During the winter of 2017, Simone Woods, founder and CEO of Urbane Vodka LLC, took up a new hobby and ended up with a new vodka that is taking over Northeast Ohio. Creating spirits was already a family tradition — Buddy, her mom’s stepfather, made moonshine.
“Buddy gave me clues for what makes a good spirit,” she says.
As her passion grew, she watched YouTube videos, read books and connected with an online brewing community. Ajondi Born, a farmer and family friend, donated unlimited grain. Rebecca Sullivan, who brews beer with her husband, told Woods about the resources from Home Brew Ohio in Sandusky, including grains, glass jars, mesh bags, cheesecloths, buckets, spoons and other items.
Woods still needed to learn how to distill, so she used her off-hours as a supervising nurse to visit breweries and distilleries to ask questions and get answers. It was all trial and error until she settled on a method to set her product apart.
“After sampling grains for a year, I chose corn because it is neutral and easier to work with,” says Woods. “I chose to use reverse osmosis water because I learned during nursing school that it is an antimicrobial, which means it is very clean, has fewer impurities, will not compromise taste and doesn’t require filtering.”
She also found out that distilling is costly.
“I paid off all of my credit cards and started saving my money,” says Woods. “This put me in the position to purchase the equipment needed to distill at home.”
After a couple of years, Woods changed her hobby into a business venture. Her first investor was her sister, Sophia Westfield.
“When Simone first told me about her vision, I believed in her because she is a hard worker and will accomplish anything she puts her mind to,” she says.
On July 17, Urbane officially launched at Renee’s Place near Downtown Cleveland, where the owner created three drinks for her: Queen of Hearts, Peach Fuzz and Rude Lemonade. Now, Lounge 2.28 Bar and Grill in Bedford also carries Urbane. During some Friday happy hours, Woods is there to make lemon drops. Marco Primo, co-owner of Primo African Quisine, liked Urbane so much the first time he tasted it that he sampled it again.”
Woods distributes it by hand to select bars and restaurants like Primo.
“In five years, I plan to expand to other states and internationally by signing a deal with a distributor who is willing to make Urbane their brand,” says Woods. “I also plan to start a charity that will have a faith-based enrichment program, a scholarship program at Notre Dame and community colleges and food and clothing programs.”
Spirit-lovers can pick up a bottle of Urbane at Giant Eagle in Middleburg Heights, Sheffield Lake, Lorain, Maple Heights and Rocky River. Also try One Stop Liquor on Lee Road, Mookie’s Beverage on Miles Road and Elyria Liquor and Beverage.
