# Drifter Spirits

A growing portfolio of craft spirits brands

## Elevator pitch
Produce, market and sell craft spirits across 42 states in the US and 7 countries in Europe.  The portfolio includes Avuá Cachaça (Brazilian sugar cane spirit) launched in 2013, Svöl Aquavit (Scandinavian botanical spirit) launched in 2019, and soon Gagliardo Bitter Radicale (Italian liqueur range).

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/drifterspirits
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:13913
- Last updated: 2026-06-21T05:00:04Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-22T03:32:35Z

## Quick facts
- Strong executive team with experience in brand management at Red Bull, and legal at Goldman Sachs.
- Advisory board and investors include SVPs at Pernod Ricard, William Grant; President of Red Bull NA.
- 2019 Revenue of $1.3m. Lifetime revenue of $4.3m and 2013-2019 10x growth in revenue.
- Internationally recognized products: Avuá Cachaca won Double Gold / Best in Category at SF Spirit.
- With our second brand (Svol Aquavit), we did in 6 months what took us 2 years to achieve with Avua.
- Craft spirits growing at a 24% CAGR and make up more than 5% of total spirits with lots more runway
- Many recent exits in the craft sector at 10x multiples. Assuming this we would be valued at $13M+
- Vision to build a portfolio of 10 spirits brands that would drive >$10M in revenue by 2025.

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:29684: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:9457: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
Drifter is a portfolio of global spirits for the modern bar.We scour the world for historically relevant, uniquely crafted products for the modern bar.  We use our strength in the on premise channel and key relationships with major national distributors and key bars, restaurant and hotels to build an efficient route to market.In the rapidly growing craft spirit space we serve as the sales and marketing agency and route to market for Avuá Cachaça (our lead brand that has over $1.3MM in sales in 2019), Svol Aquavit (launch in June 2019 to much fanfare and over $150k in revenue in 2019) and this summer Gagliardo Bitter Radicale (a 5th generation Italian producer).  What is Avuá Cachaça?Cachaça has been Brazil's beloved spirit for over 500 years and is the third most consumed alcoholic spirit in the world. Avuá Cachaça is single-sourced and pot distilled at a 3 generation farm about 4 hours from Rio, and comes in both 84 proof unaged Prata and the unique South American indigenous Amburana wood aged expression. Our mission is to challenge the perception of the cachaça category as a one-trick caipirinha pony to an artisanal product that expresses the 500 years of traditional production in Brasil.  The brand has $1,369,000 in rolling Total Sales March 1, 2019 to March 1, 2020.What is Svol Aquavit?Svol is taking a thoughtful gin-inspired approach to a centuries-old Scandinavian spirit.  We worked with Gunnar Gislasson chef/owner of Dill in Iceland and Jonas Andersen of Agern & Great Northern Food Hall on botanicals, souring and blending. Allen Katz and the NY Distilling team is our production partner with their great expertise in botanical distillation. We are excited to share with you our first two marks inspired by the traditions of Denmark and Sweden. Svol sold $153,000 in revenues in only a half year of launch (contributing $38k to Drifter in sales margin) - ahead of initial sales for Avuá in a category that bartenders are rapidly growing more interested in.  Our aim is to be the leader in the category as it grows in the US and Europe with great cocktail placements in key bars, restaurants and hotels around the world.  What is Gagliardo Bitter Radicale?The Gagliardo range will launch this summer with a liqueur range from a 5th Generation grappa distiller who re-discovered old family recipes. The range includes:• A Campari fighter in the Bitter Radicale with a long and strong bitter taste and aftertaste using the least sugar quantity as possible.• Italian Orange liqueur is the only of its kind in the market• Fernet Radicale which is a lighter more round version of the stylePlanned launch in Q3 of 2020 in key markets in the US – already approved by our two biggest distributors for launch.Drifter will grow our portfolio significantly over the next 5 years.We will be growing our portfolio to 8-10 solid brands over the next 5 years that will generate an estimated $10MM in revenue and deliver $2MM in net income, of which a large portion will be released as dividends.  We will enter other categories such as tequila, gin, and vermouth over time with the right partners and our consistent on premise, brand building focused approach.  

