'm working on with Square One Organic Vodka. They are still infusing!) and I had to find a way to use some of the fantastic dark chocolates from Scharffen Berger. So I submitted the Choconegro Delicioso. The inspiration came from 3 hot coffee drinks that I like from different eras - Cafe de Olla (mexican coffee steeped with spices), Irish Coffee, and the now ubiquitous Starbucks Caramel Mocha, which I have indulged in only a few times but found to be very comforting on a rainy day. This version is served cold, in a tall narrow tube glass or champagne flute. Not so sweet that it tastes like dessert, but sweet enough to maybe play a dual role as an iced coffee and a sweet treat!

The "secret ingredient" for this recipe that adds an extra "yum" factor, is whole coriander seeds infused into both the coffee-chocolate liquid and the caramel whipped cream.

Recipe
6 tbsp ground coffee, medium roast and preferably Mexican/Latin American origin
5 c. water
1 large stick of Mexican canela (cinnamon) or 2 small sticks
¼ tsp. anise seed
2 oz. Scharffen Berger Semi-Sweet 62% dark chocolate plus extra for garnish
2 tbsp. coriander seeds
6 tbsp. piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar)*
1 ½ c. heavy whipping cream
10 oz. 4 Copas Organic Reposado tequila or other reposado tequila (1 oz. per cocktail)

Coffee
In a standard drip coffee maker, put cinnamon stick, 1 tbsp. of the coriander, anise seed, 2 oz. chocolate and 3 tbsp. of the piloncillo into the bottom of the coffee pot. Make coffee using 6 tbsp. of ground coffee and 4 cups of water (reserving extra 1 c. of water for other use). Let coffee remain on heating unit for 30 minutes to infuse the spices into the coffee. After coffee has infused for 30 minutes, using a very fine mesh strainer, strain coffee-chocolate liquid into a medium bowl. Cool to room temperate.

Cream
While coffee is infusing, prepare Coriander-Caramel whipped cream. Put 1 c. water and 1 tbsp. of coriander seeds into small saucepan. Boil on high until liquid is reduced to ¼ cup. Add 3 tbsp piloncillo and cook for two more minutes until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and using a fine mesh strainer, strain liquid into small bowl. Discard coriander seeds. Cool to room temperate. In a medium sized metal bowl, whip whipping cream until it barely forms soft peaks. Add cooled coriander caramel and stir (not whip) until integrated. It should be thick but able to be poured. If not, add some liquid whipping cream to thin it out. Pour into small pitcher.. Refrigerate until use.

Cocktail
To make cocktail, using a 3 piece shaker, add 3 oz. coffee-chocolate-spice mixture and 1 oz. tequila to shaker. Fill with ice. Shake for 10 seconds. Strain into tall tube or flute glass. Using a barspoon or teaspoon, invert the spoon and slowly pour about 1 ½ oz. cream over the back of the spoon so that it slowly layers onto coffee mixture (like an Irish Coffee) without mixing. Using a microplane or fine grater, shave some more Scharffen Berger chocolate onto cream as garnish. Serve immediately.

Recipe makes approximately 10 servings.

*Can be sourced at Latin markets or may substitute with light brown sugar

Celery Cup #1 - gotta try it!

2008-09-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

We were so fortunate to have been invited by reknowned Mixologist and U.S. Slow Food Chair of the Board of Directors, Allen Katz, to be one of the spirits to be showcased at Slow Food Nation 08 in San Francisco over Labor Day Weekend. My only regret is that between making my own heirloom tomato water (from NoCal farm - Smith Family Farm - ) from Red Flame and Golden Brandywine heirlooms, and then shaking our own cocktails during two shifts on Saturday and Sunday, that I didn't get to attend as many of the events myself. But being able to show people what we mean by Slow Food-style cocktails was worth the sore shoulders (from shaking cocktails above my shoulder) the sore palm (from banging loose my mixing glass from the Boston shaker) and sore fingers (from grabbing the muddling stick every 10 seconds!)! For those of you who missed it, check out our cocktail recipes on our website that were used during Slow Food. With our organic rye-based Square One Organic Vodka, we muddled fresh basil and strawberries from County Line Harvest, a member of Marin Organic to make a more sophisticated version of a Strawberry Cooler. And while our Brand Ambassador, H. Joseph Ehrmann, was wowing the crowds with his Celery Cup #1, (photo here) a riff on the classic Pimm's Cup #1, I was busy making an "August Sun" with our Square One Cucumber, heirloom tomato water, muddled basil and sungold cherry tomatoes, Lisbon Lemon Juice from McEvoy Ranch, a touch of organic agave nectar, and of course, a hearty shake! Don't take it from me, just read what some of the other bloggers had to say about these two cocktails: http://malibubetty.blogspot.com/2008/09/slow-food-nation-2008.html and http://www.drinkhacker.com/2008/09/01/event-report-slow-food-nation-2008/.

