A Conversation With Matt & Charles, The Founders Of Crafthouse Cocktails
Hi! My name is Jen, welcome to the first Crafthouse Cocktails blog post. I only started working for Crafthouse a few months ago. We are a very small company – four of us in Colorado, two in Chicago and one in Michigan. We’ve actually only been together in person once and that was the first time I met Charles. But being from Chicago, I have been drinking Crafthouse Cocktails for years. The Moscow Mule was always my go-to drink but now I can’t get enough of the Pineapple Daiquiri – it’s literally the best cocktail I have EVER tasted. If you haven’t tried it, please do and let me know what you think.
Like Matt, I now live in Colorado and I am thrilled to see Crafthouse expand across the country. Back in the day, I was a producer for sixteen years on The Oprah Winfrey Show. An integral part of my job was interviewing perspective guests, hearing their story and then sharing it (through Oprah) with the world. Therefore, I love asking questions and getting to know people and their story. As we were discussing launching this blog on our new website, I knew it was my chance to ask Matt and Charles the questions we never have time to discuss. So here goes…14 questions with the founders of Crafthouse -- Matt & Charles (it was supposed to be 10 questions but I couldn’t stop, they had such good things to say) – enjoy!
GOING BACK TO THE BEGINNING, HOW DID YOU TWO MEET?
ML: I believe it was in the year 2000 (crazy that it was 20 years ago) that Charles was working at the nightclub institution called Crobar and we had recently opened a dirty little neighborhood club called Big Wig. He came over as a barback. I try to remind him of that as often as possible.
CJ: I don’t recall how I ended up at Big Wig, but I was in the industry for a couple years at that point as a barback while playing music in local punk bands. Big Wig would end up being my first transition to bartending and eventually my first management gig. The early days were some magic moments, as that venue was a true haven for some amazing music.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE/BEST MEMORY OF THE 90’S NIGHTLIFE?
CJ: It was a very cool era in Chicago in particular. Many of the hottest neighborhoods now were honest, blue collar and wonderfully gritty. Those were the neighborhoods we had bars in and the ones I haunted on my nights off.
ML: Thankfully, I have a really bad memory, probably in no small part due to some of my favorite memories of the 90’s Nightlife. I will say I spent many nights laughing away with Charles and the whole team at our restaurant group. The holiday parties were always memorable as well as hanging out with certain celebrities. That was 20 years ago, I still resembled someone young, it was pretty much all great.
WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF BEING IN THE NIGHTLIFE INDUSTRY?
ML: See above 😊. The hours are tough. You have to be “on” all the time because you are on stage. It is not an easy business but everyone from the outside sees the glamorous side and not the Monday nights when you are trying to sell enough food and booze to make payroll!
CJ: It’s a lifestyle job. You’re either all in or you’re not going to make it. That comes with sacrifices in terms of relationships, figuring out work-life balance and taking care of yourself for the long run.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO TRANSITION FROM NIGHTLIFE TO THE RETAIL BEVERAGE INDUSTRY?
CJ: I don’t think it was an active/intentional transition. Crafthouse was born out of seeing a need from our guests and having the skillset to fulfill that. That is really what you do when you operate a brick and mortar venue. In many ways, we just brought the party to them instead of them coming to us.
ML: For me it was time. I had a family and to fully commit to both the restaurants and to my wife and kids was becoming increasingly difficult. We also had some struggles with business after 2008 that we never fully recovered from. I think working in nightlife is like being a dog. For every one year in the business it ages you at least 3. So I am around 103 in bar years.
THE ORIGINAL CRAFTHOUSE LINE-UP CONSISTED OF SOUTHSIDE, MOSCOW MULE, PALOMA & GOLD RUSH, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE/ FOCUS ON THOSE COCKTAILS.
ML: The Moscow Mule was easy. We saw people started ordering them at The Drawing Room like crazy. We were the very first to ever bottle/can/ prebatch a Moscow mule. Actually, we were the first to bottle any classics and sell at a reasonable price using the same methods as behind the bar and doing it all-natural. That is something I am very proud of. The Paloma was a favorite of both Charles and mine and we thought the margarita had been run through the mud as far as bottled cocktails went, so we wanted something different. The Southside was a super smooth gin cocktail and paid homage to Chicago. We didn’t think we could do a classic line of cocktails without one being gin. Finally, the Gold Rush was a delicious bourbon cocktail that was friendly enough to appeal to whiskey and non-whiskey drinkers. I had nothing to do with both those cocktails. That was all Charles but I did think they were perfect.
CJ: First and foremost, they’re cocktails that we love to drink and have served 1,000s of in the bar. You’ve really got a near complete cocktail menu with that line, with a range of different base spirits. There’s something for every palate.
WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN COVERTING YOUR FAVORITE RECIPES THAT YOU MADE AND SERVED EVERY NIGHT, INTO LARGE BATCHES WHILE KEEPING THE SAME QUALITY AND FLAVOR PROFILE?
CJ: There’s no one thing- took nearly 2 years of r&d to get to launch and there wasn’t a playbook for this caliber of cocktail. We had to figure out nearly everything from scratch.
That said, the actual recipes weren’t that difficult to develop since we use the same ingredients that I use behind the bar. The toughest part may have been explaining to bottlers that we weren’t interested in cutting corners or making compromises in production. Everyone had some preservative, less expensive ingredient etc to “fix” our cocktails…we politely declined many times before finding folks that shared our vision.
