Coole Swan: A Whiter Shade of Cool

Move Over Bailey’s, Here Comes the Swan

According to Impact Databank, Bailey’s Irish Cream is a 1.5 million 9-litre brand in the US and grew 6.5% from 2018 to 2019. But after you read the story about Coole Swan Irish Cream Liqueur, you might wonder if Coole Swan, with the right resources, might just make a dent in those numbers.

The Back Story

David Gluckman, whom I’ve written about in the past, spent 45 years in the drinks business primarily in the new brand development area. Much of his career, 36 years to be exact, was with International Distillers and Vintners (IDV), the company that became Diageo. Along the way, he created Sheridan’s, Le Piat d’Or, Tanqueray Ten, Bailey’s Irish Cream, among others.

In 2005, he left Diageo and decided that, together with some former clients/colleagues, they would develop products for their own company. As he puts it in his book (That S*it Will Never Sell): 

“When I think back, I was isolated from most of the tough stuff… working for a company. All I had to do was come up with ideas. Other people looked at production, finance and marketing. Now that I was working on a brand of my own, I came to realise how difficult things could be at the deep end.”

Among the products they developed was Coole Swan where they saw an opportunity for a product with lower sweetness and more modern, sophisticated packaging which broke with the Bailey’s template.

Currently, the brand is an independently owned family business run by husband and wife team Mary Sadlier and Philip Brady. Interestingly, Mary Sadlier’s background was in corporate finance at Diageo.

I’ll come back to her in a moment, but about now you’re probably wondering where the brand’s name comes from.

Coole Swan

As Mary put it, “the name Coole Swan was inspired by The Wild Swans at Coole, a poem written by one of Ireland’s great romantic poets; W.B. Yeats. In this poem Yeats writes about finding everlasting beauty in an ever-changing world – just like our wonderful Irish Cream Liqueur. Coole Swan, an eternal beauty, we just bottled it.” 

According to David Gluckman, he and his associates had a hard time coming up with a name for the cream liqueur they invented. Either the name didn’t fit or was already taken. By chance, David was catching the last plane out of Dublin and looking for inspiration, picked up a copy of a book of Yeats’ poetry. He found one of his most famous poems, as he put it, “a wistful reflection on the passing of time called The Wild Swans at Coole,” a park near County Galaway.

(A link to the poem is here.)

About Mary Sadlier, the owner

Mary Sadlier, who with her husband Philip Brady, run the Coole Swan business, hails from Navan in County Meath. The Coole Swan company is based nearby in Tatestown near Navath in the same county.

Mary is an amazing businessperson and struck me as someone who is always learning, always growing.

Mary Sadlier

As mentioned, she was in corporate finance at Diageo. In my view, after talking with her at length for this article, it was clear to me that she has a keen overall sense of all aspects of business, marketing and sales included. She has participated in Going for Growth a six-month part-time program, supported by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG, which assists ambitious female entrepreneurs to achieve their growth aspirations.

I found this quote from her on their newsletter:

“The Going for Growth program was of tremendous benefit to me. To be among so many brilliant women made me grow in confidence and allowed me to ‘lean-in’. The fellow participants are like really good neighbors – they are there with you when need them but not when you don’t,” says Mary.

What Mary and her company lack is the corporate resources to meet the challenge of Bailey’s and the dozens of Bailey’s knock-offs and wannabes.

About the product

The best way to describe the product is to compare it to Bailey’s:

Coole Swan is made with Single Malt Irish whiskey, Belgian white chocolate and fresh cream. It is only produced in Ireland. Bailey’s is made with Irish Whiskey and a propriety recipe of chocolate flavors. The company reports that it is made in both Dublin, Ireland and in Mallusk, Northern Ireland. But given its volume and widespread global distribution, I suspect it may be produced elsewhere as well.

The alcohol by volume is similar for both, around 16/17% AbV. The price points vary with Coole Swan selling for (roughly in the US) $29.99 and Baily’s at $25.

So long as we’re talking comparisons, I found this review from Common Man Cocktails:

“BAILEYS’ has a really deep nutty/chocolatey nose hitting your nostrils with a fairly potent ethanol all along whereas COOLE SWAN is far more tamed (with an actual cream thickness when swirled around the glass) with a lot more components coming through at once, not standing out or taking over one another but all having their say and coming out nicely…”

The Future for Coole Swan

The brand does around 10,000 9-litre cases in the US and currently is in New York Metro, Colorado, New Hampshire, Kansas, South Carolina and Massachusetts. Mary is smart enough to know the US market and is looking at LibDib (and other approaches) to expand into Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, California, as well as Maine Vermont and New Jersey.

