The spirits industry is witnessing a fundamental shift where scrappy innovation often trumps deep pockets, and creating a brand story can outperform traditional marketing budgets by orders of magnitude. These success stories from Bar Convent Brooklyn 2025 demonstrate that in today’s market, strategic creativity and authentic consumer connections matter more than massive advertising spends or established distribution networks.
Building Spirits Branding That Sells
In this Bar Convent Brooklyn 2025 presentation, Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer—Co-Founders of Nihilo agency and Esther Rum—reveal how to create spirits branding energy that drives cult followings and why stunning packaging alone fails. Learn from their journey launching spirits brand Casa Malca Tequila (with just a render) to building Esther Rum’s branding in public with bartender feedback.
Building a 200K-Case Alcohol Brand Without Big Money
John King, the founder behind America’s fast-growing Pickle Shot reveals how he built his alcohol brand and turned $40K into 250K annual cases.
How a Small Norwegian Distillery Outperformed Global Spirits Brands
Jason Dobson, Partner & Business Director at Contagious, reveals how Fedi Distillery—a small Norwegian distillery brand—defied the odds to outsell global giants in one of the world’s most restrictive markets.
Why Beverage Alcohol Awards Actually Drive Sales
Amanda Herbert, Senior Manager at The Tasting Alliance, reveals how smart brands transform beverage alcohol awards from vanity metrics into real sales and revenue drivers – with proof from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and other global events.
Building Spirits Branding That Sells Transcript
Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer (0:03)
“My name is Margaret Kerr-Jarrett, and I am the co-founder of Nihilo, which is a branding and design agency. I am also the co-founder of Esther Rum, which you will hear about shortly. This is my partner and co-founder, Emunah. We are basically married at this point. Today, we are going to tell you a little bit of our story, which is quite unique. We started as a branding agency partnering with corporate clients on the design side, but we have transitioned into building brands of our own. Through this process, one of the biggest lessons we’ve learned is that ‘beautiful’ is simply not enough. As a quick recap, we are the founders of our agency, Nihilo; we co-founded a tequila brand called Casa Malka; and now, we are working on a new rum called Esther.”
Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer (0:58)
“To give you some background, Nihilo is a branding agency specializing in consumer products and spirits. We partner with a wide variety of brands that feature a distinct, consumer-facing element. We have worked across spirits, general beverages, cannabis, and tech, but the underlying goal is always the same: speaking directly to the consumer. I come from a professional writing background, while Emunah comes from a fine design background, and we have always focused on bringing a very high level of craft to our work. However, our reality as agency owners completely shifted when we jumped into the deep end and co-founded the tequila brand, Casa Malka.”
Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer (1:44)
“The original founder of Casa Malka initially came to our agency with nothing but a name, which translates to ‘House of the Queen.’ There was no established company, no corporate bank account, no liquid, and no physical product—it was just a raw brand concept. We designed a preliminary visual bottle render before anything resembling an actual tequila company existed. We put that conceptual design out into the world, and it immediately captured immense attention from investors, designers, and trade professionals. That industry buzz was a clear signal that this concept was worth pursuing, so we stepped in as co-founders. We spent the next few years building out the actual company and product for Casa Malka. It was brand-led from day one; the story existed before the physical liquid did. While the liquid absolutely had to be excellent to live up to that narrative, building a compelling brand world allowed people to step inside our universe before they ever tasted the product.”
Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer (3:11)
“Building a tequila company completely turned our agency perspective upside down. Originally, clients would hire us for a standard three-month scope to create a label, a custom bottle design, packaging, and brand copywriting assets. But building a physical brand taught us that a true brand isn’t just graphic design—it is an energy and a distinct point of view. When you look at it through that lens, the physical design becomes fluid, adaptive, and capable of growing. It is no longer just a rigid deliverable you hand off to a client; it is a shared energy that the founders must completely embody to push the business forward. This realization is exactly what led us to create Esther Rum. After launching the tequila, we sold 50% of our shares because we wanted to apply this philosophy to a new venture. We specifically chose the rum category because it felt wide open, and we love taking on unconventional challenges.”
Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer (4:34)
“People frequently ask us why we decided to start a rum brand. The real answer is that we sit at a unique intersection of brand building and the spirits world. We view this dual expertise as our backdoor entrance to creating a true cult brand. We are leaning into a new style of brand building that steps far away from just putting a pretty bottle on a shelf. Instead, we favor a fluid, transparent conversation with our end consumers by building our company entirely in the open. Our number one priority is establishing deep category association over pure visual prettiness. From an agency perspective, it is easy to focus on publishing a beautiful portfolio case study. However, portfolio pieces don’t make money for a business. What drives revenue is understanding your end consumer and ensuring your product integrates seamlessly into the commercial category you are building for.”
Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer (6:38)
“To be completely transparent, nothing in our design process is final yet, and that is a core part of our ethos. We are getting live, unfiltered feedback from bartenders, designers, and friends, and we are actively evolving as we go. For example, we immediately made the decision to switch from a fancier bottle shape to a more utilitarian structure. We are also changing our cap design because our bartender friends told us, ‘This looks pretty, but I will break this cap within two seconds on a busy shift. If you want to make money, change it.’ Standard branding textbooks preach that consistency and repeating the exact same rigid image over and over again is the ultimate law. What we have discovered is that while you do need a core center point of consistency, it is far more powerful to be transparent and evolve out in the open with your audience. We regularly show our product iterations, different cap tests, and design failures across our social media channels because we have nothing to lose and everything to learn.”
Margaret Kerr-Jarrett & Emunah Winer (7:59)
“For our primary brand asset, we knew we wanted to feature a lion, but we initially had no idea what style we wanted. We experimented with a ton of different illustrators because we wanted an optical illusion that captured a rebellious, badass energy. Even while the exact artwork was changing, the core energy of the brand remained entirely consistent. That energy is what creates the memory association that people actually retain; everything else around it can evolve. Inviting people into the messy process of brand building creates a much more powerful connection than just displaying a pristine product on a shelf. Although Esther Rum doesn’t officially launch until this fall, we have already hosted launch parties and events to share this energy before the physical product hits retail. People love the liquid when they try it, but they are ultimately drawn to the culture we are creating. In today’s market, a living brand energy is the true definition of branding. Making a beautiful object has simply become the baseline cost of entry. Consumers appreciate beauty, but they want to see the authentic mess behind the curtain even more. We are focused on branding beyond the bottle. True branding is an idea that people are drawn to, and it must remain recognizable as its true self even as culture changes around it. To succeed, you must commit completely to a distinct point of view that you believe in, drop the corporate scripts people expect you to say, and remember that a brand is an energy.”
Building a 200K-Case Alcohol Brand Without Big Money Transcript
John King — 0:04
Thank you for having me, and thank you to Park Street. So — Beyond the Bottle: bringing a brand to life. To put a face to the story, I wanted to show you our bottles. This is our current branding, and I’ll tell you, it did not look like that when we first started. The first label I had was probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life — but it still sold. So we do have proof of concept, and it has worked. But this talk is about beyond the bottle, so I’m not going to jump into how it’s liquid gold or talk about the bold, amazing flavour, the no artificial ingredients, no artificial flavours — though if you do want to talk about that, we’ll be in the courtyard at 2:30 and you can sample it. More about the brand story.
One thing I established early in my brand story was: not all brines are created equal. I still use that when talking to people, and what I’m basically saying is my brand is better than my competitors’. But after listening to some of the other speakers and walking around the room, I thought it would be appropriate to just tell my brand story honestly, because not all brands are created equal and there is no single roadmap. I can’t tell you one thing to do — I’m just going to tell you what I did, what worked, and what didn’t. I’m not just going to give you the sexy parts. One of my favourite things my CEO does when we’re talking to new distributors or brand reps in a general sales meeting is ask: “How many cases do you think this company sells nationally?” People throw out a couple of thousand and we just wait — and then we show them the slide. It goes all the way back to 2018, when we sold under 500 cases, self-distributing, most of which — to be transparent — went to the bar where it all started. Last year we finished just under 200,000 cases and are projecting 250,000 cases. Amazing growth for a new brand, and something I’m very proud of.
