This week on #SmallBusinessShoutout, Gary and Shannon invite you to meet Husband and Wife duo Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Mathew, co-founders of Greenbar Distillery.
The Distillery, which is situated in the heart of LA’s Arts District, was founded in 2004 and is LA’s first distillery since Prohibition!
In 2008, by accident, Melkon and Litty learned that organically grown ingredients had brighter, richer, and cleaner flavors and resulted in more delicious spirits. After that ‘aha’ moment, they turned Greenbar into one of the world’s first organic distilleries, which boasts the world’s largest collection of 100% USDA-certified organic spirits, as well as a wide collection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic Bottled & Canned RTDs.
How They Stay Green
While their passion is deep-rooted in the development of their spirits/products, they've built their business on sustainable practices that help erase the distillery's carbon footprint while also helping to rebuild rainforests in South America. Planting one tree per spirit, every two bottles of ready-to-drink bottled cocktails, or for every 24 ready-to-drink canned cocktails sold.
Through a partnership with Sustainable Harvest International, they’ve planted trees in rain forests of Central America that not only provide carbon sinks but also shade for fair trade crops of coffee and cacao so local farmers can better feed their families.
To date, Greenbar Distillery has planted over 1 million trees and is on the road to 2 million, making nearly 19 million Americans carbon-negative for a day.
The Distillery’s spirits help maintain clean farmland and groundwater and prevent adding artificial fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, or genetically modified organisms to our world. Using no artificial flavors or ingredients makes the process a bit more challenging, but Greenbar is willing to go through extra steps to ensure their products are doing more good than harm where the environment is concerned.
Greenbar embraces the motto, "Radically Carbon Negative, Radically Revolutionary," and carries the goal of connecting better drinking with a better planet, using a cocktail as their vehicle. With as little as 1.5 oz of their spirits, typically what goes into a standard cocktail, Greenbar customers can become carbon-negative for a day.
About the Founders
Melkon’s roots are in Armenia, where his grandparents distilled moonshine and turned excess fruits like apricots and mulberries into a high-proof brandy.
Litty, born into a South Indian family, grew up in Ethiopia and developed a passion for fresh produce by growing fruits and vegetables with her sisters. She later studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to hone in on her lifelong love for food.
Together, their mission was to create their own flavor-driven liquors, using fresh ingredients, layering flavors, and tasting and adjusting to develop the line of spirits, which is what makes Greenbar what it is known for today.