Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP#321: From Engineering Dreams to Distillery Reality: The Cultivated Cocktails Story

• Skip Mauney & Leah Howard • Episode 321

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Skip Mauney's conversation with Leah Howard reveals the fascinating evolution of Cultivated Cocktails Distillery from a simple concept to a thriving craft spirits enterprise. What began as an engineer's automated dream has transformed into a hands-on passion project requiring meticulous attention, creativity, and persistence.

Howard's journey from handling administrative duties to becoming CEO showcases the reality of small business ownership – where leadership means being willing to take on any task, from executive decisions to cleaning mop sinks. Through her engaging storytelling, we discover how Cultivated Cocktails expanded beyond spirits production to encompass cocktail mixers, a retail store offering all the tools a mixology enthusiast might need, and eventually a full-service restaurant and bar experience.

The conversation delves into the challenges of the craft spirits industry, particularly the constant need to educate consumers about the differences between mass-produced and craft products. Howard debunks common misconceptions, including the myth about gluten in spirits, while emphasizing their commitment to creating a complete "grain to garnish" experience for visitors. Beyond her professional life, Howard shares glimpses into her personal world as a "Moto Mom" supporting her 11-year-old son's dirt bike racing passion, revealing the delicate balance between entrepreneurship and family life. Discover how legislation, innovation, and community have shaped this Asheville distillery into a must-visit destination for spirits enthusiasts and curious travelers alike.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.

Speaker 2:

Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So today I am very excited to have a very special guest in the studio for the first time with us, and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am to learn all about her and her enterprise, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Leah Howard, who is the CEO and co-owner of Cultivated Cocktails Distillery. Ceo and co-owner of Cultivated Cocktails Distillery.

Speaker 2:

Leah, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you. We're thrilled to have you, like I said, and very excited to learn all about Cultivated Cocktails Distillery. So, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us what you do?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, sure, Well, so as a whole, our company makes spirits. So I started the distillery technically in 2012 with our first product out in 2017. And that grew from just spirits to cocktail mixers we buy from other local and or small and craft places to make that happen and a bar and now a full restaurant. So we've grown over the years, but at our core we are a distillery.

Speaker 2:

Very, very cool. Now how? What's your journey? How did you get started in this business?

Speaker 3:

Well, that's. It's funny. So my husband is an engineer and he and his cousin were. So my husband is an engineer and he and his cousin were. They were all in on this. They were sure that they could just make this automated. They both engineers, you know have a still have the stuff, automate all the things, walk away, sell some spirits. This sounds fun. Let's do this, this and our day jobs. Um, that is also the. The great thing about an engineer is they are incredibly intelligent and they can automate everything. And then the downfall of that is they don't want to automate anything, they want to control everything. So, as it turns out, um, the control system is is actually a person right? And so it was my husband, taylor. And then, you know, over the years we've had a couple of distillers, but we've had a current stiller, real atoms, for five, six, over six years now, and he's been with us. So he's really the, the hands on deck and the person who is like watching all the systems and making the spirits of the way they are every day, and we hand craft those and hand bottle those and the whole nine yards.

Speaker 3:

Um, so I was doing something different, but then this is very hands-on and so I kind of dove in in 2017 to start taking on some of the some of the not so fun admin roles um, you know, paperwork, taxes, et cetera. Um, and then I kind of took us a step further by opening up a distillery in downtown Asheville, so that one was to be for tastings and bottle sales, but also we were hoping for cocktails. And so at that time I had also joined and started to be involved in legislation and changes for North Carolina craft spirits beverage industry as a whole, but, of course, with a focus on craft spirits. So, knowing what I knew was happening in legislation, I kind of took the leap of faith to say I think we're going to be able to do cocktails and distilleries and sell them come this. You know, this bill is going to pass and we're, we're, we're hoping for the best right. Hb 290, I believe, was the bill number at that time. So it was house bill and it that we were trying to get pushed through.

Speaker 3:

So it did pass, and a lot of changes that year to be fair, that was 2019 went through, but one of them was cocktails that we could be serving cocktails as a distillery, as a producer, with our spirits, without going to the ABC store and purchasing them and bringing them back and serving them. We could just, you know, pull them right out of bond and, of course, pay the taxes and then serve the cocktails. So we did that for a little while and that's really where I got like super involved was because I was the only one at that time out of us that had any kind of industry bar, restaurant service whatsoever. So I dove into that and also the store part. We decided if you needed it to make a cocktail, we should have it in in the store, should have it in in the store. So everything from you know shakers to jiggers, to cocktail mixers, shrubs and sugar cubes, and you know everything. You need a glassware. So we have all of that, and then also the spirits and then we're, you know, making these custom cocktails with the stuff.