## FAQ
1. **Is the 5% on net or gross revenues? Why not an equity offering, or combination revenue share with share options? Best of luck with your venture, looks like a terrific product.**
   - Hi Barnaby! This is on net revenue. We have elected to structure it like this for legal reasons related to the spirits industry, particularly regulations in certain states that prohibit bar owners from equity investments in brands but can lend, particularly as we have a lot of support in this community and expect interest in it. Cheers!
2. **About how long would it take to pay back fully? Lets say $3,000 are invested, how many years would you pay it back with the 2x return?**
   - Hi Leonel. While it is impossible to predict, we would estimate that this would be a 5-7 year term, but it could be earlier or later depending on business circumstances and strategic changes in the business such as alignment with an acquiror.
3. **Fantastic product with a high global footprint and consistent YoY returns. Since you mentioned it's the 3rd most consumed liquor ex-US, do you plan on making a larger push within the U.S. market (especially with the growing Brazilian tourism, business, real estate into the U.S...**
   - We would expect to have the major focus for the moment on the US market as that is currently approximately 95 percent of our business and there remains large opportunity for growth. However, we are increasingly putting in place resources in the EU market to test how achievable that volume is and have an awareness advantage against future potential competitors as the category continues to premiumize. The largest barrier to growth in the US is consumer awareness and trial for the category and t...
4. **What was net revenue on your 2016 sales of $889K? Thanks.**
   - Total gross profit in 2016 was $501,537.97. Cheers, Nate
5. **I see that your blended gross margin is about 55%, but what is the operating margin? also when will be the first quarter you will be paying investors?**
   - Operating margin was at a loss in 2016; however the relative cost per $ of revenue was approximately 1.03. We would likely be paying investors for Q4 2017

## Team
- Peter Nevenglosky (President)
- Nathan Whitehouse (CEO)
- Ted Roman (Advisory Board Member)
- Michael Neff (Advisory Board Member )
- Francine Cohen (Advisory Board Member )
- Gable Erenzo (Advisory Board Member)
- Justin Noel  (Advisory Board Member)
- Jeff Diego (Director of Operations & Finance)

## Recent posts
- Avua Won Best Cachaça at the 2018 San Francisco World Spirits Competition (2018-08-12T14:45:43Z)
- October Sales (2017-11-08T20:51:55Z)

## Q&A
- Q: No Q3 Report. No Q5 Report.  Declining returns for the last 4 quarters.  Don't you think its time to update your investors on what's going on?
  - A: Hi Thomas. Apologies for the delayed response. The 2019 report was filed and there was some information posted about 2019 numbers, as well as plans to deal with COVID's impact on our business. Please reach out if you need further clarification.
- Q: I have not received any news and cannot get a response from this company in regards to their financial strength or status. I can find no further filings via the SEC EDGAR system for Drifter Spirits or Avua Corp and I am concerned about my investment.
- Q: Have payments been going out? I haven't gotten any in quite some time. Please provide an update.
- Q: It's June 1st 2021 what's happening with Drifter
- Q: It's been 5 years since our revenue share investment. When do you expect to pay out investors?
- Q: Once again, its been more than 18 months since we've heard anything, and still no returns on investment. Should we assume this is a "bad debt" and just write it off on this year's taxes?
- Q: When can we expect an update and report on 2021's performance?
- Q: It's March 2021 any news? Is Drifter still in Business?
- Q: What's the situation with Q3 and Q4 2020 payments? Hate having to follow up...
- Q: What is your path and timeline to profitability?
  - A: Hi Craig.  Once the market re-stabilizes, we believe we will have about a year to profitability.  The ability to add additional brands off a similar sales expense structure should begin to make the business as a whole significantly more cash-efficient.
- Q: Hey guys, an update or news report or some communication would be encouraging...
  - A: Hi Thomas!  There should be a general report from last week.  We will be posting a more official q3 report later after numbers are complete with our accountants.
- Q: i have not receive a check can you guys look in to it for me, i have never heard from these people about tax-update not a thing!! thank
  - A: OK we will check into it again but there should have been an update from Wefunder the other day.  
- Q: Leyla Callhan. As of May 22, I have not received my check.
  - A: Hi Eric, thanks for emailing us to get this resolved.
- Q: Can you please confirm if checks were mailed?
  - A: They should have been from Wefunder, per Wefunder's post. Have they been received?
- Q: Team Avua, can you clarify if on the timing of the profit sharing. If its scheduled to begin one year subsequent to close but closing has and continue to slip can you confirm that the funds invested so far have not been accessed and/or used? If the investment won't earn the described return until after the round has completely closed I would appreciate confirmation that my investment is not being used before the official closing.
  - A: Hello Jean - close will happen in 6 days and all details shared at this point. Your investment will not be deployed till then thanks!