Hope everyone tries to make it out for Slow Food Nation next year!

2+ Years in the Making - Square One Cucumber is here!

2008-07-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Boy, this one was a bear . . . From before we even launched our Square One Organic Rye Vodka back in April 2006, we knew our second product would be a delicious organic cucumber flavored vodka. Except the imagined taste in my mouth of fresh cucumbers and the light "spa-water"-like flavor in summery cocktails was harder to bring to life than any of us ever imagined. But persistence and patience are virtues they say, so while it came out more than a year later than anticipated, we are thrilled that Square One Cucumber is now available in many states across the U.S. Visit out website for all kinds of great cocktail recipes to make with Cucumber, but for the pool this summer, stick to our Watermelon Refresher and you will be the new BFF in your neighborhood. Feel free to send us your recipes too as we love getting new ideas and posting them on our site!

Enter the "Square Off" Organic Cocktail Competition

2007-08-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been paying attention, fake flavored, syrupy cocktails are out, and fresh ingredient cocktails are in! Our friends over at CHOW.com with the support of local San Francisco non-profit Om Organics are helping showcase fresh ingredient organic cocktails by hosting the 1st Annual "Square Off" organic cocktail competition. Online entry deadline is August 31st, so enter fast! Open to both professionals and amatuers, the winner from each of those two categories will come out to San Francisco in September to compete head to head in front of a live audience. To enter as a competitor or to buy tickets to the online event go to www.chow.com/squareoff.

As you've heard us say before, we are a small artisanal spirits company going up against the big brands with big dollars but we are happy to say that consumers out there are smart, and know when they see and taste an authentic and top-quality product that goes beyond marketing hype. That has been repeated back to us time and time again by our customers in the restaurants, bars and retailer across the country and the consumers too. Being entrepreneurs in a competitive space is tough, but thanks to feedback like that and the support of so many people out there like our Make Mine a Million and Count Me In supporters, we are winding down summer with a splash, heading into the fall season lots of fun things to do, like the Square Off cocktail competition. Come out and join us and visit our fair city of San Francisco at the best time of year (fogless) - September!

Cheers!

NOLA - Tales of the Cocktail - Whew!!!!

2007-07-27T13:10:00.001-07:00

All you have to do is do a Google search for "Tales of the Cocktail" and you'll see tons of posts from spirits journalists, bloggers, consumers, mixologists and a few other fun folks who were all part of Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans July 18-23rd. All the "greats" in the biz were there - Gary Regan, Dale Degroff, Tony Abou-Ganim, David Wondrich, and more than I can mention. A lot of up and comers in the biz were also there, and might I say, a nice presence of awesome female mixologists, journalists and spirits lovers. It was a great time and we all felt that in our own little way, we were helping New Orleans by being there, and by tipping heavily of course . . .

Square One Organic Vodka, in keeping with our approach to Culinary Cocktails (something akin to bringing your kitchen skills to the bar) was a proud sponsor of a seminar entitled "From Farm to Glass, Greenmarket Mixology". Together with an incredibly talented Allen Katz, a NY-based mixologist and director of Slow Food NY, along with Ann Baker and Warren Smith -local Louisiana farmers - and Lorin Gaudin as our esteemed moderator, we chatted with the audience about organics (Square One of course) and the rapid rise of fresh ingredient cocktails. Apple martinis that taste like apples, not a Jolly Rancher for example! It was refreshing to hear the comments after the seminar that people now understand why we go to such painstaking lengths to make our organic rye vodka under such costly and restrictive standards. If you are going fresh (and hopefully organic), then you should go with top quality spirits as well, and we fit that bill.

Our Brand Ambassador and Mixologist, H. Joseph Ehrmann was all over town. He mixed some amazing cocktails under the guidance of Allen Katz and fellow mixologist colleague Francesco Lafranconi for a "Spirited Dinner" we attended at Giovanni's in the French Quarter. Drinks you can't even BEGIN to fathom. When we finally shut the place down and were all walking back to the hotel for our nightcap, Francesco wheeled out a "bar kit" that was bigger than most trunks. That is when I knew that the trend towards culinary cocktails is here to stay, and is no longer a trend!