John King — 2:12
When we were self-distributing, I had to find easy wins. My best advice is: do what you’ve got to do to stay in business in that first year — use what you’ve got. I leveraged the bar’s success when walking into on-premise locations. I got a ton of nos, and I realised I had to take a shot with every single one of them. So I started focusing on retail stores that said yes — they had bigger shelves, and I started seeing success. I opened about 100 accounts myself, accounts I had to service, picking up the cases in my Honda Civic — I could fit about 32 cases in the back. I would drive a couple of hours, sometimes 13 hours in a day, just to get them all done. I downloaded an app to figure out the most efficient route so I could deliver, sell, deliver, sell, deliver, sell. That’s just what worked for us.
You’ve got to get some wins under your belt to keep the money coming in. When I say we started with $40,000, for the next three years we did not put any more money in because we didn’t have it. It was either make it work or not eat and not have a job. I’m proud to say we have zero investors to this day. We’ve put every single dollar back into the brand — I call it family-owned, but it’s really self-owned — and I think we’ve done it the right way. To give a little context, we went from two states to 13, to 21, and now we’re in 35 states, trying to open up the rest of the country in five short years. That is not what I would recommend for every brand. You run into obvious problems with capital and inventory, but that’s why I say every roadmap is different — you’ve got to do what works for you. Distributors kept saying yes, and while that creates its own problems down the line, it worked for us.
John King — 4:21
With no marketing budget and handling social media myself, I needed free guerrilla marketing, so I looked for brand partnerships. I had this guy bugging me since 2019 — “You’ve got to do this pickle festival.” I said no the first year because we weren’t ready, but I’ve done it with him every year since. I realised he was what I call my pickle influencer, and for $1,500 a month he had over 400,000 pickle fanatics following him. I now know a lot more about pickles than I ever thought I would, but it literally created a cult following. I was in two states and getting enquiries from California and Texas — “How do I buy your product?” I didn’t always have the answer, but it created a cult following and generated what I call cheap marketing that significantly expanded our reach.
Not everyone has the resources to have the marketing team or PR person I have now, so I really wanted to focus on finding those kinds of opportunities early on. One of the key things we did was identify our target audience — it was the pickle people. And I didn’t realise how fanatical and loyal they are. It’s almost like a cult, but they buy, and buy, and buy my product over and over again.
John King — 5:50
Identifying trends has also been critical. We have lower ABV, which we know is working, and bold flavours. We’re thrilled to be creating a new category in a competitive market. Flavoured vodka — who am I to go up against the big flavoured vodka companies? But nobody had done it right, so I said I’m going to do this better than anyone else. And then there’s the better-for-you angle — it’s pickle juice, so maybe a little sodium, but other than that it’s gluten-free and sugar-free. Identifying those trends drove our early wins.
We call our brand positioning TOPS — The Original Pickle Shot. One of the smart things my team did was zone in on that, because when we started there were about three pickle vodkas out there. I didn’t consider them the same thing as us. Now there are 40. Competition comes when people see others thriving, and people are copying us — but we’re happy to be the market leader and stay focused on being the original. We also created a secondary call to action, rallying around the same cultural moment as Tito’s and Fireball when going into bars doing shots. That keeps us on top of the competition and helps differentiate us.
And then — all brines are not created equal. We have a pickle scientist. They do exist. You’d be amazed how much expertise goes into working with pickle and pickle juice — it’s not as simple as you’d think. Those are the things that are going to differentiate us from other brands when the big players come knocking, and those are the things that are giving us the continued wins that have us on track for 250,000 cases.
John King — 7:47
And lastly — I say I got lucky. We caught a wave with the pickle flavour trend. I think luck is involved a little bit, but so is determination, hard work, and simply not going out of business. When you see the Forbes article, and when Goldfish, Doritos, and Popeyes start making pickle-flavoured products, you know you’re onto something — but you’ve got to piggyback off of that momentum and roll with it. I can’t walk into a supermarket now without seeing 20 different pickle products. I wish they’d slow down, but it is what it is, so you’ve got to go with it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the brand story. It’s a real one and an authentic one. And even though I’m up here by myself, I’ll say this: you can’t do it alone. I probably tried to in the beginning, but thank you to Brazen Imports, my TOPS team, Gen 2 Marketing, and the Cohen Group — all people who behind the scenes have done an excellent job. I think you’ll hear echoes of my brand story in what the rest of the panel has to say, and I look forward to hearing from them. Thank you.