Speaker 3:

So eventually it was like me and one other person. And then and she's also still with us Kelsey, and she's been with us for over six years as well Her and Will started literally the same January and it's it's been such a journey. We've grown. That was a tiny little place and my role has grown right. So that was a tiny little space and then we grew to a bigger space in 2021. Next door to that, we over doubled our space size and then now we actually have almost triple the space size and a full restaurant and a full bar and the store as well. So my role has definitely grown and changed and I'm hoping to kind of step a little out of the role. To be fair, that's the goal for both of us to get a little bit of a downtime there. But yeah, that's kind of how it started and it's just snowballed. That's kind of how it started and it's just snowballed.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that's awesome, though I mean you're the CEO now, so wow.

Speaker 3:

My husband hired me. I think my my title is secretary or something Right Like admin assistant.

Speaker 3:

Right Right Assistant or something. And I was like I remember coming to him one day and be like this is not an appropriate title, like I'm not, I'm doing so much more than that. Now let's talk about it. And eventually I think I tugged on him enough to get that CEO title. But, to be fair, really, all that means is I get all the things. All that means is I get all the things. Like you know, I will change the trash cans and clean out the mop sinks, or I will run food and take orders, or I will make cocktails and clean the drains, and it doesn't matter. Um, it doesn't matter what it is. If it needs to be done, it can and will fall on my plate. So it's you know. You do what you got to do.

Speaker 2:

That's right and it's you know, any good leader is willing to do the smallest to the largest job, so that's very admirable. And you're the. I don't know if you're a Marvel fan or not, but you're the Pepper Potts of the distillery the Pepper Potts.

Speaker 3:

I love that. I'm a huge Marvel fan, I'm a big comic nerd, so I love that. I will totally take that. That's great.

Speaker 2:

I do have. I do have a hammer.

Speaker 3:

I love it. Yeah, that's a. That's somewhat, I guess, a little better than the Scarlet Witch. I will take pepper pots.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Ceo of Stark Industries. Absolutely Right, yes, what are some myths or misconceptions in the distillery business that you can think of?

Speaker 3:

So I guess some missed things or misconceptions in general, to be fair about the industry are oftentimes the reality of how difficult it is to become a known entity as a craft beverage. Right? So we're in Asheville. Most of Asheville knows who we are. You know you get a little bit outside of Asheville, maybe you have some enthusiasts who are always going to find you and follow you. But the reality is you have to scale up to bring your costs down, and scaling up it's going to cost, obviously also, and to scale up reasonably is going to take time. So we can't necessarily compete with, like, let's say, tito's, and I don't even want to bring their name up. But here's the thing, everybody will. Because you sit down at a's and I don't even want to bring their name up. But here's the thing, everybody will. Because you sit down at a bar and you don't even know that you're, you're not, you're not ordering a vodka and soda.

Speaker 3:

You're literally seeing Tito's and soda and you're like, was that really what you want? Or you just you're saying that that's the repetition. I went, I went to the store for Kleenex. Well, no, I didn't get Kleenex, but I did right. And so it's that education piece, teaching people to look around and ask for something different. What do you have that's different? What else can I try? What's new today? What's new on the shelf? What is craft? That is a really hard piece You're constantly educating people on. You know in general what it looks like to to sit to like sip on an actual craft spirit, is it? You know? The one that we get all the time is you know I well, I can't have whiskey because I'm gluten free. Or? Or you know certain products are marketing themselves. They don't any longer, they're not allowed to market themselves as gluten-free and they cost more. But once you've gone through the distillation process, it is gluten-free, unless there's something added back in that isn't. Every spirit is gluten-free.

Speaker 2:

It's gluten-free.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and I am gluten-free, so this is a big thing for me. But you know, it's just, it's education. You're constantly educating the people that you're trying to sell to right and and making sure that your product is, a something that they're going to want to drink, but b something that you can be proud of, which doesn't always mesh perfectly. Right, we don't necessarily want to make overly sweet everything, or you know that's not our forte. We don't necessarily want to make overly sweet everything, or you know that's not our forte. We don't make flavored moonshines, but people out there really love that and they really want that. Totally fine, just not our thing. So then you know, then you get people who are like, well, it's a distillery, you don't make moonshine. We're like, well, no, not every distillery makes it. It's just education and it's fun, or we wouldn't do it, and it's usually very well received no-transcript.