H. (as all of his friends and fellow mixologists call him) was also an invited participant in a really fun Bar Chef competition hosted by Mr. King Cocktail himself, Dale Degroff, and Kevin Brauch from the Food Network TV Show "The Thirsty Traveler". Alongside 5 other top-notch mixologists, he gave it his all, but alas, did not come out on top. That honor went to Bridget Albert, one of the best mixologists from the Windy City. She made the girls proud! Be on the lookout for it on Food Network TV soon.

Heading into the fall, we have lots more going on, so stay tuned to our entrepreneurial endeavors in the world of spirits and cocktails!

Cheers!

Summer is Here - Time for Farmer's Market Cocktails!

2007-06-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of summer comes the bounty of the amazing organic foods available at Farmer's Markets all over the country. In Northern California we get some things just a little earlier than others, so we've already jumped into the refreshing cocktail season. But with a firm foot in June, the rest of the country now can get their hands on great organic ingredients at their local farmer's markets.

Just like with my cooking, summer herbs start enticing me to cook up light, refreshing dishes. Mint, basil - traditional, lemon and Thai basil -, cilantro, thyme and a few others are my favorites. Most people would not think that these culinary herbs are also perfect for cocktails, but with very little extra effort, you can turn a classic (or almost classic!) cocktail into a unique culinary cocktail. Our current favorites are the "Spajito" - a cucumber-infused vodka riff on the traditionally rum-based mojito, the Basil Gimlet (you can use any variation of basil for a different taste. Try the Thai Basil Gimlet with Asian fusion cuisine!) and the Wild Berry Lemonade (with thyme). All of these easy recipes can be downloaded from our website at http://squareonevodka.com/TownSquare/TS_MixologyArt/TS_cocktailcreations.html

OK, now with the fun part of our business out of the way, since this is a business blog on the trials and tribulations of our entrepreneurial journey, I guess I should stop talking about cocktails and start talking shop! As this is a public blog, I can't give away too many details, but let's just say that things are pretty dandy right now on the Square One biz. The team has spread out and hit most of the country in the last month or two, kicking off new markets, attending high profile mixology events with some of the top mixologists from Portland, Atlanta, NYC, San Francisco, Philly and other cities, and attending a green event or two.

As we've said before, we try to go beyond organic and be a green company whenever we can. We announced a month ago that we would start tracking all of our airmiles and buy carbon offsets to help reduce our negative footprint on the earth from all the travel we've been doing. If the term "carbon offset" is new to you, please spend a minute or two learning about it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_offset.

Keeping with the green theme, and in support of the non-profits trying to do their part, we are a proud sponsor of the summer fundraising events for Trust for Public Land, Parks for People program. Events will be held in several Kimpton Hotel properties in major U.S. cities. Proceeds from the benefit events will help create and preserve public parks in urban areas. To learn more or donate to TPL, please visit their website at www.tpl.org

We also have some pretty fun things up our sleeve. While we can't reveal the flavor profile yet, we are soon to release two additions to our organic spirits line later this summer. We're pretty darn sure that what we have done has never been done by anybody else, and certainly not while remaining fully certified organic along the way. So we like to remind people that we are small, but we sure are mighty when it comes to new ideas, innovation and the sweat to make it happen. So stay tuned and check our an upcoming post for the reveal!

Enjoy your summer cocktails and don't forget to support your local Farmer's Markets!

Cheers,
Allison

Catching a Breath

2007-03-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

It is funny how people tell you when you decide to start your own business about how time-consuming it will be, and you think somehow it won't be all that bad. The statement "ignorance is bliss" was created by some all-knowing being that the human race needed to be delusional if it were to take on all that we do! Honestly, I have never worked so hard in my life. But just as honestly, I am still having the time of my life. Thankfully the ignorance got me far down the path before I realized how much work starting your own business would really be, and now I wouldn't change it for the world. Better that I didn't know before I started or else . . .

This introduction was my excuse for not blogging in quite some time. As part of the great group of women who won the "Make Mine a Million" award, we are all asked to blog monthly and we try to show the competition's sponsors that we deserved that award by blogging about all our ventures as businesswomen and making our colleagues, family, friends and fellow entrepreneurs proud. It's just that there aren't enough hours in the day to do it all.