Globally, the brand is in Ireland (of course) and elsewhere in the UK, Germany, Australia, and Alberta Canada.

My takeaway

From a personal perspective, my wife and I have always been Bailey’s Irish Cream lovers, considering it as a special treat, upon occasion. However — and at the risk of offending my Diageo friends — Coole Swan is at an entirely different level of cream liqueurs. It is, as the label indicates, a “Superior Irish Cream Liqueur.”

I’m well aware of the trend toward low and no alcohol and one might wonder as to whether the drinking climate will inhibit the growth of all cream liqueurs. However, the sales data shows that the leading brands, have grown one percent recently — basically flat but not declining. With all due respects to the trend followers, not everyone buys into it (what’s the point of drinking a no-alcohol tequila) and, regardless, a bit of indulgence goes a long way these days.

The challenge Coole Swan faces is resources, and, to make the brand grow by expanding in current markets, adding meaningful and strategically important new markets, building awareness and trial, and the human resources to make all this happen.

What Mary and her team have going for them, and why I believe in the growth potential of the brand, is tenacity, passion, intelligence, and strategic thinking. They need that and more to make a dent in the category and Bailey’s sales.

I love a good David vs. Goliath story. Don’t you?

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Misunderstood Whiskey

A Ginger Spiced Whiskey from Two Creative Entrepreneurs

What I particularly enjoy about the craft spirit movement is that it attracts people with vision and who are willing to think outside the box. This is the story of two childhood friends who had an idea and the tenacity to make it happen, in no less a difficult and complicated endeavor than the spirits business.

JD Recobs and Chris Buglisi, founders and owners of Misunderstood whiskey, have been friends since childhood, age seven to be exact. They grew up a block apart in Montclair, NJ and often worked together in various “enterprises” ranging from lemonade stands to DJ events to house painting.

Their college years were characterized by the usual and expected choices until graduating. The end of college and entering the workplace also brought a graduation from Captain and Coke to bourbon. Unfortunately, their ardor for whiskey was not shared by their friends who hated whiskey. And, yet their friends were drinking flavored whiskey and liking it. A eureka moment followed and the idea of a new and different flavored whiskey came to the surface.

 

As they put it on their website:

“We started this business with absolutely no experience besides drinking the stuff. We just had a vision. This made us work harder to develop a unique, high quality whiskey that was the perfect balance between complexity and drinkability. We spent many sleepless nights running home from our corporate jobs to blend, infuse, and spit out lots of homemade infusions. In 2017, after four years of development and feedback, we finally bottled Misunderstood Ginger Spiced Whiskey. The next question was, would anyone buy it?”

The Journey

Satisfied with the product they had developed in their kitchens, the path to launch involved the usual obstacles — finding a manufacturer, raising money, getting distribution, and much more. Fortunately, they found a manufacturer in Bardstown, KY and began production of what they describe as the whiskey for everyone — “an introductory whiskey for the novice yet complex enough for the connoisseur.”

So, after bottling their first run, they drove overnight back to New Jersey with cases in their car and launched at The Jersey City Whiskey Fest (the inaugural event in 2017) and 1,500 thirsty attendees. On the way they dropped off cases to an online retailer. They quickly depleted their first production run.

Here’s how they describe the reaction to Misunderstood Whiskey:

“1,500 people were in attendance to taste products showcased by nearly 100 established brands…and well, us. Much to our surprise, we were overwhelmed by the people’s reactions as Misunderstood became a crowd favorite that night. No one actually believed it was our first day in business. We immediately knew we had something people wanted …”

What followed next was a back office and distribution relationship with Park Street Imports and adding Florida and Upstate NY to their market repertoire. And, if you can imagine, all initially sold by the guys and delivered by them.

As many startup booze business entrepreneurs will tell you, launching a brand is not for the faint of heart or the lazy.

JD and Chris

Enter 375 Park Avenue Spirits

Sean O’Rourke was the head of the craft spirit division at Fedway Associates, an important and powerful distributor in New Jersey. Sean is one of those executives with a strong entrepreneurial orientation and a keen eye for high potential brands. Somehow, he knows intuitively which craft or startup will make it. So, when he heard glowing reports about Misunderstood from the trade, he reached out to JD and Chris and added them to his portfolio. It quickly became the number one craft brand at Fedway.