ML: That is it right there. Going in we assumed we would just multiply every ingredient by 100! In reality that is not the case. We worked with several food scientists to figure out a way we could keep the integrity and use the same ingredients and bring to scale.
HOW MANY ROUNDS OF TASTINGS DO YOU GO THROUGH BEFORE YOU APPROVE THE FINAL RECIPE?
CJ: Again, since the recipes are based exactly on the way I make these drinks for guests, it doesn’t take too long to get there. Sourcing the ingredients takes a bit of time and tasting, but that can be fun. We’ve met a lot of people from different facets of the industry over the past 20+ years and have enjoyed being able to partner with some fantastic pros.
ML: Each one varied. Some were close right off the bat and some Charles would have to taste through dozens + of samples. The mint on the Southside was particularly difficult and to find a spirit partner that had a profile that worked for us was also challenging. I think we understand the process pretty well now so it gets easier as we go.
SPIKED SELTZERS ARE TRENDING RIGHT NOW, HOW DOES A CRAFTHOUSE COCKTAIL COMPARE?
CJ: I’ll let Matt take this one :)
ML: I’m sorry, never heard of them (JK). We are similar ONLY in the fact that we are in the ready-to-drink category. That’s about where it ends. I think there are plenty of occasions where a spiked seltzer will fit the need. I truly (no pun intended) believe that there are as many or more occasions where a true cocktail -- made with premium spirits and all natural ingredients-- is what people desire.
WHO HAS THE MORE REFINED PALATE?
ML: Not even close… Charles has the best palate I know and can bartend circles around me. I have a week sense of smell and taste but I have other nice qualities.
CJ: See #8
YOU RECENTLY RE-BRANDED CRAFTHOUSE, WHY?
CJ: We learned a lot in the first 5 years of bottling cocktails. Like anything, you grow, evolve and learn about your identity. The new packaging really reflects our personalities and the personality of Crafthouse.
ML: It was time. Our old packaging was great but as we continued to understand the market and our brand, we felt there was some messaging we wanted to get out through the bottle that could have been better. We couldn’t be happier with how the new bottles turned out.
WHERE DOES CRAFTHOUSE FIT INTO A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD?
ML: Hopefully all the same places we saw it fit into before this horrible virus and then some. Unfortunately, I don’t think we are going to see our world back to pre-virus behavior for quite some time. People are going to be more careful in where, what and how they eat and drink. You might start seeing having a sealed bottle solution for cocktails at bars and restaurants. I really want to see all my industry friends get back to work as soon as possible but the reality might not allow for that.
MATT, YOU ARE MARRIED WITH KIDS AND LIVE IN THE SUBURBS OF DENVER. CHARLES, YOU ARE NOT MARRIED, YOUR BABY IS YOUR RESCUE DOG JACKSON AND WHILE YOU LIVE IN CHICAGO, YOU SPEND A LOT OF TIME TRAVELING THE WORLD. SO TO SAY YOU TWO ARE OPPOSITE, IS PRETTY ACCURATE – WHAT MAKES YOUR PARTNERSHIP WORK?
CJ: I don’t think we’re all that different, despite the different paths we’ve taken in our home life. We both love hospitality and are very driven. If anything, Matt is big-picture, conceptual creative. He always has a million ideas. While I’m very sensorially and detail focused- I’m very interested in the experience. The two styles compliment one another.
ML: I actually don’t think we are as opposite as you might think. We both like to laugh and make others around us laugh. Our core values are the same and we are both sincere, authentic and kind people. I think we really brought our personal characteristics into our brand. That said there are a LOTS of ways we are totally different. It works though. I think we respect each other for our similarities and our differences. Don’t tell Charles but he is really really smart.
WHO ARE YOUR SIX DREAM GUESTS (ALIVE OR DEAD) YOU WOULD INVITE TO A COCKTAIL PARTY?
CJ: Since we’re suspending some belief here, I also get to pick the time period and location we all meet in….My grandparents when they were in their 20s/30s, because I think they would have been a fun crew to hang with, I would love to have seen them in their heyday. We can have our first cocktails at La Floridita in Havana in the 1930s, Constantino, the Godfather of Cuban bartending, would be working the bar. Billie Holiday would want to have a drink and probably feel like a song. Naturally, Miles Davis would join in. And Bukowski, mostly sober, could keep us entertained.
ML: I’m not one that gets too caught up in celebrities so I would look to those who really seem like interesting and fun people. You never know what people are like in real life but I can’t imagine any of these people are jerks.
Steve Carrell
Bono
Justin Timberlake
Kirsten Bell
Larry David
Javy Baez (Cubs shortstop)
WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR CRAFTHOUSE?
ML: I want the name Crafthouse to mean something more than just amazing cocktails. I want people to trust that if we put out a product beyond a cocktail it is going to be of the highest quality and something they can be proud of. I want people to look to us to see what is next; knowing that we understand the trends and what people enjoy in life. I don’t want people to think of us a bottled cocktail product I want them to think of us as a brand that represents them.
CJ: My vision has always been for a well made, quality ingredient cocktail to the expectation, not the exception. Crafthouse Cocktails fills this needs anytime you aren't able to build a cocktail from scratch. From events, to venues that don't offer fresh ingredient cocktails, to entertaining--I hope Crafthouse becomes the go-to.