How a Small Norwegian Distillery Outperformed Global Spirits Brands Transcript
Jason Dobson (0:03)
I’m going to tell you a story about Fetti and the Fetti Ocean Distillery, based out in Norway, and talk about how they’ve created a brand that goes beyond the bottle in a saturated market. But let’s start with a question: how is brand impact achieved? In a saturated marketplace, especially in the premium spirits category, there’s a difference between shelf presence and cultural presence. Let’s hold that thought for a moment.
A bit about me — I’m Jason Dobson, one of the co-owners of Contagious. We’ve worked in and specialised in the spirits industry for about 20 years. In that time, we work across all consumer touchpoints for brand and product, predominantly from the boardroom all the way to the consumer. That covers everything from stakeholder engagement through to brand building, packaging, trade, consumer education, distributor education, internal education, distilleries, brand homes, and visitor centres. We work with new brands and startups as well as multinational brands. Our clients include Pernod Ricard, LVMH, Bacardi, and Diageo. So we’ve been not just delivering brand in the drinks industry, but helping to shape its culture over the last 20 years.
Jason Dobson (1:33)
Back to the question. With Fetti, it had to be more than just a product lineup. The biggest challenge we faced was that Fetti operates within the Norwegian monopoly, which means extremely stringent rules around alcohol marketing. To succeed in that environment, you need to be more than a bottle on a shelf. For those unfamiliar with the Norwegian monopoly, it means you cannot advertise whatsoever — no sponsorship, no branded events, no social media marketing, no point of sale, and point of sale neutrality is enforced. Education is only permitted if it is purely fact-based, covering taste, product, or origin.
But Fetti was born from the vision of one woman — Anna Kopang. I apologise to any Norwegians in the room, as my pronunciation of Norwegian names is awful. Anna’s aim was to empower women in both the spirits and investment worlds. She saw two problems: a spirits industry dominated by men, and a significant gender gap in investment — around 80% of the stock market’s value is controlled by men. Her answer was Fetti Distillery: a distillery powered by 100% female investment. Fetti will only accept female investors until gender parity is reached in the investment world. In doing so, Fetti has become a force for good, with levelling the playing field at the heart of its ambition. It actively encourages women to invest by building a female-first ownership structure, and has created its own investor education programme supporting women who are new to finance. So they’re not just creating whiskey — they’re creating a model of empowerment. Fetti offers its investors more than ROI; it offers a sense of belonging.
Jason Dobson (3:53)
So where is Fetti? It’s on an island called Frøya. If you look at the map of Norway, you have the northwest coastline, and then dots and dots of islands — and within those islands are more islands, and Fetti is a tiny speck among them. It is so remote it gets battered by the North Sea consistently. It’s a beautiful island, but it’s not just scenic — it’s also deeply symbolic to the brand. That’s where the distillery is, housed in what was once an old brewery. Using this place as a brand anchor and storytelling device, we were able to ground Fetti’s identity both in the natural forces of the island itself and in a broader social movement.
Fetti has three strong brand pillars: Powered by Women, Made for Progress, and Born on Frøya Island. Each phrase captures a core brand value, and all of these values feed into their overall manifesto. These aren’t external marketing lines — they are guiding principles that affect every decision the brand makes, from investment criteria to communications to expansion strategy. They return to these values consistently. But they also have values in action — values that create a response. These are their four brand traits, lived daily in everything they consider and everything they do: powerfully feminine, progressively Nordic, quietly courageous — unapologetically different, yet never boastful — and sustainably honest. Sustainability is a key part of what they are as a brand. It’s baked into their process, their products, and their partnerships. These values aren’t just aspirational; they need to be operational.
Jason Dobson (5:51)
Being in their location, Fetti had to understand not just what their local consumer wanted, but also their global opportunity. Locally, Fetti offers a meaningful experience to people seeking authenticity and a genuine connection to the island. Globally, it taps into a broader consumer shift — people who want brands that are progressive, ethical, and contributing to a better world. Their audience looks well beyond the label. They care about the values, the community, and the honesty of the brand. For them, Fetti is not just a drink — it’s a symbol of belonging.
