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It was a dreary day in Pennsylvania as three partners from Lititz-based Bravado Imports sat down last week to talk about their new brand of vodka.
Through a window of FENZ Restaurant & Latenight, a light rain kept up a steady patter on an outside deck. Inside the darkened restaurant, a bottle of Quay Vodka Mediterranean sat on a table under a skylight, its distinctive blue top basking in an island of brightness and hinting of the sunny shores that are part of its namesake.
Quay (pronounced key) is a synonym for wharf and brings to mind the Mediterranean's long history of international trade.
It was just the kind of impression that David Sheckart, Bravado's president, had in mind in 2003 when he conceived of the luxury brand during a trip to Italy.
Finding an artisan distillery that could produce the taste Sheckart imagined and designing a bottle to match, however, took years.
And then there was the financing necessary to bring Quay to the state's liquor stores and bars.
One of Sheckart's partners and financial backers, Lou Naumann, of Lititz, recalled the occasion four or five years ago when he first learned of Sheckart's vision.
Sheckart, who was a wine and spirits salesman at the time and a friend of Naumann's son, Dan, was helping the older man paint a house he was refurbishing.
"Dave said, 'Hey, if I came out with a new line of vodka, would you be interested in taking a look at it?' " Naumann recalled.
Naumann was agreeable, and three years later, on a Sunday morning early in 2008, Sheckart took several samples to Naumann's house for him and his wife, Pam, to taste. He also brought a prototype of the bottle and a detailed business plan.
"We had invested in other things," Pam Bazella Naumann said. "Lou and I are both entrepreneurs. We've always had our own businesses."
She's a certified public accountant. He is the former owner of Best Set Tile and Tile Showplace.
Sheckart had five unlabeled samples. Two were of the premium vodka brands Grey Goose and Belvedere. The other three were from distilleries competing to manufacture Quay, two in France and one in Italy.
Sheckart's favorite was also the Naumanns' pick.
"We tasted it, and we were impressed," Lou Naumann said. "We were so impressed, we said a friend of ours is a vodka connoisseur and we'd like him to taste this."
That friend, Joe Durovey, and his wife, Suzanne, who also live in Lititz, came right over to share in the sampling and are now the other two partners in Bravado.
All five have active roles in the business. Joe Durovey is introducing Quay in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania while Lou Naumann focuses on the Harrisburg area and Sheckart works the Lancaster and Philadelphia markets.
Suzanne Durovey assists in sales and promotions, and Pam Naumann is responsible for finance and accounting.
The vodka the group tasted that Sunday morning, however, was only a preliminary version of what went on the market in state liquor stores last May.
"The taste was excellent," Sheckart said. "It just needed to be more balanced and more refined with a smoother and softer finish."
Lots of legworkAfter all the preliminary work he had put into developing Quay Vodka, Sheckart was confident he could perfect the product.
Not only had he done a lot of research into the world of artisan distilleries before that Sunday morning, he had also been working on business development and marketing.
Sheckart credits Lancaster SCORE and the counseling of Lou Davenport, of the Kutztown Small Business Development Center, with helping him put together his business plan. The state also encouraged his efforts early on.
"I actually got Pennsylvania involved in the initial process three years ago," Sheckart said. "I sat down [with people at the Liquor Control Board] and shared my vision, my concept and samples.
"They liked the direction, the vision of the product. They were excited about it," he said. "At that point, after my first visit with them, I decided they were going to be our first customer."
Quay debuted the first week of May in about 200 state liquor stores, Sheckart said. Since then, that number has grown to about 330, more than half the stores in the state.
Quay is also featured in the holiday issue of Pennsylvania's Official Wine & Spirits Quarterly as one of the premium picks for its 2009 gift guide. Selling for $36.99, Quay is pictured with one top brand each of whiskey, tequila, gin and rum.
"I've never been involved with a product that has been this well-received in my entire career," Sheckart said.
He credits much of that to the sampling Bravado has done at restaurants, food shows and other events, nearly 20 between here and Washington, D.C.
"Anytime we do an event, we shine," Sheckart said. "People love it. It's really apparent they are embracing the flavor profile."
Bob Fenninger, of FENZ Restaurant & Latenight, agrees. His bartenders will often ask customers ordering vodka if they would like to try Quay.
"People will ask in some way, 'What's it like?' " Fenninger said. "It's easy to describe it as an extremely smooth vodka with a lot of nuance. ... I haven't had anyone react poorly to it."
Last summer, he said, no one had heard of Quay Vodka Mediterranean. But these days, customers frequently are already familiar with the brand.
That may be in part Fenninger's own doing. In July, he played host at FENZ to about 60 people in the food business who wanted to try Quay. Now, it's in more than 30 restaurants in Lancaster County.
Quest to perfect QuayDeveloping that flavor profile wasn't easy, according to Sheckart, who worked with eight different distilleries in Italy and France to find the taste he was after — a taste that would "glorify and celebrate the Mediterranean and all its culinary and cultural refinements."
He said he started with an Italian distillery that produced all kinds of spirits and liqueurs.
"They tried and tried and couldn't come up with what I wanted," Sheckart said. "The more research and development I trudged through, the more aware I became that most distilleries couldn't do this."
Traditionally, vodka has been made from either grain or potatoes. There is some debate, Sheckart said, about whether it originated in Poland, where potatoes are normally used, or Russia, where the vodka is usually wheat-based.
The formula for Quay, he said, consists of wheat and rye, each fermented separately and then distilled five times and filtered four times before being blended.
Perfecting the blend took a few additional months after the distillery was selected during that Sunday morning tasting.
"Having the right amount of rye gave it a sweet aftertaste," Pam Naumann said.
The partners won't disclose the name of the artisan distillery — other than to say its other products are fine cognacs — nor its location, other than it's in the south of France close to the Mediterranean.
There are a lot of people who would like to find out, though, Lou Naumann said.
Perfecting the bottle took even longer. The manufacturer is also a French company, Savre Glass, which Lou Naumann describes as the world's premier bottle-maker.
Sheckart said he looked at hundreds of shades of blue to find the one that he thought best represented his vision of the Mediterranean.
The color is applied to the bottle at the factory using a proprietary process that fades from intense color at the top to a clear bottom.
Instead of paper labels, the name and information about the product are silk-screened onto each bottle. Sheckart points out that most of the lettering is printed on the side to give the consumer a clear view of the vodka.
"Because [it] is so beautiful on its own, we didn't want to hide the bottle," Pam Naumann said.
What recession?Bravado's initial order from the French distillery was for 5,000 six-bottle cases.
About 25 to 30 percent of those are now gone, Pam Naumann said, and despite Quay's premium price, the economic downturn doesn't seem to have affected sales.
"I'd say we're right where we thought we would be [with the product rollout]," she said. "We're right on track."
In addition to Pennsylvania, the brand is being sold in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida and Missouri, and Bravado is looking for distributors for the rest of the country.
"Our intent is to seek out new distributors that we feel our Quay product would be a good fit in their portfolio," Sheckart said.
That usually means targeting small- to medium-size companies, where Quay won't get lost among a lot of other vodka labels, he explained.
The Naumanns and Sheckart don't believe the economy will slow their intended expansion.
"One thing about a recession, people do not stop drinking or smoking," Pam Naumann said. "They may trade down, but they don't stop."
"We're very fortunate," Sheckart added. "Consumers are drinking less, but they're drinking better. We're sort of a value. Quay is a luxury vodka at only a premium price."
Dennis Larison is editor of the business section and can be reached by telephone at 291-8753 or by e-mail at dlarison@lnpnews.com.
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