We recently connected with Jason Hevelone and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

We originally wanted to name our company after a Roman or Greek Goddess because we loved classical art depictions of females. Unfortunately, all the good Goddess names were already trademarked. So then we decided to combine two words in a unique way, and that was how we came up with CopperMuse. We chose Copper because stills are typically made out of copper and Muse because we want our distilling works to bring us and our customers inspiration. Additionally, CopperMuse wasn’t already trademarked and little things like the URL was available. The name is easy to say and spell over the phone, which sealed the deal.

Jason, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

It all started when two engineering freshmen met in the fall of 1988 at Colorado State University. Not only did Jason and Heather fall in love, they also developed a fondness for the excellent local beer and homebrews. They completed their degrees in 1992, married in 1993, pursued engineering careers, and eventually started a family. After a couple of decades of corporate life, Jason started getting the itch to create something different and unique. Love of local beer and passion for wine eventually led Jason to try distilled spirits. A fateful gin and tonic made from a Colorado craft gin captured Jason’s interest and sparked the idea to open his own craft distillery in Fort Collins – hence CopperMuse was born! Distilling is a perfect way to marry the skills of a homebrewer with the artistic expression of a winemaker. It took almost two years to make the distillery a reality. We opened our doors for business in April 2014 and have never looked back.

CopperMuse is dedicated to producing high-quality, craft spirits with all-natural ingredients. Our Vertueux and Vicieux Vodkas were our first products, followed by our Rums, Infusions, Liqueurs, Whiskeys, Gin and Agave spirits. Along the way we have employed many passionate people including outstanding students from CSU’s Fermentation Science Program. Heather also works full time at the distillery focusing on marketing, resource and staff management, as well as creating the large variety of infusions and liqueurs used exclusively in our 60+ craft cocktails at CopperMuse’s restaurant / tasting room.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Like many emerging entrepreneurs, I was a bit naïve thinking that I could get a sizeable business loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA) or a local bank as long as I prepared and presented a good business plan. But these organizations are very risk adverse and know that many small businesses fail within 5 years. My wife and I were fortunate to have put aside some money during the two decades of our engineering careers. The snag was that almost all of our savings was in retirement accounts, which have steep penalties if you withdraw the funds before retirement age. Then I happened across a news article about a creative way your fund small businesses, Rollovers for Business Start-ups (ROBS). The ROBS arrangement allows you tap into your retirement savings without early withdraw or tax penalties. The downside is that your retirement savings are now tied to the success (or failure) of your new business adventure. We also received a loan through a family member to help us bridge the time when we were still operating in the red before profitability.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

We do have multiple streams of income. Our primary income comes from our distillery restaurant / tasting room. The ability to sell our spirits as cocktails and create a unique customer experience has been a tremendous part of our acceptance and success in Fort Collins. We decided early on to invest in a kitchen instead of relying on food trucks so that we can control the quality of the food and better pair them with our libations. We supplement our income through paid VIP Tours, bartending classes, take-home cocktails and branded merchandise. We also sell our products wholesale through distributors and directly to restaurants, bars and liquor stores in the states of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Michigan. During the worst of the pandemic, the ability to sell take-home cocktails and continue selling our products to liquor stores was vital to keeping our business alive. We are actually in the process of expanding and are considering several ideas on how utilize our retail location more hours of the day and take advantage of our consumer’s increasing preference for food delivery.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coppermuse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoppermuse
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecoppermuse
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecoppermuse
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/coppermuse-distillery-fort-collins-2
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Damon Searles Photography Transverse Image