Spirits brands often talk about wood types, ageing, and barrels. Fetti talks about people, and that has been central to this brand throughout. It’s very much emotional before rational. While product credentials are vital, they matter most at the consideration stage. What draws consumers in is the emotional resonance — the story, the people, the movement. Marketing equals logic; the brand is all about emotion. Fetti is proof that purpose and quality are not mutually exclusive — they amplify each other.
Jason Dobson (7:10)
Fetti’s brand world has storytelling at every touchpoint. There are no whiskey clichés here, no flavour notes leading the way. It’s very much aligned with who they are — clean, minimal, and distinctly Nordic in design. The imagery focuses on the island, communicating where they were born, back to that core value of Born on Frøya. You see images of the women investing in the brand, so the Powered by Women message runs continuously throughout. Every design choice and reference goes back to the story, the progressiveness, the landscape, the people, and the community. That story is always front and centre in any communication about the brand.
However, operating in a dark market means your packaging has to become more than packaging — more than something that simply holds liquid. There are 750 dots on the bottle representing the initial 750 investors, and 520 dashes representing the inhabitants of the island. As new releases are made, those dots and dashes will be updated, and the glass will be reformed to consistently reflect the growth of both the community and the investor base. At the moment there are now 1,100 investors, and I believe around 720 inhabitants on the island. We also wanted the bottle to live its sustainability credentials rather than simply carry a sticker about them. So the bottle and cap together weigh just 450 grams — hence the screw cap, which is lighter. It’s 25% lighter than industry standard, which matters significantly when you’re considering carbon footprint and shipping weight. We also created new transport routes from Norway, looking at the original routes and changing them to ensure we were using less energy and travelling shorter distances.
Jason Dobson (9:13)
That sustainability runs through everything else. Organic ingredients sourced from the island, local label suppliers, newly created transport routes, and a very community-focused product — the island is genuinely bought into what this brand represents. There’s no eco sticker on the label. Sustainability is their business strategy, rooted in the realities of the island itself.
But does it actually work? Yes — it has had real market success. The 6,500 bottles released in batch one last November sold out within two weeks. They sold more bottles in Norway than all other Norwegian brands combined, and were outselling some major world brands in the same market by around 500 litres. What that has created is a growing investor base, gin sales forecast to double, production being expanded into 2025, new listings with national retailers, and plans to export into the UK later this year or early in 2026.
Jason Dobson (10:34)
So what does Fetti teach us? In a modern and challenging marketplace, brands must mean something. As was discussed just before me, that’s how you build loyalty and create advocacy — and it’s how a tiny island in the middle of the North Sea off the coast of Norway has achieved the biggest whiskey launch in Norwegian history. In summary: brand stories cut through where specs cannot. Purpose isn’t just a trend — purpose is the future of branding. Without a clear purpose, you can’t drive a brand forward or attract consumers and trade. And emotion builds brands. It connects people to your brand, which then draws them into the product. Emotion builds brand; logic sells product. And that’s why Fetti is more than just a bottle on a shelf. Thank you.
Why Beverage Alcohol Awards Actually Drive Sales Transcript
Amanda Herbert (0:03)
Some background on me: I lead the marketing efforts for six international spirits competitions, with the San Francisco World Spirits Competition being our largest. We just wrapped that up, so I’m sure this is very timely for some of you who have entered. I get the opportunity to work with over 1,000 brands annually, from all different sizes and at different stages of their journey. My background is in marketing, partnerships, and brand development, and that’s what I’m discussing with brands on a day-to-day basis. My true passion, though, is turning the feedback that brands receive into actionable wins — setting them up for success and helping them build on that momentum.
Amanda Herbert (0:58)
A common thread we see, no matter what stage a brand is at — whether you’re a craft distiller just launching your first product, a mid-market brand trying to gain regional momentum, or an established household name that has been doing this for years — is that every brand needs to establish credibility. So why does external validation matter more than ever in today’s market? Consumers have fragmented attention, and there are so many options on the shelf that sifting through them all is genuinely difficult. That same option overload also applies to buyers, distributors, and e-commerce platforms when trying to determine which products to bring in, with limited tools to help make that decision. Awards provide instant quality shorthand — if you’re quickly scanning a shelf and you see a medal, or you receive a pitch deck showing that a brand is award-winning, it allows you to identify quality more easily. And fundamentally, awards provide professional feedback from industry experts — the people who may be using your product behind the bar or selling it to retailers.
