I started as a merchandiser in a distributor with a feather duster and a case cutter, and after moving up that side of the business for 10 years I jumped at the chance help launch Ketel One in the Midwest. I worked for the Nolet family that owns the brand and it was a tremendous run – actually the Italian Stallion on the left of this shot is Rich Nestro, who is a VP of the West Coast and will be in attendance on 11/7 as well…..I learned so much that I wanted to have my own brand some day….. a couple years ago I met a good friend of Baron’s, Patrick Aroff, now my co-owner, and he told me he had this wild idea to patent the word ecstasy for spirits usage – we eventually got approved, raised capital,  and developed a new category of spirits by caffeinating our pomegranate citrus 70 proof enhanced spirit. We are now in 9 states and 3 countries and poised to launch in Arizona this month.

I would like to invite you to the bar to talk spirits, sports, and to generally soiree – you will have the chance to be the first people in the state to taste Ecstasy. I would also like to welcome as my guest Steve Swann, our international broker who has just recently launched New Zealand and returned from there ( he’s the one in the shot with the slicked hair about to go jiffy pop in the Kentucky heat), and Jon Matlick, my West Coast VP for Ecstasy.  In the words of my favorite Rusted Root song – “ I would wanna be, livin in a world of ecstasy with you…..”  Cheers and see you there