Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Catherine Wood.
Hi Mary Catherine, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Hello from MC! I am an entrepreneur, born and raised in Athens, GA. I found myself in Atlanta after graduating UGA to get a specialization in graphic design. There I met my future husband, Ryan Wood and we began our journey freelance designing and ultimately founding our design agency, The House of Wood and Wood (@thehouseofwoodandwood).
While I loved the life of graphics, I eventually found I needed to pursue something out from behind a computer screen. I started dabbling in kombucha, homemade herbal and fruit sodas, and craft cocktails which led me to pursue bartending. Not just any bartending, not just pouring vodka sodas. I wanted to learn technique, history, hospitality from the woman leading the Atlanta cocktail scene, Kellie Thorne. Her educational approach to bartending taught me a lot about spirits, the industry and myself. All the while, Ryan and I were tinkering various business concepts that would become Oldknow Bev Co.
In early 2020, Ryan and I moved to the North Georgia Mountains to start our small distillery. Here we are today – loving mountain life and pedaling seltzers we believe in!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s been a bumpy, wild ride with a beautiful view! We’ve learned to take the bumps in the road as a sign to keep going and try harder. It’s all a game in problem-solving, learning to do things you don’t know how to do, and staying the course. We’ve had to teach ourselves a lot about this industry and we are definitely still learning and optimizing as we go.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Oldknow Bev Co?
Oldknow Bev Co started several years ago when Ryan and I started making herbal cocktails and sodas for friends and family out of our home in Cabbagetown, ATL. After testing the concept with our draft tricycle bar cart, we knew we wanted to reach more people. At the same time, we saw the seltzer trend begin its boom. At that time, the only seltzers available were made from malt or sugar liquor and heavily flavored with fake tasting flavoring. We knew we could do better. We took my cocktail and bartending experience and fuzed it with the light, easy drinking aspect of seltzers. Thus was born Oldknow Bev Co as we know it today. Cocktail flavor profiles in a seltzer format, made with real botanicals.
Because water is such an important part of a seltzer, we didn’t want to just use any old water. We packed our bags and left our home of 8 years in Cabbagetown and moved to the North Georgia mountains to open our distillery. At the foothills of the blue ridge mountains, surrounded by national forest, the water flows into our valley fresh and clean.
That beautiful virgin mountain water gets paired with real spirits and botanicals to make the lightest, cleanest seltzers on the market. We believe in a healthier way of drinking, one that yields a tomorrow that is just as great as today.
Our Botanico Gin Seltzer uses cucumber distilled gin paired with mountain mint we grow on property for a lightly herbal seltzer. Our Botanico Vodka Seltzer is infused with oolong tea leaf with hints of grapefruit and lychee for a lightly tropical and floral seltzer. Our Obscura Verte Absinthe Seltzer is certainly the most unique, as we are the only absinthe in a can! We keep it simple on this one – mountain water and absinthe – to offer a new and approachable way for people to try this flavorful herbal spirit at 5% abv.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
You can find Oldknow Bev Co at restaurants, bars, and liquor stores throughout Georgia. Tag us @OldknowBevCo when you try it to let us know what you think! See a list of our current locations at OldknowBevCo.com/locations.
Don’t see it at your favorite location? Ask them to pick it up or reach out to me directly at OK@oldknowbevco.com!
Pricing:
- Oldknow Obscura: Absinthe $18.99 4pk, $4.99 singles
- Oldknow Botanico: Gin or Vodka $11.99 4pk, $3.99 singles
Contact Info:
- Website: OldknowBevCo.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/oldknowbevco
- Facebook: facebook.com/oldknowbevco
Image Credits
All People and Can Shots: Zach Barron @zachbarron.co Three Can Product Shot: Jose Pereiro @thecocktailshaker_