Amanda Herbert (2:28)
Let’s talk through the different brand stages and how this applies. For a brand just starting out — perhaps getting ready to launch a product, or having just launched a new one — the big focus areas are visibility and validation. Getting those early wins when you may not yet have sales history to speak for your product is key, and an award does exactly that. It shows that you’ve put your product in front of a panel of experts and received their qualification. That can open the door to your first distribution partner, your first retailer slot, or an on-premise account. It also creates a PR-worthy moment — an opportunity to get your brand name out there. Some action tips here: use reviews and feedback to continuously adjust your product. If this is a new launch and you’re trying to get people to taste it, take the feedback you receive — whether from a competition, a social media review, or a review on Reserve Bar or Total Wine — with a grain of salt, but use it to adjust your product where needed. And highlight those wins anywhere and everywhere: in pitch decks, B2B outreach, wherever you can.
Amanda Herbert (4:02)
For growing brands — perhaps your product has been on the market for a few years, or you’re on your second product launch — the key focus areas are differentiation, momentum, and storytelling. You want to stand out and easily differentiate your product, especially in competitive markets. And if this isn’t even your first win — say you’ve won medals three years in a row — that consistent track record is a really powerful signal that your brand isn’t just here for the moment, but here to stay. For storytelling, I like to say that wins go beyond the specific product you enter. If you’re launching a limited edition product without awards or sales history, you can say that it comes from a brand that is an award-winning whiskey brand — that still reflects on your brand as a whole and allows you to tell a broader story, leveraging your entire portfolio.
Amanda Herbert (5:14)
For more established brands, category dominance is key. We’ve talked about the overload of products in the market, and it’s not slowing down — I come across a new tequila every week. Once you’ve built a track record, it’s really valuable to reinforce that you’re still best-in-class year after year, despite the ever-growing competition. Innovation testing is another great opportunity — competitions are a useful way to benchmark new products. If you’re a whiskey brand that has been producing whiskey for 40 years and you’re now exploring low-ABV or non-alc as a trend, this is a way to get those new products in front of discerning palates before they even reach the market. And then there’s sales ammunition — what sales team doesn’t love a fresh win to pitch? Whether it’s re-engaging an account that has gone quiet or getting a foot in the door somewhere new, it gives your sales team something tangible to work with. And finally, legacy building — using those consistent year-after-year award streaks, your body of knowledge, and your brand story to continue building on the legacy you’ve been creating.
Amanda Herbert (6:46)
So let’s put this into action. When you receive a medal, first amplify it everywhere — announce the win via press release, social media, and email blasts. Send it to retailers who haven’t been responding. Incorporate it into all of your materials: sell sheets, point of sale, and marketing campaigns. Reach out to Reserve Bar, Flaviar, Total Wine, and get those medals on your listings. Then contextualise the win — tell the story behind it. Is it a first win for a new category or product? Is this your third consecutive year entering? Did you win silver one year, adjust your product, and come back to win double gold? Tell that story. And explain what the award actually means — don’t assume everyone knows what a platinum award or a double gold signifies. Instead of just stating the medal name, say something like “our product has won the top award for three years in a row” or “we won the highest medal honour in the 2025 competition, meaning our product was judged exemplary against all others.” Our team is always happy to help frame that. And one more thing — you don’t have to wait until you’ve racked up ten awards to start promoting them. Even if you won an award last year and haven’t yet maximised it or publicised it, start there. It still provides validity.
Amanda Herbert (8:26)
Some final thoughts. Start by seeking your first industry recognition — just get that initial credibility established. As you continue on, use awards, recognition, and feedback to keep differentiating your brand in the market, and look at awards as strategic tools — building blocks for your brand story. And wherever possible, just get your product in front of the right palates. We understand that year after year this isn’t always possible, but ensuring that you’re putting your product out there, having it tasted, receiving that feedback, and continuously adjusting is really key. That’s it from me — I’m happy to chat more, and my contact information is here if you’d like to discuss further.
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