Spirits, wine and beer
Hire us for the full launch, or for one defined workstream: positioning, liquid development, packaging, drink strategy, distribution or U.S. market entry.
The first conversation is free. A partner replies within two working days.
Who We Help
Three ways in. Start from the one that sounds like you.
“I have an idea for a beverage alcohol brand. Where do I start?”
We take you from the idea to a brand people buy twice: feasibility, positioning, name and identity, packaging and the launch plan. Liquid sourcing is there if you need it.
“We already have the recipe, the liquid or the distillery. We need the brand and the market.”
We commercialize what you already make: positioning, packaging and launch planning, then the work in retail, bars, restaurants and hotels. Hire us for all of it, or for one workstream.
“Our liquid is proven at home. Now we want the U.S.”
We choose the first market, evaluate importers and distributors, and coordinate the qualified specialists who handle licensing and registrations.
Somewhere in between? Artists and athletes: own the brand, do not just lend your name. Investors and trade partners are welcome too. Tell us where you are anyway.
Contact UsServices
Hire us for a full launch or for one defined workstream. Our work draws on firsthand experience building Blackleaf Organic Vodka and on specialists we bring in for the project. We'll outline the scope, deliverables and fee.
Have an idea, or a liquid ready to become a brand? We turn it into one people want to buy twice.
Find the white space. Who buys it, why, at what price, and what it replaces on the shelf.
Shape the name and the story. Name screening with trademark counsel, then the story, the look and the voice.
Source the liquid, if you need it. Optional: from producers we know, with blind tasting at every round.
Already have a liquid? We commercialize it: positioning, packaging and launch planning for a liquid that already exists.
First step: the brand brief. Ends in writing: go, fix or stop, and what it will take.
Before a cent goes into liquid: the category, the price corridor, the margin at each tier and the honest odds, written down as a go or a no-go.
Who buys it, why, at what price and what it replaces on the shelf. The theory, written so it can be tested.
Name screening with trademark counsel, then the story, the visual identity and the voice, built to hold up in a distributor meeting as well as on a feed.
Optional. Sourcing from producers we know in the Cognac region, Ireland, the Netherlands and Champagne, with blending and formulation through partner labs and blind tasting at every round. Skip it if your liquid already exists.
We set the packaging strategy and direct the design. Bottle, closure, label and carton are engineered with our packaging partners for the shelf, the line and landed cost, with glass, closure and printer sourcing included.
Production planned with your producer or ours: pilot batches, lab analysis and shelf-life testing before you commit to a run, and a quality plan the producer signs.
Formula and label approvals, permits and registrations planned in the right order and coordinated with specialist compliance and legal partners, so nothing is printed twice.
The launch plan, with price set from the shelf back through the three tiers and a first market small enough to prove a reorder.
Already have the liquid? We take it to market as a brand: positioning, packaging and launch planning, as one engagement or one workstream at a time.
Have a brand? We get it priced right, stocked and reordered in retail, bars, restaurants and hotels.
Price and margin through the three tiers. Built from the shelf back, so the price holds after the launch deals end.
The right markets and partners. Which states, cities and accounts first, across retail, bars, restaurants and hotels, and the distributors to win them.
A field rhythm that earns reorders. Weekly account targets, tastings and reorder tracking, on a scorecard you can see.
Drink strategy, on its own if that is all you need. Signature serves and cocktail development for accounts and events, as a standalone workstream.
First step: the route-to-market plan. Ends in a written plan: markets, partners and price.
Which states, which cities and which accounts first, across retail, bars, restaurants and hotels, chosen on evidence rather than ambition, with a scorecard for each.
Price built from the shelf back, with distributor, retailer and promotional margin that still holds after the launch deals end.
State registrations, licence management and the paperwork that keeps a brand on the truck, coordinated with specialist compliance partners.
The right partner in each market, the pitch that wins the meeting, and terms that protect the brand's price and its focus.
Weekly account targets, tastings, reorder tracking and the review that runs it all. We can run the field team or train yours.
Flagship retail placements and on-premise programmes that make the brand visible where buyers and drinkers decide.
Signature serves, recipes and drink development for accounts and events. Available on its own as a standalone workstream.
Menu copy and serve specs, and the work to get the brand onto cocktail lists and menus.
Displays, shelf materials and point-of-sale that help a store or a bar sell the brand.
Tastings booked, staffed and supplied, plus experiential activations, with every guest and pour counted.
Which competitions to enter and when, a submission calendar, and a PR plan shaped with specialists.
Direct shipping to the states that allow it, marketplace listings and the fulfilment behind them.
Bonded warehousing, logistics, order fulfilment, chargebacks and depletion data you can actually read, reported monthly.
