broVo Spirits

Their liqueurs—Rose Geranium, Lemon Balm, Lavender, Ginger, Douglas Fir—have a 20% liquor content and an extremely low sugar content of approximately 3%.

A Scottish ritual is to buy a bottle of single malt Scotch when someone dies and drink it throughout the year on important occasions. Mhairi had done this for her father and again with an uncle. While at his funeral, she thought, ‘hey, I'd like to make something and market my own product.' Back home, she realized she couldn't do it. "There are so many levels to good whiskey. We have the Woodinville Whiskey Company and Dry Fly in the state and they both do a great job. I felt I should focus on something we could do well." The first person she contacted with her idea was Erin Brophy, a former colleague at the Museum of Flight. "We worked really well together. I was the Director of Marketing and she was the Director of Sales. We had worked on the Space exhibit and Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit together. We know our strengths. With broVo, I bring everything to the bar and Erin takes care of everything behind the bar."

The two went off to distilling school and were thinking gin, vodka, whiskey. Again, they realized others were doing this and they wanted to fill a niche. "It was suddenly clear that we should do custom cocktails," recalls Mhairi. They made the decision in 2010 to move ahead. On June 30, 2011, they established their company. On September 24, they entered into Washington business.

Things took off with a lot of special orders, and they were listed by the State. That included a stocking order of 800 cases. The day after the election when Initiative 1183 passed, the State canceled the order and they were sitting on a lot of product with no way to distribute it. "It was scary," says Mhairi. "But we researched distributors and decided to sign with Click Wholesale Distributing. They have really come through. They're a great distributor. They worked with us in the beginning to really understand our product and we feel that's why they've done so well selling it. In just the first three weeks of June, we are close to selling through all of those 800 cases and need to go into production again."

The more surprising partner is perhaps Costco. They often get a bad rap because of their size and pressure they applied to getting 1183 passed. But they've been good to broVo. "They've been a really good corporate citizen and have worked hard to get local product in Costco. They've put on road shows where we can talk about our product. They've been great."

Around Valentine's Day 2012, they created a booklet called "50 first dates" encouraging people to go on 50 dates throughout the year, seeing local tourist attractions, trying out 50 custom cocktails made by various bartenders from Seattle to North Bend. A big success, they now have "60 Days of Summer with broVo Spirits." This booklet pairs sixty great attractions and summer festivals with cocktails from around the area. There have been 10,000 booklets printed with 100 recipes, so keep an eye out for yours. The Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau will be doing some of the distribution, so you can definitely find them at the Convention Center. Elliott's Oyster House is the "lead" restaurant for the summer promotion and Beverage Manager Scott Diaz and Chef Robert Spaulding recently paired Scott's "Tongue Thai'd" and "Elysium" cocktails using broVo liqueurs with Copper River salmon bites, scallop and shrimp ceviche, coconut prawns and fresh raw oysters. Click here to find Scott's cocktail recipes and Robert's Coconut Prawn, and Pepper, Vodka and Citrus Cured Lox recipes.

broVo's new items will appear around the holidays this year. They are going to release seven custom rhubarb-based amari (amaro is an Italian herbal liqueur). "They're aging in used Dry Fly whiskey barrels right now," says Mhairi.

Yes, with the opening of the state to distilleries, you could drink yourself into a tizzy trying everything. But isn't that the fun of it? Every time you go out, you can try something new. Erin and Mhairi have created something that's different, barely a liqueur, and very refreshing. You owe it to yourself.