Vacation (marketed as Cabana Boy) was introduced to the industry at the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Convention, Orlando, Florida, April 20, 2017. Happiness ensued.
OUR STORY
Alan Brown, President, Co-Founder and Chief Enjoyment Officer
What do you do for fun? I mix drinks. I've been a bartender, an actor, a software entrepreneur and executive, and I'm now an elected public official. But all the while, I've created cocktails. I've been fascinated with cocktails since I was a boy, when my father, a U.S. diplomat, and my mother hosted parties in Denmark and Australia for local and international dignitaries, and the sounds of fun wafted upstairs to my bedroom with the aromas of liquor and smoke. When I was a freshman at Yale and my friends and I went out to bars, they ordered beer but I had to try Ward Eights, Singapore Slings and Vespers. In the past three decades I've created dozens upon dozens of cocktails. But one hot summer night, not too long ago, I made the Vacation.
I've been to mixologist competitions and watched famous bartenders concoct drinks with shelves full of ingredients. Testing and tasting and adding and adding. Using bottle after bottle of the latest liquors and shrubs and infusions. Those cutting edge confabulations are pretty cool … but aren't they often more like chilled soups or stews than cocktails?
After 30 years, with a bar stocked with over 100 different spirits and mixers, I make up cocktails in my head, without even needing to taste them, following definitive cocktail requirements that are over 200 years old: a liquor, an aromatic, something bitter or tart, a fruit juice, and a sweetener. I know what everything tastes like, and I can imagine how the parts all work together as a whole. I just think it through, figure out ratios and then pour. That's what I did that summer night when I invented the Vacation (though I didn't have a name for it then). And when I was done, I thought I'd made something I had to share with the world.
And I did. One focus group, one test market, one festive event at a time, over three years, until I was sure that I wasn't just a proud bartender. Sure enough, I now know that almost every person who tastes this drink smiles, then beams with delight, then wants more.
I've been living and breathing cocktails for decades, but I never intended to start a company to share one of my inventions with you. Then a Vacation changed my mind. Enjoy!
Michelle Ferrara, Vice-President, Co-Founder, and Chief Marketing Officer
My background is sales and marketing. I've worked for international corporations like the Walt Disney Company, and local companies like regional newspapers. I was the second person to taste the Vacation, and the first person to say “I could drink this all day.” And I like the name Vacation, too. A name that means a day by the water, when all your cares fall away, and you have something delicious in your hand to quench your thirst. You've got to taste it to believe it. The next time you're on a beach – or are dreaming of one – or are hosting a Sunday brunch you want to be proud of, you'll think Pina Colada, or Margarita, or Mimosa or Mojito … and then you'll start your Vacation and that's all you'll want. And then you'll want one more. Cheers!