So here, trying to catch up on my blogging, and almost on the eve of our one year anniversary as a company, I am proud to say that so far, we have beaten many of the statistics of new businesses, and have not only survived, but flourished. Square One Organic Vodka is for sale in about 20 states and just named a distributor in Canada and continues to expand. We've added a marketing manager, a sales director and some other sales partnerships.

We've been fortunate enough to serve some delicious organic cocktails, using Square One and organic Numi tea, at such luminary events as Global Green USA's pre-Oscars party in Hollywood. I didn't get to go to the event as I was on the East Coast kicking off a new market, but some of my colleagues went and followed Salma Hayek, Leo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom and Penelope Cruz around while they sipped our Rainforest Green-tea-nis. Check it out!

So let's face it, we are working hard, but we are having fun too. Thanks, I'll have another cocktail please!

A Month of Major Milestones

2006-10-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

It is really nice when things go more or less as you expect/plan them to, especially when you are in your first year of business. Unlike many of the other winners of the Make Mine a Million award, we were literally in start-up mode when we won, so it was daunting to think how we had to live up to the expectation that we were worthy of the award when we had just started selling our first product only two months before we won the award. But we can now proudly say that we are well on our way. The big stuff that happened in October that makes us really proud:

- We signed distribution deals in NY, NJ and CA with major wholesalers who can take us to the next level in those markets
- We got "listed" in the government controlled states of VA, ID and OR and have a good feeling that WA will say yes to us next week after getting some top cocktail accounts to start carrying us in Seattle in a market blitz we did last week.
- A really nice feature article on Square One and other brands in the spirits world was written by Anthony Dias Blue (one of the premier spirits writers in the country) and the phone started ringing off the hook. Somehow, whether influenced by that article or just the momentum of the all the press we had been getting, without us lifting a finger, we were approved by HQ of Houston's Restaurant Group for placement in all their American concept restaurants across the country - Houston's, Bandera, Gulfstream and some of their invididual concepts. All of a sudden, we are getting calls from Houston's all over the country asking who our distributors were in their state. Well, in most cases, we didn't have one! But because of this huge hit, we signed on with a distributor in TN and in TX when we weren't even planning on being there until 2007! Cool!
- We got another great PR hit with a placement in the November issue (hit newsstands in Mid-Oct.) of O Magazine - yes, that O! We are on pg. 285 in the feature article "Experts Guide" and are recommended as THE vodka to take to a cocktail party as a hostess gift. We have seen some impact on sales, but sadly, can't say that we got the huge hit we were hoping for. Maybe it will come later when the "pass alongs" start happening and the holiday cocktail parties kick into high gear! But we sure were able to leverage it with the trade to get more distribution, which is a GREAT thing!
- This is a public blog, so I won't talk specifics, but suffice it to say that we passed a key sales revenue milestone on schedule, putting us on plan to hit or even surpass our 12 month revenue goals. We still have a ways to go to join the $Million Sales Club that we all are striving for, but as long as we are moving forward, not back, we are happy!
- I finally got some help . . . we are now up to 2 part-time sales people in SF and NYC, and a part-time marketing manager working with me in the office. Whew, I needed that! Still putting in 80-90 hour weeks though!

November is shaping up to be a strong lead-in to the holiday seasons, where products like ours sell up to 60% of their annual sales in the last 6 weeks of the year. We broadened our retail distribution in our two key markets - CA and NY, and there is another BIG BIG BIG media hit coming our way in Mid-Nov. Let's hope it drives sales! And we are the exclusive vodka sponsor of the Environmental Media Awards in Los Angeles on November 8th, with over 1,000 guests from the Hollywood and Major Media crowd who, like us, believe that all companies can do their part to be more eco-sensitive. We are really excited about being there and meeting so many great people who will understand that you can have fun while still being socially conscious!

I was sad to miss the NYC event, but so glad I didn't go in the end. There were so many big things that happened last week, that I simply couldn't have stayed on top of it otherwise. So to the new winners, CONGRATULATIONS and welcome to the Club!

Until next month ladies, happy selling!

Cheers,
Allison

August 2006

2006-09-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Things are happening so fast that my brain simply can't keep track of it all. August was a great month for us in many ways. We continue to get lots of press attention, both from the industry trade magazines and consumer magazines. The photo on the left is in Imbibe magazine. I got no less than 7 trade inquiries out of that, which is unusual because the accounts and distributors are generally tired of new vodkas, but they are all excited about an organic vodka!

