We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joey Mintz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The idea for Siponey Spritz Co. started in 2019. My wife and business partner, Amanda Victoria, had led the successful launch and management of multiple spirits brands and I didn’t understand why she didn’t have a stake in a brand of her own. I kept bugging her to do something, a whiskey, or some kind of bottled spirit. I had no idea of the arduous three-tier distribution system or how difficult it is to start a liquor brand in America. While she was 6 months pregnant bobbing in a neighbor’s pool, my mother had bought some RTD canned cocktails over. She didn’t drink it, but just from the smell of it she knew it was poorly made and that we could do better. Three months later our daughter was born. Three months after that, we did our first run of Siponey Royale, on Valentine’s Day, February 2020.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In one word Siponey Spritz Co. stands out because of our ingredients. I like to think of the company in terms of what we put inside of the can, as well as our mission outside of the can. Inside of the can we are using the very best ingredients around. Outside of the can, we are redirecting funds back to the planet in crisis.

We source our ingredients predominantly from New York State and are especially mindful to purveyors that take a localized approach. For example, we were the first to put an aged spirit inside of a can – an aged rye whiskey – intended as the backbone of our flavor. Our flagship cocktail, a whiskey spritz in a can that we named Siponey Royale, is made of only a few ingredients – aged rye whiskey, real lemon juice, a touch of New York State-local wildflower honey, and sparkling water. Because we use so few ingredients, we go through an extensive sourcing of each for flavor and quality which really is showcased in the delicious and refreshing aroma and taste.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Starting a new business in the highly competitive world of wine & spirits is not for the faint of heart. Just getting through the legal and compliance stage can be a nightmare. It took my partner and I months to find the right co-packer and the best liquid to put in a can for a test run. We did our test production run in Northern California in mid-February of 2020. We had the pallet of Siponey Royale shipped back east to NY where we reside and it arrived the first week of March 2020. 2 weeks later the country went into lock down and we were shuttered in NYC.

Amanda and I were now at a crossroads. Should we forge ahead in this uncertain and scary new world or accept that launching a new brand with a 3-month-old baby in a pandemic was simply too much? We had long nights discussing what we should do. Finally we decided to double-down and do a full production run without outside investment and zero guarantee of success. We produced about 2,000 cases in that first run and sold widely enough that we attracted outside investors right when we were again at our limit for going forward alone. Every time we hit a breaking point, we have doubled-down on Siponey Spritz Co.

Today we are in Whole Foods stores across the country, Walt Disney World, GoPuff, FreshDirect, Lincoln Center, and many more retailers nationwide. We distributed by one of the largest distributors in the country. The future is bright for Siponey Spritz Co., but if we do run into a wall again, doubling-down will be the only option.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Our flagship cocktail, Siponey Royale, is made with all real ingredients and many co-packers / cocktail brands prefer to use artificial or natural flavors. It is easier to control, however, we knew that we wanted to make something better for our customers. Finding a co-packer / manufacturer of alcohol is a tedious process. They don’t promote themselves, they often have MOQs (minimum order quantities), and they don’t always have everything that’s needed to properly batch our cocktails. I have spent countless hours researching, talking to anybody and everybody, and making phone call after phone call across the country during the pandemic to manage our supply chain.

I have learned that manufacturing a product is not for faint of heart. There are millions of things that can go wrong shipping ingredients and packaging to a location in a very specific time frame and format. I continue to improve my checklist when we go into production, and thankfully, every time it does get a bit easier. I don’t think I will ever not have stress while producing because there are always going to be last minute problems that we have to be troubleshot. But it is a huge thrill watching our cans come down the line and knowing that they will soon be in people’s hands.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.siponey.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siponeyspritzco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Siponey
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-mintz/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/siponeyspritzco
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/DuGJpxJyKPk
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/siponey/