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Bakon Vodka- the Interview
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Yes, it does taste like bacon!
After taking the Seattle area by storm, Bakon Vodka the first commercially available vodka that tastes like bacon (yes, it really does taste like bacon!) is finally available to the rest of us. See below for ordering information. To celebrate, I recently chatted with one of the creators of Bakon Vodka, Sven Liden, to get a little insight on the genius of this vodka.
KH: What was your inspiration for making Bakon Vodka? How did the idea come to you?
Sven: It started out as a random idea a few years ago. We have a friend Scott who's a bacon-fanatic. I mean, he brings 5lbs of bacon to any event if he can, subscribes to the bacon-of-the-month club, etc. And somehow we had the discussion "Would bacon be good in a cocktail?" (We have a lot of strange ideas, this wasn't the strangest.) So our first test was to try infusions. We tried a number of different styles of bacon, a number of different vodkas. There was one we liked the most and tried sampling it with Bloody Mary's. And we thought "This is actually REALLY good. This could sell as a commercial product." So now here we are about two years later. It's pretty cool to hear how much people like it and to walk into a bar and actually see your product on a shelf.
KH: What has been your biggest surprise so far?
Sven: The overwhelmingly positive reaction has been amazing. We started out with a pretty small batch initially intended for a trial in the Northwest. We thought that we could scale up production in 4-6 months when that ran out... We ran out of stock in 5 weeks and had to scramble to increase our inventory! We never expected that we'd get international response either. We've had importers and press from as far away as Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East contact us.
KH: What was the biggest hurdle to overcome?
Sven: The biggest issue is that it's not just a new product, it's almost a new category in drinks. So we not only have to convince people to check us out because it's new and different, we have to convince them to actually try it because it's truly a tasty vodka. There are a lot of "kitchy" bacon products. We wanted to make a really high-quality vodka that you'd enjoy drinking again... one that could actually become the "Bloody Mary standard." I think we've overcome that hurdle in Seattle because people have had a chance to try it, and bartenders are loving the new possibilities of drinks they can make with Bakon.
KH: What did your family and friends say when you told them you were going to make bacon vodka? Did they think you were nuts or genius? (Personally, I think genius)
Sven: Most thought that it would be a fun side project initially, but didn't take it too seriously. My wife shook her head at the idea initially. Now she asks me "Is this actually a weird idea or not? I can't remember. It seems like an obvious product now." And all of our friends who have tried it now are definitely thinking "genius".
KH: How did you get involved in distilling? Do you have a background in spirits? If not, what did you do before?
Sven: One of the founders (Stefan) has a long history in the liquor business, so we had a leg up because we knew not only how to make our own brand, we knew all of the ins and outs of the regulatory process. Chris has a design background. I've done a few other start-up companies before, none of which have had this explosive interest right off the bat. All of a sudden Bakon Vodka has taken on a life of it's own and captured the interest of a lot of people.
KH: How long did it take you get your final version of Bakon Vodka? Was there lots of delicious trial and error?
Sven: It took about two years from the point that we first tried doing infusions to the point that we had a bottle on the shelf. We went through a lot of trial and error because it turns out that not all bacon flavors or vodkas are equal - and not all of it was "delicious". For instance, most vodkas are "Neutral Grain Spirits" - essentially made from whatever the cheapest grain is at the time (corn, wheat, etc.) Those work fine for some flavors like fruit or other sweet mixes. But it just didn't work well with the bacon flavor, it tasted too "sharp". The potato vodka has a much rounder edge which works great with our bacon flavor profile.
KH: Being from Seattle, how often do you get asked if you are the same people who make Bacon Salt/Baconnaise? I ask because people are asking me that question all the time.
Sven: We get that a lot. We actually just met Justin and Dave from Bacon Salt last week and shared a few Bakon cocktails with them. They're great guys, really friendly and have been helpful in giving us advice.
KH: How can people get Bakon Vodka?
Sven: It can't hurt to ask your bartender or liquor story to carry it. If you're in Washington or Oregon it's available in a number of liquor stores. You can actually ask any liquor store in these two states to carry it and they should be able to order it if they don't have it already. We're expanding into Idaho and Montana shortly and we're looking at distribution in New York and California and a number of other states (plus Canada).
In the mean time, you can go to our web site to link to a retailer (DrinkUpNY) that will ship anywhere in the world starting early July.
KH: How can someone get Bakon Vodka sold in their favorite bar?
Sven: Ask your bartender to bring it in! Even if it's not in your state yet, bartenders will ask their distributor to bring it in which makes it faster for us to convince those distributors to order it from us.
KH: Anything else you want to add?
Sven: You might be surprised about what works well (and doesn't well) with Bakon Vodka. Some things, like Coca Cola are frankly terrible (I don't know, maybe there's someone out there who would like that mix.) But other flavors that bartenders have been coming up with are surprisingly delicious... things like chocolate (a "Chocolate Bakon Martini") or melon liqueur [Midori] (think "bacon-wrapped prosciutto".) It's fun to see some of these drinks coming out that you really couldn't get before in a bar - and they're really tasty!
Cheers!
drinkexaminer@gmail.com
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