Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ramon Perez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ramon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

I think this was the hardest part of building a business. Some say it has to be catchy, interesting, unforgettable, etc… but for me it is about who you truly are. If you are the face of the company then the name has to be a reflection of you, your passion, your attitudes, and what you stand for. I’ve always been a very relaxed person who enjoys life, loves to have fun and I wanted the company name to be easy, fun, and to represent who I am. But with so many options it was hard to decide. So I went back to reflect on what I have done and what I have accomplished until Sep 13, 2019. That’s when I decided Preez was going to be it and this is why. My last name is Perez, I have a major in Psychology, I was a US Army Blackhawk Pilot enjoying the breeze, and I live in Florida. So I took my last name and through my Psychology learnings I turned it into a type of Typoglycemia word that would be easy to say with one syllable, that would rhyme with the breeze we get from the florida beaches, reflects the smoothness of our spirits, and tells who I am.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Before Preez Distillery was even a concept, I was a US Army Blackhawk Pilot. I served a total of 21 years and retired in 2018 from Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Prior to my separation from the Armed Forces, I became a vodka enthusiast which led me to spend large amounts of money on a monthly basis. What led me to this trend was the environmental conditions in which we lived in Alaska. The cold days and nights, the long periods of darkness, and a lot of indoor time all lead to a common habit, drinking. After my realization of how much money I was spending, my curiosity kicked in and I started on the search on how vodka was made. I visited distilleries, talked to local beer brewers, searched the internet, read books, and used just about any reliable source available in order to learn more about the spirit. Once I felt like I had enough knowledge (so little of it), I gathered my materials and equipment and I began the vodka making process. I must admit that from this point on there was a lot of trial and error, mainly because I was self-taught. My first two batches failed to temperatures so they went down the drain. Third batch was full of excitement as I could see the fermentation happening and my apartment at the time smelled like an international French bakery due to the yeast. But when it came time to distill the wash, I got nothing! Then frustration and doubt started to settle in, but that happens when you don’t read the equipment instructions before using it. Realizing my mistake, I started over again. Batch number four came with good fermentation and this time I made sure I followed the equipment instructions. And as I stood there seeing the first couple of drops coming out of my still, my heart melted in joy. I successfully made alcohol! After eight hours of collecting my newly created spirit, it was time for human trials, and there was no other human being nearby but me. At this time, I made one of the biggest mistakes I have and will never make again, I tasted the undiluted spirit at about 185 proof, without having removed the heads at the beginning of the process. Not removing the heads makes the alcohol taste like nail polish mixed with gasoline. So once again I dumped it. By batch number five I had made all of the most common errors a young distiller could ever make. This batch was processed, collected, and diluted “semi-properly”. I say “semi” because I didn’t have the correction charts, reliable and accurate gauging equipment, so I diluted based on what I was seeing. It was drinkable, but I wanted more. I wanted better. Starting with batch six, the alcohol got better and better. I applied new techniques I learned from the previous visits and form new articles. One year after I retired, I decided to establish a business, not working for anyone else. After working as a self-sufficient and independent officer for 12 years, it was extremely hard having to work for someone else constantly over my shoulder. On September 2019, Preez Distillery was born and established as the first and only, veteran owned vodka distillery in Largo, Florida. Since then we have developed four different award-winning vodkas and three award winning liqueurs. Some of the services we provide for our clients are private labeled spirits, label design, product priority with a no-cost introduction event, and event venue for either corporate or personal purposes. For our direct consumers we provide free tastings, free tours, opportunity to try spirits in development stage, and personalized labels, i.e. birthday, congratulations, or any other message. What truly sets Preez Distillery apart is our overall concept and vision in uniqueness. We strive to provide a great product at a very competitive price and well below the cost of craft. Every batch is handled and process by hand, not machines. We believe that a “handcrafted” spirit should be handmade from beginning to end, not just mix the ingredients at the beginning and allow the machines to do the rest. In my personal opinion, that is not handcrafted, it is machine made.
We are very proud of everything we have accomplished as a small batch craft distillery but not too proud to know that we can do better. We always look for ways to better our products, better our services, and better who we are without forgetting where we came from. Everything we do, we do it as fun including developing new profiles and flavors. But we do it with only one thing in mind; the people. We don’t just put this and that together and roll with it. We have a well-defined path to create our spirits and we do not deviate from it. If we won’t drink it why would you

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met my business partner, Teresa Logan, in 2017 during my military deployment to Bagram, Air base, Afghanistan. At the time I was in the Army and stationed in Alaska; she was in the Active Air Guard and stationed at McDill Air Force Base, Florida. For what she can recall (I’m not taking the blame on this one), we met the day of her birthday when she decided to go out with her friends to what we called Salsa nights, hosted at the Moral Welfare and Recreation office which was conveniently located a short walk from my sleeping area. Me, being born and raised in Puerto Rico, salsa is in my blood and I had been going to Salsa nights for some time prior to this day. During these nights we all danced with everyone, no matter if you were a pro or not, it was more about releasing the combat stress and having something to laugh and smile rather than something to cry and be depressed about. Then she showed up with her friends in a very special attire, jeans. I believe she was the only military person in civilian clothes. Everyone else was in uniform with our side arms attached to our hips or slung over the shoulder, except Teresa. I eventually asked her onto the dance floor and she accepted. From that point on I became her “personal deployment salsa instructor”. Within my group of friends, we made BBQs, homemade cooking, and everything we could to not lose our heads out there. Then she returned home (FL) early October and I went home (AK) a month later. During that time, we stayed in touch and in December of 2017, she made her visit to Anchorage, AK. The visits continued until my retirement date in April when I made the move to Florida and have been together ever since.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I personally don’t use a lot of social media. However, it is crucial for a business. Teresa have always run our social media and she does phenomenal with it. We started our social media with friends and family. Those closest to you will always support you. It becomes more challenging as you attempt to reach outside of your circle. But our audience is mostly comprised of those who have come visit us at the distillery and have had our products. This makes it very organic because there is a direct correlation between the audience and the business rather than liking a page for its content. To us, this means the universe; this is true loyalty, true appreciation, and we are very humbled by the acceptance of those who follow us on social media, even when we forget to post for extended periods of time.
My advice to other business owners on social media is, relax, be happy, and allow your business to express who you are and what you do. Your social media will grow accordingly to your business values and how well people accept what you have to offer. Remember that social media is exponential, but you must crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. So, give yourself time and focus on your business, time will take care of the rest.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.preezdistillery.com
• Instagram: preezdistillery
• Facebook: preezdistillery
• Linkedin: preezdistillery
• Yelp: preezdistillery