A toast to entrepreneurs expanding vodka brand

BLACKLEAF ORGANIC VODKA

Kevin Larkai and Monté Burrow are founders of Blackleaf Organic Vodka, which is now available in North Carolina.

Kevin Larkai and Monté Burrow want to inspire future entrepreneurs.

Larkai and Burrow have been work partners since 2019 as owners of Blackleaf Organic Vodka. Their goal is to create something authentic and genuine, while showing people who look like them that they, too, can succeed as entrepreneurs. Blackleaf sales recently expanded into North Carolina via special order through Alcohol Beverage Control stores.

“If you think about the spirits business [Black] representation, from an ownership standpoint, is, I’m not going to say non-existent, but it’s pretty close to non-existent,” Larkai said. “What we're doing, we’re realizing that we have the opportunity to inspire a lot of people, to show people that if we can do it, they can do it as well. As we grow and hit new heights and roll out into new markets, it’s really showing people that, ‘hey, they look like me, and I could do this as well.’ So, we’re breaking barriers, and our whole thing is, as we do that, we want to keep those barriers broken.”

Blackleaf’s origins started a handful of years before Larkai and Burrow met. Larkai was vacationing in Cognac, France, and through chance met Betrand Laclie, the owner of a fifth-generation cognac house. Through a partnership with Laclie, Blackleaf Organic was created.

“[Laclie] was bringing out all types of different cognacs to try and what was clear was he was a master craftsman,” Larkai said. “So that’s when the light bulb moment went off. This is an opportunity to create something with someone who’s really talented at the art of crafting spirits, so I wanted to do something. I always say we’re kind of pioneers in believing in organic and sustainable. But what was interesting is the brands that were out, their expression of organic was to put a brown paper label on it and that just wasn’t enough. We wanted something that was still sexy, something that was sleek and sophisticated.”

Burrow, prior to teaming up with Larkai, was an operations and marketing leader for Diageo Brands, an umbrella company that has several companies in its portfolio, including Captain Morgan, Johnnie Walker and Tanqueray. It wasn’t until a colleague brought Blackleaf to Burrow’s attention that the relationship between Larkai and Burrow was forged.

“I still don't remember who exactly connected us,” Burrow said. “But it was a friend, a colleague, who said, ‘Hey, I know this guy who has this product and doesn't really know anything about the business. Would you be willing to connect with him?” It was that ‘OK, here we go again,’ feeling. I’ve seen so many brands like this come across my plate and to see it, it doesn't take all day to recognize sunshine. As soon as I saw it, I knew [Blackleaf] was something special.”

After a few years had passed, Burrow, an entrepreneur himself, wanted to get back into entrepreneurship and called Larkai to inform him he was leaving Diageo.

“I just gave him a call and said, ‘Hey, look, I'm about to leave and I’m really interested in doing something in the entrepreneur space at some point,’” Burrow said. ‘“And with me having spent so much time in the alcohol industry, I know it’s going to be in that space. We should collaborate and see about doing something, maybe building some brands together.’

“And that conversation turned into a partnership which turned into a business. And lo and behold, we had Blackleaf kind of still sitting on the shelf that he tested the waters a bit, but not into any great detail or to any great extent. We were like, ‘Why don't we use Blackleaf as this proof of concept that we can really build something great?’ And so it began.”

Blackleaf has since earned the platinum medal at the New York Spirits Competition. The brand won double gold in Singapore, San Francisco and New York Wine & Spirits competitions and ReserveBar’s Spirited Change Initiative Award for sustainability and innovation as well. Larkai and Burrow want to continue to inspire others through their success.

“In the short period that we've given this a full-time attention, I think it’s clear that we have a top tier brand,” Larkai said. “When you think about the awards that we’ve won, we’ve definitely knocked it out of the park in that sense. So now, what we want to do is create a business and a brand that matches that. Right now, Monte and I, we’re constantly engaged with up-and-coming folks in the space and giving them knowledge, helping where we can. So, it’s really the idea of inspiring and then also helping as we grow.”

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