Monte Burrow is one of the cofounders of Blackleaf, an organic vodka. His business partner, Kevin Larkai, met Bertrand Laclie, the owner of Maison Rene Laclie, a fifth-generation cognac company, by chance while on vacation in Cognac, France. They formed a distillation partnership and created Blackleaf Organic Vodka. Burrow, who is a seasoned expert in spirits operations and marketing with over two decades of experience, joined the Blackleaf team and has been pushing the vodka since. Now the vodka is available at liquor stores all over the Atlanta metro area including Citizens Market in Phipps Plaza, Bankhead Seafood, Stockbridge Amphitheatre and the Thompson Hotel in Buckhead. He dropped by rolling out to discuss his organic vodka.
Why vodka over tequila or cognac?
I would say ease into the industry. So vodka doesn’t have to be age. You don’t have to go through a lot of the barrel processing that you deal with. So to understand an opportunity and a way to enter into a market, vodka just made the most sense. Plus, cognac is seasonal. What that means is, when there is not any distillation going on with cognac, the stills are down, this opportunity to do other products in there. So it just made a lot of sense to do a vodka, but trying to do it in a different way, right? So, if you really think about the category, it’s somewhat boring. People have seen the same thing for years and years. I won’t name the brands, but it’s gotten stale, and we wanted to make sure that we did something a little different. So organic vodka, you get a product that is baked with the best ingredients possible using the finest distillation techniques out there.
Why did you choose to go organic?
Organic means that in the actual processing of the natural ingredient, which is ours, is a wheat-based vodka, there’s no pesticides, no fertilizers, none of the chemicals are in the product. So you think about it, better in, better out, and it’s an opportunity to showcase those better ingredients. It’s nothing sexy about being organic usually. So, one of our taglines is making organic sexy, because we have not only a product with better ingredients, but it’s something that you will want to consume. We approach products a lot of times with our eyes first.
How do you feel about celebrity branding and liquor endorsements?
So, the reality for us is the celebrity element of any branding is a gift and a curse. I won’t talk about what’s happening in the news lately with celebrity in the alcohol space, but I’m sure everyone knows absolutely some horror stories out there, right? And again, it doesn’t mean that that’s always the case, but having come from the industry. There’s so many other stories that I know about that may have not even made it to the public. So it’s a gift and a curse when it comes to when it comes to celebrity, I would say collaboration for us again. No pun intended, but it would have to be organic, right? So leaning into opportunities as opportunities present itself, but the lead would be the product. So if we are really trying to showcase the value proposition within our brand, or what makes our brand unique, if there is a group out there, whether it’s influences, micro or the like, it would have to be an organic fit. We’re not chasing them, I would say. But you know, where there’s an organic fit, we’re always open to collaborations. And you know, I think being open to foster those relationships is very important. But we’re not waiting for someone to become the face of the brand. The brand will drive and grow on its own.
