Vodka Väd line started with patent-pending shot glass cap
on 17/01/11 at 11:26 am
Spirits
A 26-year-old Sonoma State University graduate is stirring up the market for ultrapremium vodkas with a $30-a-bottle line rolling out of a local craft distillery.
Though originally started a couple of years ago with an Oregon producer, the Väd brand — pronounced like “vodka” — was relaunched in December from Stillwater Spirits of Petaluma with new financial and back-office support, according to founder Will Mentesh.
“We did not want to be a vodka on the shelf that no love went into,” Mr. Mentesh said about launching the new distiller.
Just out of college in 2006, he took a Central Valley job in medical sales for a couple years as he amassed a couple hundred thousand dollars to develop and produce a patent-pending bottle cap that could be a jigger for 1- or 1.5-ounce shots, a container for shots or glass rimmer. Mr. Mentesh conceived of the cap his freshman year in college.