Producing outside the U.S.? We pick the first market, find the right partners and bring in the specialists who make it legal.
First-market selection. Which state and which accounts first, chosen on evidence rather than ambition.
Importer and distributor evaluation. We shortlist, meet and compare the partners who could carry your brand.
Licensing and registrations, with specialists. We coordinate qualified specialists on licensing and registrations, so nothing is filed twice.
What we do: market selection, importer and distributor evaluation, pricing and the launch plan, and we stay your central point of contact. What the specialists do: federal and state licensing, label approvals and registrations, and the legal sign-off.
First step: the market entry plan. Ends in a written plan: first market, partners and the path to licensing.
Which state, which cities and which accounts first, chosen on evidence, with a scorecard for each.
Your price built from the U.S. shelf back through importer, distributor and retailer margin, so it holds after launch.
We shortlist, meet and compare the importers who could carry your brand, and help you set terms.
The distributors for the first market, judged on focus and fit, with the pitch that wins the meeting.
Qualified specialists handle the federal and state licensing, label approvals and registrations. We plan the order, brief them and keep it on schedule.
Accounts, tastings and the field rhythm for the first market, ready to run as Get On Shelves.
How It Works
Send a note through the form. A partner replies within two working days, and the first conversation is free.
We'll outline the scope, deliverables and fee. The first piece of work ends in writing: go, fix or stop, and what it will take.
We work beside you stage by stage, on a scorecard you can see. Both partners on every engagement.
Step one is a free conversation.
Contact UsProof
Blackleaf Organic vodka is our own brand, on the shelf and gaining global recognition. Bringing it to market taught us what the trade will not tell you: the order, the economics and the patience each stage actually takes.
Platinum, San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2025
Platinum, Asia World Spirits Competition 2025
Platinum, New York World Spirits Competition 2024
Double Gold, San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2025
Double Gold, Asia World Spirits Competition 2025
96 points, San Francisco World Spirits Competition
Double Gold, Singapore World Spirits Competition 2024
Double Gold, San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2024
Double Gold, New York World Spirits Competition 2024
Triple Still Award 2023, The Tasting Alliance
Double Gold, New York World Wine and Spirits Competition 2023
Double Gold, New York World Wine and Spirits Competition 2022
Best of Class, New York World Wine and Spirits Competition 20223 Tasting Alliance Platinum Awards, 9 Double Golds, Triple Still Award, Gold at The Vodka Masters and more...
Six things we did for Blackleaf. Every one is a service we can run for your brand.
For your brand: Start Your Brand — brand positioning, creative direction, packaging design and liquid development.
HOW BLACKLEAF GETS TO MARKET
For your brand: Get On Shelves — distributor selection and terms; and U.S. Market Entry for producers from abroad.
For your brand: Get On Shelves — merchandising, display design and point-of-sale support.
For your brand: Get On Shelves — drink strategy and cocktail development, available on its own, with menu creation and placement support.
For your brand: Get On Shelves — tasting coordination and experiential activations.
For your brand: Get On Shelves — PR strategy and award competition planning.
Bring us your brand. We will tell you what it would take.
Contact UsAbout Us
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
We work beside client founders and producers from the first idea to the reorder. Proof Theory is your central point of contact. When a project needs more, we bring in the specialists, in control-state strategy, PR and tasting execution among others, and we manage them, so you deal with one team.
Proof Theory is a product development and management company, and we dare to dream. We see a future we can shape, and we are crafting an inclusive one for the adult beverage industry.
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Monté brings over 20 years in operations, supply chain and global brand leadership, including 12 years at Diageo, and an MBA from Johns Hopkins. He ran manufacturing and supply-chain transformation, then moved into brand marketing leadership as global steward of a nearly $200M brand, with approval authority across international markets, and later portfolio leadership, driving renovation and strategic planning across a whiskey portfolio approaching $2B in annual sales. At Proof Theory he leads operations and marketing, connecting the plant, the P&L and the marketplace for the brands we build.
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Kevin brings 15 years in finance and capital markets. He is Ghanaian American and grew up in Southern Africa. He saw the whitespace in vodka early, organic and sustainable, before the category moved that way, and built Blackleaf to fill it, creating the brand, its packaging and its liquid, then commercializing it himself: importing, a stretch of self-distribution, distributor management, sales, accounting and bookkeeping, budgeting, projections and fundraising. Close to a decade spent inside every part of a startup spirits business is the experience he now brings to client founders.
The first conversation is free, and it is with one of us.
Contact Us
A partner replies within two working days, and the first conversation is free.
Prefer to send material? Send your deck or brief to hello@prooftheory.co. We reply with three observations.
Monté Burrow / Kevin Larkai / Washington DC and Atlanta
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