The scene shifts. Sean left Fedway and joined the Sazerac Company, which in addition to the namesake brand company, also has the Bond & Royal and 375 Park Avenue Spirits divisions. Sean is the GM of Bond & Royal. As luck would have it, Sean ran into the guys at the Louisville Airport and what followed was a press release with this headline:

MISUNDERSTOOD WHISKEY BECOMES FIRST DOMESTIC BRAND TO JOIN SAZERAC’S GROWING 375 PARK AVENUE SPIRITS PORTFOLIO

They have entered into a strategic alliance with plans for regional and national rollout over time. According to Sean, JD and Chris set out to make a whiskey for everyone and it has proven to resonate with novice drinkers and cocktail enthusiasts alike. In an age of fleeting brand loyalty and increased consumer curiosity, Misunderstood is one of the few brands I’ve seen consumers return to time and time again as a staple in their pantry and cocktail repertoire.”

Jason Schladenhauffen, president and CEO of 375 Park Avenue Spirits, added, “The success that Chris and JD have been able to achieve…is a testament to the strength of the brand and the stewardship they’ve provided,”

I’ve always said that for a new brand to succeed, it needs to be relevant and unique. But let’s also add the drive, enthusiasm and hard work of the founder.

About the product

Misunderstood is an American Whiskey blended with two types of all-natural ginger. In fact, the ginger is visible (well ground up) in the bottle and collects at the bottom if it’s left to sit for a while. The product is distilled at 80 proof from 100% Midwest grains in Bardstown KY, and aged in American Oak barrels. The SRP is roughly $30 for a 750ML.

I’m not much of a taste expert but their description resonated with me as I drank the product. The aroma (nose) provides ginger (of course), but also vanilla, and a bit of citrus. I loved the taste — ginger bread, toasted oak, caramel, vanilla. The finish is a very enjoyable butterscotch and baking spices.

I tried it many different ways, but on the rocks with a twist of lemon peel was my favorite. I asked about a signature drink and was told that the “Stood and Soda” (a High Ball) was becoming popular. It is not a shooter product, in my view, but a very pleasant sip and savor experience. As you can imagine the Misunderstood Mule is outrageous.

*        *        *

The obvious question is, what’s ahead for JD and Chris. With 375 Park Avenue Spirits providing the wind to the brand’s back and with their work ethic the formula for success is there. Remember, a winning new brand needs relevance, uniqueness and hard work by the founders.

Interestingly, the subtitle on the label is “Legend One.”  So, I’m guessing that Misunderstood Ginger Spiced Whiskey is just the beginning.

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Miramar Rakia From Bulgaria: The American Dream

One Woman’s Journey to Enter the US Booze Business

The phrase and concept of The American Dream comes from James Truslow Adams  in his book, the Epic of America. This definition will set the stage for the story you are about to read:

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance. (Source)

Selena Nitz, founder and owner of Miramar Rakia Modern Brandy, emigrated from Bulgaria in 1999 with the intention of living the American Dream. Through hard work and perseverance, she is on her way toward accomplishing her goal via a unique and interesting product from her home country.

Let’s start with her story…

Selena grew up in Communist Bulgaria on a farm in the countryside. Among other crops, her father and grandfather had a vineyard and made wine and Rakia (more about this in a moment). While the farm life was pleasant, surrounded by friends and family, once the Communist regime was over, she yearned to come to America with her daughter. Not an easy feat, considering the difficulty in getting a visa, the cost and the fear of rejection. Once rejected by the American embassy, it could take a decade or more to get one, if ever.

Despite the obstacles, Selena, a single mom, set her mind on a new life for her and her child in America. She sold everything she had, hired someone to coach her on what to do and how to act during the interview process. All she had left was the money for an airplane ticket, plus $200. More than that, she had a dream and the tenacity to make it come true.

It took her from 1991 to 1999 to make it happen.

I asked her how her family felt about her leaving. She told me she had to buy a round trip plane ticket in order to get her visa. Her father told her she will use the return ticket because she will give up, “you have no idea of where you’re going.” She ripped up the ticket and said to herself, “there’s no way back, that’s it.” Did I say tenacious? Add feisty to the list.

Coming to America

She landed in New York, Brooklyn to be precise, and what followed was a series of odd jobs in restaurants and English lessons from her daughter who learned the language quickly.

After two years in NYC, they moved to Chicago where Selena worked in various restaurants and studied to become a hairdresser and cosmetologist. But an important moment came while working bars and restaurants in downtown Chicago. She decided to become a citizen and began thinking about the booze business.

Her American citizenship ceremony resonated with me and should also to anyone whose family emigrated to the USA. Selena describes it as inspiring and memorable, with the Judge telling those who took part that they came into his court from 44 countries and will leave through the same door as one, as Americans. She went on to tell me what else he said:

“We welcome you to America but at the same time, we don’t want you to change. Actually the opposite, we want you to stay who you are and take something from all of your cultures… that you have in your heart or your traditions, cuisine or any habits, and share with us so you can enrich our culture even more.”

