Quiet the Noise

This post is about slowing down a bit and really enjoying the good things in your life (Mainly your family and friends, preferably with a nice Vivacity Spirit at hand). In our everyday life we are surrounded by so much noise. Some of it is internal (the noise in our heads). The other is external noise. Today I’m going to write about the external noises that distract us from simply being and do not afford us the luxury of enjoying the simple things in our life. I am amazed at how connected everyone is, they have friends all over the globe and can tell you about anything happening in the news. They have their smart phone and are happily plugged in texting, youtubing funny cat videos or perusing Facebook and yet, when was the last time you actually sat face to face with one of your friends or family and just talked? Heaven knows how busy we all are and the distractions are all around us but if you don’t stop, once in a while, and look up, you will find that a lot of life has passed you by.

So, here’s my suggestion:

Turn off the TV

Turn off all the distracting electronic devices

Gather a good friend(s) or family member(s)

Pour each of you a nice cocktail made with Vivacity Fine Spirits or sip it neat

Find a nice comfortable place to sit and have a conversation

Because that’s why we made Vivacity Spirits so smooth. So you could sit around and enjoy them with your family and friends.

Cheers!

People

When I am doing a tasting at a liquor store I get different responses from people coming into the store.

The first is the “Determined Person”; they charge into the store with their head down and their blinders on. They know what they want and don’t have a second’s time to waste. When I greet them with a jovial “Good Evening” some are startled. Where did I just pop up from? (Even though they almost walked right over me to get to their destination.)

The second type of people are the “Happy People”; they come in, see me, head straight over to see what I have and greet me like a friend who is going to offer them some delicious free booze. Don’t we all like those friends?

There are the “Cautious People”; they are the ones who look at me like I have two heads and if they talk to me I just might try to get them to join my cult. Oh how right they are; The Cult of Great Spirits.

There are the “Curious People”; they want to be educated about Spirits, in general, and yours, in particular. They also want to know the back story of you and your business.  I feel like a Zen master dropping pearls of wisdom.

Next is the “Neophyte”; they know nothing about the Spirits world and would like you to give them a comprehensive education about everything Spirits related.

The “Expert” (the polar opposite of the “Neophyte”); they know everything about Spirits (some do some don’t) and they want to quiz you on your knowledge. It usually starts off with, “So, tell me about your (insert Spirit name). Usually this is the person, who knows beyond a doubt, written in stone, that Vodka is only made from potatoes. Wrong! (That is for another blog post).

The “Story Teller” and the “Talker”; I have mixed emotions about these ones. I love to engage in conversation, but after 15 minutes of listening to a story about your uncle Bobo’s fishing trip to Florida, I have to ask you to move on, please.

Last but not least is the “Jerk”; this is the person who doesn’t like what we have to offer and loves to expound, very loudly, how horrible our products are. (See below)

Some people will taste and some won’t. It’s all good. One of my pet peeves is that on occasion someone will try one of my Spirits and not only will they not like it they will tell me what a low quality piece of garbage it is and they yell it to the whole store as if it is their duty so warn the other customers. The first time this happened to me I was mortified! I recovered and asked, “So what you are saying is that my Spirits are not your cup of tea?” Bewildered, they responded with, “Well yeah, that’s what I just said” “No”, I reply,” You said my Spirits are of poor quality.” I explain that there are a lot of different Spirits on the shelves and if you drew a line and said that above the line were good Spirits and below were bad Spirits then there would only be one bottle on the shelf for every type of Spirit and that if you took that further and said that anything above and below were good and bad then there would only be one bottle on the shelf and wouldn’t that be boring. Our Spirits aren’t bad quality, you just don’t like them. At this point they seem to understand what I am saying, give a befuddled nod and move on.

In my experience I have found that there is no Spirit out there no matter how amazing, that someone doesn’t hate it. Conversely, there is no Spirit out there that is so bad that it’s not someone’s favorite. That is why there is more than one bottle on the shelf and isn’t that a wonderful thing! Cheers!

Trying New Things

The other day my niece (age 8) was over visiting with her family and as we sat down for dinner she looked at the food being served, pointed to a dish and stated, “I don’t like that!” Of course she hadn’t tried it and didn’t even know what the dish was. So, today’s topic is

Trying New Things

Now oddly enough you would think that attitudes such as this would fade over time but I can assure you that is not necessarily the case. Many people have preconceived notions of how something is going to taste and are not willing to try a Spirit because they once tried that type of Spirit a long time ago and they didn’t like it and nothing ever changes and there is nothing ever new. I find it interesting that some people will do incredibly dangerous things and are incredibly adventurous except for their food and drink choices. Then they are that belligerent 8 year old again. Saying this, I also get people who tell me they have tried a type of Spirit and they didn’t like it but are willing to try mine because they might like it. I love these people! I’m just saying, if someone is offering you a sample of free alcohol, you owe it to yourself to at least try it. You never know you might just get your world rocked a bit.

Just Because You Can Make It...

One of the fun things about owning a distillery is that we get to make really good alcohol and express our creativity in doing so. One of the interesting things about owning a distillery is that people all of a sudden become experts in the alcohol business, usually expressed as “You know, what you should make is …” and this brings us to today’s topic:

Just because you can make it, should you?

