Taking Grove & Grain to the Market

At some point, you have to stop building a brand behind the scenes and take it out into the world.

For us, that meant local markets.

But before we could start pouring samples, sharing our spirits, and introducing people to Grove & Grain, we needed somewhere to do it.

And naturally, we decided to build it ourselves.

Built in the Garage

Instead of ordering a standard vendor setup, we started with sheets of plywood in our garage and an idea for a booth that would actually feel like Grove & Grain.

Fortunately, we had a little experience on our side.

My wife previously owned The Teal Plank, a local Brooksville business where she spent years building, painting, designing, and creating custom pieces. We were able to take that experience—and plenty of tools already sitting in the garage—and put it to work for the distillery.

We designed and built two rolling wooden bars from scratch, sanding, trimming, staining, and finishing everything ourselves.

Then came the fun part.

Making It Grove & Grain

A plain wooden bar wasn't going to cut it.

Using our CNC, we created custom Grove & Grain pieces for the fronts of the bars, incorporating the early versions of the branding we'd been developing.

We finished the wood dark, added the signs and details, and slowly watched a pile of plywood turn into something that actually looked like it belonged to our distillery.

The final piece was our tent, carrying a message that was quickly becoming the heart of the brand:

Old Florida, Rediscovered.

Add an old-style rug, bottles, tasting glasses, and a few finishing touches, and our first Grove & Grain market booth was ready.

Time to Meet Some Floridians

Building the booth was about more than having somewhere to stand.

Local markets gave us an opportunity to finally put Grove & Grain directly in front of the people we were creating it for.

People could taste the spirits, hear the stories behind the bottles, ask questions, and meet the people actually making what was in their glass.

And we got to listen.

Those first conversations helped us learn what caught people's attention, which stories they remembered, what they wanted to taste again—and what Grove & Grain looked like through the eyes of someone discovering us for the first time.

The booth has traveled with us to markets and events ever since.

Like quite a few things around here, it didn't come out of a catalog.

We built it ourselves.

And that's probably the most Grove & Grain way we could have done it.

Old Florida, Rediscovered.

Drink Like a Floridian!