As her new life in Chicago began to take shape, Selena often thought about the bottle of Rakia she brought with her at the urging of her father. He had said “take this with you to America… it will remind you of home… and share it with your American friends.”

Suddenly, the thought struck her about the spirits industry based on articles and news reports about the business, brands, their development and sales. She thought, there are all types of spirits out there but no Rakia. Why is there no Rakia?

So, Selena went back to Bulgaria, drove from border to border, visited over 30 distilleries and finally found the best Rakia makers in the country.

What is Rakia?

This is from her website:

Rakia is the collective term for fruit brandy very popular in Central and Southeast Europe. Because it’s made from fruits, it’s categorized as “brandy”, but it’s nothing like brandy… It can be made with many fruits but grape and plum are the most popular.

The countries making their own variation of Rakia include, Albania, Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Macedonia, Romania, and Moldova. Each has its own adaptation and uses a wide range of fruits. In Bulgaria, grapes, plums, and apricots are most frequently used as a raw material.

The Bulgarians claim that they were the first to create Rakia, based on pieces of pottery from the 14th century, and they have taken measures to declare it a national drink. “A psychotherapist can help you but Rakia is cheaper” — is a contemporary proverb many Bulgarians swear by.

Selena’s Rakia – Miramar Modern Brandy

Back to her journey. The makers she found are located on the coast of the Black Sea, have their own vineyard and have been making Rakia for nearly a century. But, she had a vison of what the product should taste and be like and painstakingly described the start, the finish, and the type of smoothness she wanted.

From the back label: “The Miramar Experience… a 23-step continuous distillation process [that] honors the Rakia tradition, yet modernizes it to create an extraordinarily smooth long finish.”

Miramar Rakia is created with rare, handpicked Muscat Ottonel grapes from a single estate. They recently won a double gold medal from the SF World Spirits Competition, thereby creating a Rakia category.

Ah, therein lies a tale. Our friends at the TTB were reluctant to approve the brand because, as far as they were concerned, there is no such category as Rakia. It took four months and much back and forth. So, instead of creating a category, they approved the brand — Miramar Rakia Modern Brandy. I imagine the back and forth as going something like this:

TTB: There’s no such thing as Rakia. We never heard of this category.

Selena: But the EU recognizes it as a category and has for many years.

TTB: No, no, we don’t have this in America.

Selena: Well, this doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, right? Okay, if you don’t want to accept this as a category I’m going to make it as a part of my brand name.

TTB: There’s no such thing as modern brandy.

{More time, more emails and many more phone calls follow. Finally, …}

TTB: Okay, fine. You can have it. Have modern brandy, okay? Whatever it is, just leave us alone.

Those folks from the TTB are such jokesters.

By the way, you’ll find it in the brandy/cognac section.

Off to market

From a route to market standpoint, Selena has made some very smart moves.

She has an exclusive distribution arrangement with Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, not an easy accomplishment. They test marketed the brand in south Florida and it did well. The idea of a clear brandy, in a category no one ever heard of was just the right combination of “unique” and “willing to try.” It is very mixable and you might want to check out the recipes on the website.

As is the case for nearly all startup/emerging brands, the Covid virus interfered, so she cleverly pivoted and began selling Miramar direct-to-consumers using Passion Spirits (where I bought a bottle). They are now shipping to 28 states from Florida. They are also talking about going into Illinois with an eye toward Binny’s 40+ locations.

Along the way, she persuaded a former Seagram colleague, Phil Gervasi, to join her. As Selena puts it, “Phil is my secret weapon… he’s been my mentor and been with me every step of the way.”

Phil held many senior sales positions at Seagram, worked at Diageo where he was senior vice president/general manager for California and several western states. His most recent position was EVP, North America Sales for Patron. In fact, it was a former colleague from Patron that introduced her to Phil.

She couldn’t have picked a better person to work with. Or a smarter, nicer guy.

*        *        *

Selena Nitz is indeed living the American Dream. At a period in the history of this country where some question and even oppose immigration, I’m proud to know her and share her story. Her journey reminds us that what made America truly great was the willingness to open our doors and provide opportunities to those willing to work hard to accomplish the dream.

As to Miramar Rakia Modern Brandy, I’ll close with this comment from one of the judges at the SF competition:

“It’s very unique because it’s a little floral on the nose and I’m ready for it to be sweet. But when I drink it, it’s almost like fine tequila. This is very hard to achieve.”

The brand sells for $39.99 (750 ML), 40 AbV (80° proof) has no additives, is gluten and sulfate free, non-GMO, and nothing artificial.

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