Because of all the attention and the fact that some great customers in SF and NYC are talking about how much they like Square One, we are now moving to Stage 2 of our distribution strategy in our top two markets - CA and NY - and are appointing what I call "real" distributors. So the hand-selling stage is behind us, and we were quite successful with it. Now we will have wholesaler partners to help us get into more stores and restaurants. Yea!

In the meantime, we continued to expand to other, smaller markets and will be in 9 states by the end of the year. We hoped to be in a few more, but legal registration in some states takes much longer than we thought. But we are on board with some great distibutors.

We kicked off our direct e-marketing to our consumers and trade partners in August and have seen that people are passing it on to their friends and more and more people are signing up every day on our site. I would love to really ramp up this part of our marketing as it is effective and so inexpensive, so it is moving up on our priority list. As part of our newsletter that is taken from our website, we showcase two editorial pieces, one called "Singular Spirits" where we highlight the efforts of individuals or groups that are doing really amazing things with passion. While a lot of it is in the "green" space in some way, not all of it is, such as this month's feature on an incredible couple in Montana that started an Animal Sanctuary for disabled animals. We also feature a "Mixologist of the Month" and their recipes. Very cool . . .

We also launched a blog on our website (not the same as the M3 one). We talk about more than just organic vodka and mixology, and post on "Green" happenings, cool places we've visited (restaurants and the like on our travels) and other stuff. Check it out if you want and if you want to send a comment, please do! It is called "Circle in the Square" - http://http://www.squareonevodka.com/TownSquare/circleinthesquare/

The big news of the month was the supposed placement on a certain famous person's product recommendations in her magazine. I can't actually bring myself to mention it publicly on a blog because I'm afraid we are going to jinx it. So we'll just have to wait until it actually hits the newsstands! So what does this placement really mean? Basically, uh oh . . . you better be ready. While it is never a sure thing until it hits the magazine, this PR placement is the Holy Grail of PR placements, so we took the risk and ordered more product. The #1 business challenge we are going to face (and my CPA confirms it!) is that we have a horrifically long cash flow cycle thanks in large part to the fact that our custom glass bottle comes from Italy. So to order more product for this magazine hit is really putting the squeeze on us. But as many advisors said, well, at least it is inventory, not a capital asset, and it IS going to sell, so be thankful it is just a cash flow problem and not a permanent investment when you don't have the $$. So we ran our numbers again and it will be tight, but we'll make it!

Q4 is going to be a big one for us so stay tuned!

June Updates for Square One Organic Vodka

2006-06-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Can you say whirlwind? June was replete with a combination of drama, exhilaration, nail-biting and fun cocktail times. Like the rest of you, June kicked off with a dramatic bang with the M3 win, followed immediately after award ceremonies with a party that Square One Organic Vodka was a sponsor of - the premiere of the movie "An Inconvenient Truth". After wrapping up the next day with M3, Sunday morning brought a trip to NYC for our media and trade launch party and "official" debut of Square One in NY. Our cracker jack PR agency had secured an amazing roster of media attendees - NY Times, Self, Plenty, Nation's Restaurant News, Wine & Spirits Journal and many more. And even Nell made it there! For those winners who said "marketing" was an important strategy for growing your business, I can't say enough about PR as an effective and cost-efficient marketing strategy. We held our launch party at an expensive, sustainable/organic restaurant in NYC and it cost us a fortune relative to our overall marketing budget. But to put it into perspective, the total cost of our event (with over 40 media attendees from major pubs as you saw above) was 1/4 of what it would cost for ONE AD in a magazine like Gourmet or Bon Appetit or Food & Wine. So don't skip out on PR as part of your marketing strategy! Here is a cool photo from our event.

After a great event and a trip back home, reality set in. Now all the fun stuff was done and we actually had to start getting some cases in the door! Oh, and those little things called "cashflow" and "we need more money" raised their stubborn heads. So the rest of June was filled with phone calls, interviews, emails and the like to make sure we get the ball rolling on the financial side of things, all the while overseeing our new sales people and distributors in CA, NY and NM . . . and appointing new distributors in WA, OR, ID, UT, MT, WY and AK. Whew! And to top it off, we have a huge account in Washington, D.C. who is ready to place a big order, but we can't find a distributor to take us in there. How frustrating is that?? But we are closing in on it as June wraps up. When I presented at M3 on June 2, we were in about 40 accounts in 3 states. By the end of June, we are in over 60 accounts in 4 states, and just landed a deal with Il Fornaio restaurants to put Square One on the back bar in all 23 of their restaurants in CA, WA, CO and NV. Woohoo!

