I had been making ginger liqueur for my friends for ten years before turning it into a company. A chef friend showed me the basics of making liqueur and I went from making a standard limoncello to one experimental batch after another. One of those experiments was with ginger—and it was a hit. My friends loved it. And the more ginger I put in it, the more they loved it. Eventually, it turned into a pure ginger expression and that became the base for Barrow’s Intense.

Ginger just happened—I had some in the house and said, “Guess I'll try that.” And when people loved it, I said, :”Well, I need more of it." It was a very organic process.

Usually I would make an experimental batch and do something different every time, but because the feedback from my friends was so overwhelmingly positive about the ginger, I decided to just stick with ginger. I refined the recipe over and over again until it is what it is today.

Making Barrow’s Intense for my friends and making it as a business is really the same thing for me. I’m having fun making it and sharing it, but now I want everyone in the country to get a taste. The decision to make a go of it as a business began when one of my friends bought every other ginger liqueur she could find on the market, threw a party and did a blind tasting with guests. Everyone chose my liqueur over every other brand that was there. Hands down, it wasn’t even a contest. I began to look into doing it for real, and every time I took a step forward I got a positive reaction, so I kept moving forward. Now we’re in 35 states, and I have a lot more friends.

I don't do things halfway. One must be fully committed when running a business. I think of my involvement with Barrow’s Intense as the difference between being committed and involved. Think of a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. The chicken that contributed the egg is involved. But the pig? That pig is committed. I’m the Bacon: If I’m doing something it’s going to be 100%.

The difference is in how Barrow’s Intense tastes. Barrow’s Intense is fresh ginger. Unlike other brands on the market, there’s no heat in our process, or filtration. Our competitors are either distilled or compounded, and that means they’re using extracts, i.e. taking different flavors and blending them. The flavor profile of the ginger is then altered.

Barrow’s Intense is smooth, we use neutral cane spirit which compliments the ginger. So when you first smell it, it smells like ginger and not alcohol. My favorite compliment is when someone asks, “There’s alcohol in this?” It tells me I’m getting the flavor profile just right.

We have a wide range of customers. Some view Barrow’s Intense as an old-school limoncello, and they’ll drink it straight. But the majority of our consumers are younger, and more cocktail focused. Bartenders love using it in their cocktails. For instance, the number one cocktail bar in the country, Williams & Graham (Tales of the Cocktail 2015 - Best American Cocktail Bar), just put us on their cocktail menu.

Bartenders are key because alcohol and spirits split into two markets:
on-premise (bars and restaurants), and off-premise (markets and liquor stores).

The key with on-premise is to get bartenders excited about the product, and then activate that excitement so that when bartenders or beverage managers are creating the cocktail list they choose to use your product.

Having bartenders on-board is key to getting on cocktail menus because that increases the brand recognition that builds off-premise sales. In other words, when customers have a cocktail they enjoy, they want to know the ingredients so they can recreate it at home. Then they look for it in stores for their home bar.

Bartenders like us for a few simple reasons: We’re delicious, and our flavor is pure ginger. This means Barrow’s Intense works with a myriad of base drinks. Barrow’s Intense goes well in a ginger margarita, martini, whiskey, gin or rum cocktail. Our flavor is complementary, not competitive with other flavor profiles. We play well with others.

Ginger is also a very popular flavor profile. Getting ginger flavors on a cocktail menu isn’t the hard part. What's challenging is getting in front of the bartenders and keeping Barrow’s Intense on their minds when they're developing their cocktail menu.

Our number one competitor is Domaine de Canton, a French ginger liqueur. They’re product is cognac-based, so the flavor profile reflects that along with notes of honey and other flavorings. Barrow’s Intense has been and always will be all about the ginger.

Organizationally, as part of a larger conglomeration our competitor has more resources, but being part of a massive organization can diffuse focus. Barrow’s Intense is singularly focused.

And it’s important to note, whenever we’ve done a taste comparison against our competitor, Barrow’s Intense has never lost. In fact, numerous high-end restaurants and bars in Manhattan and around the country have replaced Domaine de Canton with Barrow's Intense.