Speaker 2:

Couldn't agree more. It is a slow process but effective. So outside of work, if there is time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3:

I love that you preface with if there is. You know there really isn't, but we have an 11 year old son and he is a dirt bike rider. He does that for competitions, hair scrambles, and so we are at a track or on the way to a track or cleaning up after getting back from a track, pretty much if we're not at work.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's fun right.

Speaker 3:

It is fun. It's a lot of fun. You know that is a. It's a space where kids can really be kids. It's comp, it's competitive. But they're just saying, like Moto mom, if you, if you know, you know, and that's real, like you know, it doesn't matter whose kid just went down in front of you, you're helping them, you're on the track.

Speaker 3:

You're getting them up and I love that community and camaraderie in that sport. So I that was not where I thought I would be. I'm a soccer mom with a van, but now I'm a moto mom with a sprinter. That's fine, I love it. I love it and I love that he chose that. But yeah, that's pretty much our spare time.

Speaker 2:

I imagine that could be a little stressful for you too. Maybe just it can be.

Speaker 3:

It can be a little stressful. Um, I fortunately cannot see him for like the majority of the race because he's like on the track and then goes out in the woods like four miles, so I can't always see everything he does and he's also super, super cautious, so I got lucky that I just have a cautious kid. But yeah, it can. There could be some. There can be some later in the day, you know. Cocktails necessary, cocktails necessary. That's what I was going to say. Go on the nerves?

Speaker 2:

Definitely, definitely. Well, leah, if you could think of one thing that you'd like our listeners to remember about Cultivated Cocktails Distillery what would that be?

Speaker 3:

I think the biggest thing to remember about us is that we are really striving to create an experience for all of our visitors. So if you're anywhere in the area and you want the experience of a distillery from grain to garnish, then we would love to be that for you, and we do our best to make sure that we have the best customer service, the best spirits and and hopefully you know, you remember that and you return. But I think that's the biggest thing.

Speaker 2:

Good thing to remember, for sure. And for those of us who've not had the opportunity to visit the distillery and are very interested in coming and hanging out and checking out your spirits and the food and everything, how can we do that? How can we learn more?

Speaker 3:

So we have, we have a website, cultivated cocktails dot com. And then we have our Instagram and Facebook pages are also cultivated cocktailscktailscom. And then we have our instagram and facebook pages are also cultivated cocktails distillery. Um, we even have a tiktok. That's new. Uh, I'm trying to make I think we have two posts, but, uh, we're working on that. So the tiktok, and then, um, we do. You know, we, we're right off the interstates. If you're traveling, you're coming down. We are right off the interstates. If you're traveling, you're coming down. 40. We're right off the interstate. A lot of people avoided us because we got the brunt end of the hurricane last year in our area, but it is much better.

Speaker 3:

So, putting that out there, you can totally get to all of us and everything around us and it is, you know, it is up and running and we welcome the visitors. So right off of 40 there, easy access. I'm not saying the exact exit because I don't recall.

Speaker 2:

I was going to ask actually.

Speaker 3:

It's maybe 52, I think, but it's the XO that you're going to go out towards. You could go to Chimney Rock that way. Technically, you're going towards Fairview that way, bat.

Speaker 2:

Cave.

Speaker 3:

Bat Cave right.

Speaker 2:

That's either 53A or B, I think, if I'm not mistaken. So it's one of those'm not mistaken, one of those.

Speaker 3:

One of those. It's the one that swings you towards the Batcave side. You would keep going whichever one that is to get to Batcave, but that's not necessarily close to us, but same exit. We're right off the interstate, super easy to get to Big parking lot. We've got access for everybody. We love to have visitors.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, awesome. So thank you so much for spending time with our listeners and viewers and telling us all about Cultivated Cocktails and about you and your journey, and we wish you and your family and your safety for your son and fun, and but wish you all the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and maybe we can have you back on the show again sometime. Sure, all right, sounds good, we'll talk soon.

Speaker 3:

Okay, thanks.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP, try dash citiescom. That's GNP, try dash citiescom. Or call 4, 2, 3, 7, 1, 9, 5, 8, 7, 3. 5873.