When we set out to come up with a new Spirit, for Vivacity Spirits, (How about: A Liver and Onion flavored Vodka!? Or a spirit made from melons?) we first look to ourselves. Is this something we would like to drink? (Oh hell no and maybe?) Is there a market for the Spirit and how big is it? (Highly unlikely and very small if it does exist and Unknown and unknown) Does this new Spirit already exist in one form or another or are we introducing it to the world? (No and Unknown) Will there be a steady supply of the ingredients and will it be at a decent price point? (Probably and the ingredients are seasonal) These are just a few questions we have to think about before we can take a step forward.

Coming up with a new Spirit is a fun and daunting task. The fun part is that we get to create something new and exciting. The daunting part is coming up with something new and exciting. When we first started, we were keeping bees and Caitlin noticed that there were very few Spirits made with honey. She saw an opportunity and started thinking of all the cool Spirits we could make. In less than two months it seemed that every major distillery came out with a honey flavored something or other. Caitlin was devastated. You have to remember that there are very few truly new ideas out there.

The problem for a small distillery, such as ourselves, is that  coming out with something truly unique also means that you will have to educate the drinking public to its virtues and why they should drink your product rather than one of the thousands of other Spirits out there that they are more familiar with, a daunting task indeed. Of course you don’t have to come up with something completely new. You can always make a variation of an existing Spirit. This can be easier. In our case, we wanted a gin (lots of those out there) that was based around the native botanicals found in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest (a variation on a new twist) particularly hops (definitely a new twist). It met the criteria for the first questions we ask ourselves. Would we drink this? (Oh yes please!) Is there an existing market for this type of Spirit and how large is it? (Yes and pretty darn large) Will there be a steady supply of ingredients? (Also a big yes and the price point was going to work too) So we moved forward. You can get people to try something new at least once. The trick is to make something so good that they will buy it again.

I guess it really just comes down to whether it is worth it to make something, just because we can. We could build an automobile that is fueled by 30 year old Scotch, too, but I don’t think the market for that one is very large either.

Winter is Coming!

Winter is coming! And that means its Turkish Coffee Liqueur season. The impetus for our Liqueur was to have a beverage that you could sit down and enjoy with a friend, while having a nice discussion and preferably in front or a roaring fire. In my opinion there is nothing finer than to sit with friends and talk. No TV, no texting, no distractions; just sit and talk to your friends face to face, while enjoying a great beverage. That is what community is about. I personally like to mix our Turkish Coffee Liqueur with a nice Bourbon (50/50) and an ice cube. To me it harkens back to the days when I would go to our local coffee/tea house and hang out with my friends. I feel that, today, everyone is in such a rush to get somewhere or to be in touch with their “friends” that they forget the people sitting right in front of them. Slow down and enjoy life. It goes by fast enough. So my suggestion for the Holidays is to get together with some special friends, crack open a bottle of Vivacity Spirits Turkish Coffee Liqueur and have a great discussion! Cheers! From Vivacity Fine Spirits!

Good News/Bad News

For those of us old enough to remember the days before there were 8,000 channels on cable TV or before there was any cable TV, there was a show on one of our local stations called “Hee Haw”. One of their regular skits was the good news/ bad news skit so in that tradition, I give you Vivacity Spirits news:

The good news is: Our first batch of rum is ready—Yay!

The bad news is: We don’t have the correct filtering device yet—Oops!

The good news is: We know which one we want and it ships quickly—Yay!

The bad news is: We also found a mistake on our label—Excuse me???

The good news is: We ordered new labels and they are on their way—Whew!

The bad news is: We missed our expected release date and we ran out of coffee—Aargh!!

The good news is: The new labels, the filter and coffee arrived. We start filling bottles—At last.

The bad news is: Our new filter doesn’t work so well using a gravity feed. Stop bottling—Darn!

The good news is: With a little ingenuity, it is a simple fix. Start bottling—Dodged a bullet.

The bad news is: By sheer luck, we find another mistake on the label. STOP bottling!!—CR*P!

The good news is: We can use part of the original labels to fix the problem. Start bottling!--Yay!

The bad news is: We already bottles and boxed 50 cases of the rum—Hrmm.

The good news is: There was enough rum left in the tank to send a full palate to the OLCC and it is now for sale—Oh Yeah!

The bad news is: it’s not in the warehouse yet.

The good news is: I know a guy with a truck and you can purchase it at our tasting room--Yehaw!

The bad and news is: It will take a week or two to get it into your local liquor store so come by  and visit us and buy your bottle today—Timing is everything!

The good news is: Today, 9-06-2014, our tasting room is open for business—Oh thank goodness!

Vivacity Spirits traditional rum is a limited run for only $29.00.  When it’s gone it’s gone (until another batch is ready).

Through adversity character is developed.

If it was easy, anybody could do it.

When you do something you love, you will never work a day in your life.

I live at the distillery, I have never put in so much time on anything, I love what we do and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cheers!

Hello World

Welcome to Vivacity Spirits new and improved web site. On this blog we will try to keep you informed of all  things Vivacity! Along the way we hope to give you a glimpse of what really goes on here, behind the scenes. So pull up a seat, pour yourself a nice gin and tonic, because it's so darn hot, and enjoy the ride. Cheers!