Our national distribution partnership with Serrallés USA allows Barrow’s Intense to successfully contend with existing and potential players on the market. With their guidance and resources we’re now on shelves across the country. Serrallés USA also provides a dedicated, national sales team which would have been impossible for us to afford.

Our strongest advantage, however, lies in how the market actually works. Typically a state works with only two major distributors. In most cases, Barrow’s Intense is with one distributor and our competition is with another. It’s unlikely that a new ginger liqueur hitting the market would even be able to launch, because distributors already have one of the ginger liqueurs in their portfolio, and wouldn’t need another. So there’s no incentive for an established distributor to bring in another ginger liqueur, as it would risk upsetting the portfolio.

We are building a guerilla marketing team or, as we call them, Team Intense. It’s a group of four or five bartenders who act as brand evangelists for Barrow’s Intense in each market. They’ll be hitting up other bartenders to sample our liqueur in their cocktails. This gives us the direct interaction we need to get folks excited about the product. It also gives us credibility from our own users, and it’s more affordable than hiring full-time brand ambassadors.

In addition, we plan to introduce 50ml bottles (minis) of Barrow’s Intense. This allows for sampling off-premise through the use of hitchhikers - mini bottles of Barrow’s Intense attached to full-size, established brands with recipe cards. Minis are also great for hotels so we can generate additional exposure.

Our current space can quadruple our current rate of production. And in the liquor industry, demand doesn’t curveball; it’s not like we’re going to be featured in Oprah’s book club selling one case one day, and then selling 10,000 cases the next - the liquor space doesn’t work like that.

It takes about one month to produce one batch, and we produce a batch every other week. We always keep about two months worth of inventory. And if we’re getting low, we can quickly add another batch. We’re always able to determine a month out whether or not we need to ramp up production to satisfy growing trends. It’s typically a four-month sales cycle, so we will be able to foresee and satisfy demand increase.

Right now we're around 65%, and those are spot-on for the liquor industry. When alcohol companies get acquired, they’re typically looking at 60–65% margins. With scale, Barrow’s has the ability to increase them to 70% by saving on costs of bottling, packaging, and shipping.

We’re a team of six. Danielle Hengge is our Manager of Intensity and she handles all aspects of production. In addition Danielle works events. Her engaging personality and knowledge of how we make Barrow’s Intense makes her an excellent advocate for both trade and consumers.

Assisting with production are Noah Horner and Brandon Hernandez. Their focus and attention to detail ensures that what goes out the door is perfect. Christine Kennedy is our social media manager. When we were a tiny 7-month old self-distributing company we appeared 10 times bigger. Christine’s efforts played a critical role in securing our partnership with Serrallés USA.

Last but not least is my partner, Eve Alintuck. We are old friends with a deep level of trust. Eve was one of the earliest to encourage me to take my hobby and turn it into a business. As VP of Intensity she effectively manages all aspects of communication and branding, and has been key to our growth.

Funny that you use that word. I always say I only work with awesome people, and the Barrow’s Intense team is just that. Awesome. They’re intense, they’re smart, dedicated, caring people, and they kick ass. Our team comes from a variety of backgrounds outside the liquor industry. Given that we’re not originally from the world of booze we've been able to bring a fresh perspective to the process. The work is hard and intense on all levels but we love what we do, we are beyond proud of what we produce, and Rule #1 is never stop having fun. Our team has taken Barrow's Intense from a hobby to an award-winning, nationally distributed craft liqueur in three short years.

We will start by producing our minis—50ml bottles. These mini bottles are a friendly, low-commitment level way for potential customers to taste our product. Once the ginger hits their tongue, we’re confident they’ll remember us and look for it on the shelves of their local corner store. This should help build our off-premise business.

The funds will also be used to test Team Intense field marketing in three markets. Team Intense will focus on building our on-premise accounts through menu placements, and awareness within the trade. We will use the feedback we get from this initial testing to further develop our on-premise activation programing.

Barrow’s Intense will become a staple in the spirits category.

We want to do for craft liqueur what Sam Adams did for craft beers. Sam Adams spearheaded a movement for craft beer to take over bar taps. And now you can’t walk into a bar without having at least a handful of craft options available. The same thing is happening with craft spirits. Barrow’s Intense will be that craft liqueur you need on your shelf.