Business
BY KATLYNN FOX
According to founder Scott Calame, “You May” bourbon is a best-selling spirit for the Leanderthal Lounge.
Scott Calame started the Leanderthal brand after having a career in advertising and law; he said both backgrounds gave him transferable skills that he used to build his brand.
PHOTOS BY KATLYNN FOXCOMMUNITY IMPACT
Prices for cocktails at the lounge typically range between $8 9.
It’s always 5 o’clock at Leanderthal Lounge For Leanderthal Lounge founder Scott Calame, the appeal of developing local craft liquors, and a space to share it with others, is all about creativity, community and value. The 21+ tasting lounge opened to Leander residents in 2019 following the success of Calame’s spirits line, Leanderthal Distilling.
sales are managed through a three-tier distribution system, where companies have to go through a dis- tributor in order to sell to liquor stores. This means that when a product leaves the facility, he may not see any pro t from it for 30-90 days, Calame said. However, with the tasting room, people can buy bottles directly from the source–and taste the liquors rst in the form of creative cocktails. “[Opening the tasting room] has turned out to be more fun and more rewarding than I would have ever anticipated,” Calame said. “And when I talk about rewarding, I don’t really mean nancial, I mean the relationships that I’ve built with cus- tomers here. People who came here and gave us a chance to see what we were doing and ended up realizing we’re just doing best-in-class stu across all of the spaces that we’re in product wise.” Calame said that with a 21+ age limit, he is carving out a space for people in their 20s and people in their 70s to come together under the same roof to enjoy a drink. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere Menu items at the lounge include liquor exclu- sively made in house, per the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. “On the one hand you would think that that is sort of limiting, but I prefer to look at that as a challenge for creativity,” Calame said. Due to the unique circumstances, Calame said requirements for being a bartender on sta includes creativity, experimentation, and a sense of humor. Calame said he draws inspiration for new menu
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“The goal was to make sure everything we do is that it is the intersection of quality and aordabil- ity,” said Calame. “Where for the price, you’re not going to nd anything better.” Respecting the craft The distillery rst opened in 2016 after Calame’s interest in home brewing led him to begin exper- imenting with agave nectar, an idea that turned into the rst ocial product: TexAgave. The blue agave spirit, comparable to a tequila, pioneered the distillery’s current lineup, consisting of Leanderthal Vodka, Tasteless Vodka. Triple Secession Orange Liquor, You May bourbon and more. “Everybody in this area is familiar with our Leanderthal Vodka, which is our best seller in the retail marketplace within our footprint,” Calame said. “Our best selling bottle here at the tasting room when we sell bottles directly to the public is ‘You May All Go To Hell.’ We call it You May for short. But lately our Java Gava coee liqueur has been really popular.” How we got here The tasting room initially opened as a way for Calame to showcase various products and generate a direct revenue stream. In Texas, distilled spirit
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11894 Hero Way W A, Leander www.leanderthaltx.com
items from the jam aisle of the grocery store and looks for ways to incorporate dierent syrups and non alcoholic additives. One of their signature drinks is the Basil Fawlty, which is fresh basil muddled with a little bit of sugar, lemon juice and Whit’s Leander Dry Gin or one of their vodkas. “It’s very aromatic and one of my favorite descrip- tions a customer ever said about it was ‘oh my god this is like drinking the garden’ just really fresh and herbal,” Calame said. Looking ahead Calame said his primary goal for the future is to keep expanding into large-scale retail sales, with the hope that one day every liquor store in Texas will be selling a Leanderthal Distillery product. “We’re always delighted, happy, ecstatic when people come here and buy bottles directly from us, that’s great,” Calame said.
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