After spending 40 years combined at William Grant, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Remy, Ken Wyatt and Ron Zier have taken their Idaho spirits company, 44° North Vodka, in the opposite direction of the global brands they’ve stewarded in the past. Founded during the rise of craft spirits, the owners of 44° North Vodka had a shared insight built on provenance mattering in clear spirits the way it did in wine and whiskey – and the market was also just beginning to figure that out thanks to Tito’s and St.George Spirits. (As a fun side note, they also pioneered a bottled vodka energy drink, Zygo, for the clurb in 2007, but its copycats drew regulatory scrutiny and the segment was squashed). So they built a business on Idaho huckleberry flavored vodka (I guess provenance matters in pink spirits too). The huckleberry is hard to cultivate at scale, still making it a regional symbol. They are now building on that identity with ready-to-drink and serve offerings. The company’s original plan was to start regional and go national – and 44° North Vodka did move into further, larger state markets with major distributors. But 70% of its business is still between Billings and Seattle, and that’s not uncommon for a lot of craft distilleries. Because of the mess of the second tier, 44° North Vodka is getting hyper regional again, because that's where they can “still make them the biggest waves.” There aren’t a ton of regionally-inspired RTDs, but having a strong homebase is certainly what has propelled some to success. Read how 44° North is building their regional RTD business | 
