Ever dream of the perfect cocktail?
The 86 Co. has created the mixable building blocks to get you there. Founded in 2012 by a group of ex-bartenders disillusioned with the spirits industry, the Austin-based company is out to reinvent behind-the-bar staples like gin, tequila, vodka, and rum. With whimsical names like Aylesbury Duck Vodka and Tequila Cabeza, founders Malte Barnekow and Jason Kosmas see their spirits as the “new classics” in the cocktail scene.
These spirits are meticulously designed to put the power back into the hands of the bartender, who Barnekow and Kosmas see as the essential gatekeeper of the cocktail experience. Everything from the ergonomically crafted bottle to the unique flavor profiles of the spirits went through rigorous testing by countless bartenders. The resulting spirits are not meant to stand alone, instead, they’re meant to play off of other ingredients to craft the perfect mixed drink. They’re made in small batches, too.
We sat down with WeWork Congress members Barnekow and Kosmas to discuss their vision, the distilling process, and their hands-down favorite cocktails. Check out the slideshow for step-by-step recipes to create the ultimate cocktail with each of the four spirits.
WeWork: Where did the idea for The 86 Company come from?
Kosmas: The point of it was just the culmination of all of our frustrations for having to work in the spirits industry. You can’t get a product that speaks to you as a professional. So many brands are catering to the consumer. We once worked with a brand where the bottle design came back after all the work we had done, and it was a rectangle: cube, glass, and wide, and horrible. We were like, “How do you even put a pour spout in this?” And they said, “We think pour spouts are tacky.” You can’t even put it in the well, to use as a bartender, and they said, “Yeah, you’ll have to put it on the back bar. Isn’t it great?” They just keep missing the mark.
Barnekow: What they do is that someone has a great idea, and then it goes through several departments and middle managers. And when it comes out the other end, it’s so watered down.
Kosmas: We wanted to create a utilitarian product, an actual tool for bartenders, and we wanted to create the premium well to create a cocktail. So we went out and we tried to find master distillers around the world that we wanted to collaborate with. We wanted to find the best people in the world who had expertise with making great spirits, and combine this with our knowledge of what makes a great drink. It was all about making a product that bartenders not only identified with, but were inspired by.
WeWork: How did WeWork help?
Barnekow: After I received my MBA and went back to my middle management job at a spirits company, I basically had no use for my degree. Through my studies, I got into entrepreneurship, and it gave me the confidence to jump ship. For the first two years, it was basically just me. And that’s how I ran into WeWork. I had an apartment really close to one of the buildings and saw a huge sign that said $250 a month for office space. I couldn’t sit at home in my apartment anymore, so I sat here in WeWork.
Kosmas: In the beginning, we did quite a bit of our own R&D for the bottle design. We learned about bartender injuries like carpal tunnel. We would meet tons of bartenders, ask what they wanted, and took all of the ideas and started building them together. We actually met our bottle designer at WeWork.
WeWork: Tell us more about the bottle design process.
Kosmas: We had eight bottle ideas, got it down to two, then tried to fine-tune it from there. We’d take the samples, put them behind the bar, and fill them with something that got used pretty frequently, like simple syrup. And we would just beat the crap out of these bottles. Then we would pass them out to bartenders to get insight. Each element was so important. The amount of glass, the weight, the structural integrity, the measuring scale on the side—it can be repurposed for simple syrups. It’s a tool, and it’s a measuring device.
Barnekow: Everything has to speak the language. The liquid, and the label, and the cap, every step of the way, was a very open-ended question to the bartender community: “If you could have anything, what would it be?” We were very much trying to solve the problems the bartenders had.
WeWork: What about the spirits themselves?
Kosmas: We analyzed every step of the process, from sourcing, to how they’re fermented, to how they’re distilled, to how they’re aged. We did it with a pure vision of doing the right thing, and we ended up with spirits that are truly quintessential. We started out thinking we’d be in the craft game, but we’re not. We’ve created new classics. We’re tried and true.
Barnekow: For us, it’s never been about slapping a label on it and calling it a day.
WeWork: Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Barnekow: It’s very much about confidence. A lot of people come to me with ideas, asking what I think, and I respond by saying that’s completely irrelevant. What’s important is that you think it’s a great idea, and that you’re passionate about it. This is a direct function of how much blood, sweat, and tears you put into it. There are great ideas that have never worked, like TiVo, and there are terrible ideas that work great, like Twitter. It’s all about how you put your idea to work.
Kosmas: At the onset, you have to believe in something. And that something can’t just be income.
WeWork: What’s your favorite drink?
Kosmas: For me, it’s the daiquiri. I have an absolute love affair with our rum. There’s something about the daiquiri that’s so pure and simple, and there’s a beauty to how good the drink can be when there are only three ingredients. It was one of the first cocktails to really transport you somewhere else. When you drink it, you just dream of being somewhere wonderful.
Barnekow: It depends on the occasion, but having said that, I’m gonna say the Negroni. It’s similar to the daiquiri; it’s a perfect relationship between three ingredients that really shouldn’t go together. It’s like how cantaloupe and prosciutto work really well together. It’s just one of those marriages that work really well for some mystical reason. Gin, campari, vermouth: for some reason, the equal parts just marry beautifully together.
Photo credit: The 86 Co.