CRAFT SPIRITS Magazine’s Kristiane Weeks-Rogers spoke with Matan Edvy, co-founder and president of Verstill, whose background spans distillation, product development and brand innovation across the beverage industry. Drawing on years of experience helping producers translate creative vision into liquid form, Edvy shares how authenticity, entertainment and rapid product development are reshaping the way brands connect with consumers and why proprietary spirits are becoming a defining tool for differentiation.
CSM: How are retailers and hospitality brands using proprietary or private label spirits to make their beverage programs stand out?
Edvy: I think it depends. You can segment the use case into two. One is that movie moment, someone walks into the store and look for a functional beverage. They are buying it because it’s wine and happen to host 50 people tonight. They might buy a $7 bottle of wine or two cases. All they need to know is it’s a Q&T or something from Bordeaux and don’t care about the label. That’s cost-driven, accessibility and shelf.
For the other case, people think we’re in the manufacturing business, but we’re not. We’re in entertainment. Stories matter more than anything else. Somewhere in Japan, they tell the story to a distributor that tells it to a retailer, who tells it to the consumer. I buy the story, the packaging, and the right to tell that story to people in my home.
For retailers, think about the bartender who’s been in the industry for 20 years and can now create something of their own. Or the salesperson who talks to a consumer that just walked in and says, “Hey, these guys make something really good.” That salesperson is probably a whiskey geek like me and can now say “This is a great expression, it’s more like X, you’ll like Y. And by the way, it’s a product I designed”
CSM: I love that point about being in the entertainment business. You’re absolutely right, every conversation I have in this industry mentions the story. That’s the key word. Thinking of it in the entertainment space makes it special. What advantages do you think custom spirits offer in shaping a more distinctive guest experience?
Edvy: It depends on for whom. We work with breweries and wineries, and that’s fairly straightforward because the story is authentic. Anytime you tell a story, it has to be authentic. Otherwise, consumers won’t buy it. In breweries and wineries, it’s easy, “You liked our wine, and we have a great wine. Here’s brandy made from it.” That’s easy storytelling.
For retailers, it depends. You need a component. For example, “We really like maple syrup because we’re an estate in New York.” If we create a series of barrel collaborations between ten maple syrup producers in our region, that’s a great story. It’s fun, and there’s a huge production component. If I hear that and I like maple syrup-finished whiskey, I’ll buy it, and maybe the next week I’ll buy another one, if it’s great and priced right.
For retailers, the product has to fit the consumer use case. When people buy for the story, the product has to tell a good story or the product won’t work. If a retailer sells me a $300 whiskey for that series, I probably won’t buy it. But if it’s a great deal, say, a $42 bottle, I’ll buy the series, five bottles even. Working with trusted brands makes the consumer willing to try. They’ll try, and if it’s great, they’ll buy. But it needs to fit the consumption habit, the use case, be at the right price, and be a great quality liquid.
The same applies to restaurants or hotels. We have a project with a hotel that made gin with geranium herbs from their backyard. Another with a nose-to-tail restaurant that turned scraps into a wonderful red bitter. You need to tell the right story with the right product, and most importantly, know your consumers, otherwise the chain doesn’t work.
CSM: What interesting products to think of, and yes, “scraps” is the proper term. That’s a really special thing. Why do you think stronger, more curated beverages matter right now?
Edvy: I’ll answer in twofold. One, I don’t think they matter right now, they always matter. Any brand has two jobs: create an on-brand consumer experience and make it profitable. It depends on the brand. Why do I go to Prison City Brewery? Because I like the beer, the people, the story, it’s local. There’s a reason I visit them.
Consumers don’t buy food in a restaurant; they buy experience. It happens to be food. I can make the same steak at home. When I buy a luxury item, I buy the right to present it as something that says something about me. It depends on the brand and the consumer experience. That’s what needs to be nailed to offer something meaningful.
Now, the market is more financially stressed. There’s more movement toward making consumers happy and finding creative ways to engage. If I can offer whiskey or gin that my consumers already buy elsewhere, and now it’s mine, that’s powerful.
CSM: What consumer expectations are you seeing evolve these days?
Edvy: I think consumer expectations haven’t changed. People expect brands to fulfill their promises. If your promise is low value, that’s okay, just fulfill it. What’s changed is financial distress and health consciousness. People who bought $150 spirits now may buy a $50 bottle. Those who bought $12 bottles now buy $30 because they buy less. The sweet spot is $30–$60, affordable premium. It’s a way to create enjoyment that competes with other leisure activities.
CSM: That’s interesting because industry news often says consumer expectations are changing. But you’re saying they’ve always been about promise and delivery.
Edvy: Exactly. Consumption habits change, but expectations don’t. People get tired of the same stories and look for new flavors, that’s always been true. The market is becoming more transactional and less loyal. I used to know bartenders, store managers, reps. Today, people walk in and buy something. It’s less relationship-based.
CSM: Do you think that’s a positive direction?
Edvy: It’s a characteristic. It’s not negative or positive, it’s just something we need to think about. Every time we do something long enough, the market changes. It’s the same in every industry, needs and trends change based on similar rules and somewhat the same players. It’s really like sports.
CSM: What strategies would you recommend brands use to test demand for a new product before committing to a full-scale launch?
Edvy: It applies to any business offering, two phases: promise-market fit and product-market fit. Sometimes the market doesn’t know what it needs until you give it to them, so always approach with that in mind. Validate promise-market fit as early as you can, send newsletters, test if people are interested, and take results with a grain of salt. Consumers don’t always know what they need until they have it.
Understand the actual need for the product. Test the promise market fit and then launch at the smallest scale you can. Create a prototype, put it in the hands of a customer advisory board or regular customers. You can still get it wrong, but it lowers risk by at least 50%.
CSM: How does rapid prototyping help reduce that risk while keeping innovation alive?
Edvy: It’s a tool to put a prototype in the hands of consumers as soon as possible, at low cost. With us, even though we mature in weeks and can tweak the flavor profile quickly with our distillation technology, the product creation process may take months. We want to make sure that every time we release a product, we remove the risks early. Development is costly for both sides, and if it doesn’t sell, we all invested resources with nothing to show for.
We spent two years developing small-scale versions of our distillation and maturation technologies, and can now create even two bottles of something, at about 85% of full scale, and flavor match. We can design a bottle, test it with a small group, and understand if our hypothesis was right within weeks. We have about 86 customers, and 85% of the time, they asked for more within weeks from delivery of the first batch because the product sold out. It proves the system works. It’s been a huge investment, but it’s worth it.
CSM: What are your hopes for the next five years of Verstill?
Edvy: You always gain credit for things you’ve done in the dark for years. I went out to start my own distillery 14 years ago. We created Verstill as an idea ten years ago and started funding roughly it six years ago. It’s been a long journey. We’ve just signed with partners in India and Japan and our hope is to be the standard platform for spirit creation, working with great brands that care about quality and great partners who care about creating excellent products for their consumers. This industry is fun and full of passion. I really wish us a fun journey creating awesome products with the right people.