One Woman’s Journey to Enter the US Booze Business

The phrase and concept of The American Dream comes from James Truslow Adams in his book, the Epic of America. This definition will set the stage for the story you are about to read:

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance. (Source)

Selena Nitz, founder and owner of Miramar Rakia Modern Brandy, emigrated from Bulgaria in 1999 with the intention of living the American Dream. Through hard work and perseverance, she is on her way toward accomplishing her goal via a unique and interesting product from her home country.

Let’s start with her story…

Selena grew up in Communist Bulgaria on a farm in the countryside. Among other crops, her father and grandfather had a vineyard and made wine and Rakia (more about this in a moment). While the farm life was pleasant, surrounded by friends and family, once the Communist regime was over, she yearned to come to America with her daughter. Not an easy feat, considering the difficulty in getting a visa, the cost and the fear of rejection. Once rejected by the American embassy, it could take a decade or more to get one, if ever.

Despite the obstacles, Selena, a single mom, set her mind on a new life for her and her child in America. She sold everything she had, hired someone to coach her on what to do and how to act during the interview process. All she had left was the money for an airplane ticket, plus $200. More than that, she had a dream and the tenacity to make it come true.

It took her from 1991 to 1999 to make it happen.

I asked her how her family felt about her leaving. She told me she had to buy a round trip plane ticket in order to get her visa. Her father told her she will use the return ticket because she will give up, “you have no idea of where you’re going.” She ripped up the ticket and said to herself, “there’s no way back, that’s it.” Did I say tenacious? Add feisty to the list.

Coming to America

She landed in New York, Brooklyn to be precise, and what followed was a series of odd jobs in restaurants and English lessons from her daughter who learned the language quickly.

After two years in NYC, they moved to Chicago where Selena worked in various restaurants and studied to become a hairdresser and cosmetologist. But an important moment came while working bars and restaurants in downtown Chicago. She decided to become a citizen and began thinking about the booze business.

Her American citizenship ceremony resonated with me and should also to anyone whose family emigrated to the USA. Selena describes it as inspiring and memorable, with the Judge telling those who took part that they came into his court from 44 countries and will leave through the same door as one, as Americans. She went on to tell me what else he said:

“We welcome you to America but at the same time, we don’t want you to change. Actually the opposite, we want you to stay who you are and take something from all of your cultures… that you have in your heart or your traditions, cuisine or any habits, and share with us so you can enrich our culture even more.”

As her new life in Chicago began to take shape, Selena often thought about the bottle of Rakia she brought with her at the urging of her father. He had said “take this with you to America… it will remind you of home… and share it with your American friends.”

Suddenly, the thought struck her about the spirits industry based on articles and news reports about the business, brands, their development and sales. She thought, there are all types of spirits out there but no Rakia. Why is there no Rakia?

So, Selena went back to Bulgaria, drove from border to border, visited over 30 distilleries and finally found the best Rakia makers in the country.

What is Rakia?

This is from her website:

Rakia is the collective term for fruit brandy very popular in Central and Southeast Europe. Because it’s made from fruits, it’s categorized as “brandy”, but it’s nothing like brandy… It can be made with many fruits but grape and plum are the most popular.

The countries making their own variation of Rakia include, Albania, Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Macedonia, Romania, and Moldova. Each has its own adaptation and uses a wide range of fruits. In Bulgaria, grapes, plums, and apricots are most frequently used as a raw material.

The Bulgarians claim that they were the first to create Rakia, based on pieces of pottery from the 14th century, and they have taken measures to declare it a national drink. “A psychotherapist can help you but Rakia is cheaper” — is a contemporary proverb many Bulgarians swear by.

Selena’s Rakia – Miramar Modern Brandy

Back to her journey. The makers she found are located on the coast of the Black Sea, have their own vineyard and have been making Rakia for nearly a century. But, she had a vison of what the product should taste and be like and painstakingly described the start, the finish, and the type of smoothness she wanted.

From the back label: “The Miramar Experience… a 23-step continuous distillation process [that] honors the Rakia tradition, yet modernizes it to create an extraordinarily smooth long finish.”

Miramar Rakia is created with rare, handpicked Muscat Ottonel grapes from a single estate. They recently won a double gold medal from the SF World Spirits Competition, thereby creating a Rakia category.

Ah, therein lies a tale. Our friends at the TTB were reluctant to approve the brand because, as far as they were concerned, there is no such category as Rakia. It took four months and much back and forth. So, instead of creating a category, they approved the brand — Miramar Rakia Modern Brandy. I imagine the back and forth as going something like this:

TTB: There’s no such thing as Rakia. We never heard of this category.

Selena: But the EU recognizes it as a category and has for many years.

TTB: No, no, we don’t have this in America.

Selena: Well, this doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, right? Okay, if you don’t want to accept this as a category I’m going to make it as a part of my brand name.

TTB: There’s no such thing as modern brandy.

{More time, more emails and many more phone calls follow. Finally, …}

TTB: Okay, fine. You can have it. Have modern brandy, okay? Whatever it is, just leave us alone.

Those folks from the TTB are such jokesters.

By the way, you’ll find it in the brandy/cognac section.

Off to market

From a route to market standpoint, Selena has made some very smart moves.

She has an exclusive distribution arrangement with Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, not an easy accomplishment. They test marketed the brand in south Florida and it did well. The idea of a clear brandy, in a category no one ever heard of was just the right combination of “unique” and “willing to try.” It is very mixable and you might want to check out the recipes on the website.

As is the case for nearly all startup/emerging brands, the Covid virus interfered, so she cleverly pivoted and began selling Miramar direct-to-consumers using Passion Spirits (where I bought a bottle). They are now shipping to 28 states from Florida. They are also talking about going into Illinois with an eye toward Binny’s 40+ locations.

Along the way, she persuaded a former Seagram colleague, Phil Gervasi, to join her. As Selena puts it, “Phil is my secret weapon… he’s been my mentor and been with me every step of the way.”

Phil held many senior sales positions at Seagram, worked at Diageo where he was senior vice president/general manager for California and several western states. His most recent position was EVP, North America Sales for Patron. In fact, it was a former colleague from Patron that introduced her to Phil.

She couldn’t have picked a better person to work with. Or a smarter, nicer guy.

* * *

Selena Nitz is indeed living the American Dream. At a period in the history of this country where some question and even oppose immigration, I’m proud to know her and share her story. Her journey reminds us that what made America truly great was the willingness to open our doors and provide opportunities to those willing to work hard to accomplish the dream.

As to Miramar Rakia Modern Brandy, I’ll close with this comment from one of the judges at the SF competition:

“It’s very unique because it’s a little floral on the nose and I’m ready for it to be sweet. But when I drink it, it’s almost like fine tequila. This is very hard to achieve.”

The brand sells for $39.99 (750 ML), 40 AbV (80° proof) has no additives, is gluten and sulfate free, non-GMO, and nothing artificial.