So since funding seems to be a critical thing for everybody, I'll throw out tidbits from our financial explorations/discussions: 1) We can confirm what Nell/Margery and everybody else probably already knows. Nobody really wants to loan you money until you are already a success, so you better be a big risk-taker or have people lined up to "give" you money for a chunk of the action. 2) We explored a SBA7A and quickly determined that since they were going to put liens on our houses and other assets, we might as well forgo the headache and upfront "points fees" of the SBA and just take on more risk. Gulp . . . 3) Factoring . . . great idea, but not when you have such a complex distribution system like beverage alcohol where the cash flow cycle is so long. And of course we are still too small for that right now anyway . . . But ask your banker about it if you have dependable receivables as its a good source of short-term cashflow and Susan Knapp from A Perfect Pear is doing it 4) Angels - no way. We'd give up too much for now. But it is always on our radar just in case we need to pull the trigger.

So in the end, we decided to take on more risk ourselves because we are hitting the key milestones laid out in our business plan. Since we are "where we expected to be", with no red flags in sight, we decided we can infuse some more capital ourselves. Our attorney recommended that we evaluate our "big picture" situation EVERY SINGLE MONTH so that we don't miss out on an opporutnity to change our financing strategy if needed. That doesn't count just tracking our regular financial performance and cashflow. He was talking about re-evaluating our strategic financing position every month! So yes, no matter how great an idea we have and how much our consumers and account customers are supporting us, its all a big fat money game isn't it gals?

June was a fantastic month for media and sales are gaining momentum, but money and resources always seem to temper the highs with the "watch outs". Hoping July is full of new distribution, more sales, and a tightening up of our financials!

July 2006

2006-06-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Another month filled with lots of great news, milestones achieved and hard business decisions to make. Lots of press coverage - playboy.com finally came through (hey, 3 million men read it a week and they drink a lot of vodka, so why not?), lots of great trade press that has generated distribution inquiries and some great new distribuiton gains in high profile accounts in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Our Phase 1 distribution strategy of seeding the brand ourselves in SF and NYC with a tiny fulfillment wholesaler before appointing a traditional distributor has paid off, not so much in terms of sales revenue, which we expected, but in terms of getting us placed in some of the best possible accounts for a new brand. As a result of that, we decided to officially move to Phase 2 of our distribution strategy, which is to appoint traditional large wholesale distributors in CA and NY so we can cover the whole market in those states. Our strategy paid off as we now have several distributors in both markets interested in us whereas we most likely would never have gotten interest from them in the beginning if we had gone to them before we proved what a great product and marketing concept we had. So in August's blog, I will be sharing who wins our distribution contracts in those markets!

We hosted some great consumer and trade events, including a high profile event in conjunction with the Kimpton Hotel Group and The Trust for Public land, a charity the Kimption group supports. We mixed some of our signature cocktails for both consumers and top execs from many of the Kimpton Hotels and restaurants (think Postrio in San Francisco, Hotel Triton, hotel Monaco, etc.). They have both a "Women in Touch" program and an "Eco Care" program that fit us well. As a result, we got placed in the Executive Club Lounge at The Prescott Hotel, which also houses Postrio. We're hoping to get into Postrio next! And we now have the green light to speak with other Kimpton hotels and restaurants in other states, so hopefully we'll be there soon!

Not everything was super-rosy though, although we only experienced some minor hiccups. Oregon is the #1 organic product consumption state in the U.S., yet the Liquor Control Board (Oregon is one of those states where the government runs the distribution and retail for spirits so they have to approve your listing) chose not to accept our request for a state listing. So together with our broker we are working on a special order program to get some traction going in that market in hopes of getting listed the next time around. Other control markets like Oregon are dragging their feet getting us in there, but we've been helped along by direct inquiries through our website from restaurants who want to carry our product. It sure does help us when we can tell the distributor they are missing out on sales if they don't hurry up and get our product in their state! :-)

We are also now exploring financing options outside of self-financing. We'll see where it leads us, but we are exploring all avenues.

There is more to share, but I'll sign off for now and maybe come back and update July a bit more.

And since we are writing about blogs, check out our website and our new blog feature! Feel free to comment on any subject you like! www.squareonevodka.com. Go to "Town Square/Circle in the Square".