Let’s all go down the rabbit hole together.
Change takes courage. Following your dreams can be scary.
But, as the old saying goes, “if your dreams don’t scare you, maybe they aren’t big enough?”
We are thrilled to announce a brand-new initiative and partnership with Rabbit Hole. Today, we present the #2DreamInside Campaign. It has been kickstarted with a $50,000 donation from Rabbit Hole to provide direct relief to the members of the 2019 Cocktail Apprentice Program (CAP) Class. Then, the brand will contribute an additional $2 per hashtag used, up to $150,000, to support the bar industry moving forward through Foundation programming.
“For more than 10 years, the Cocktail Apprentice Program (CAPs), has been the world’s leading mentorship program for bartenders, always focusing on a high level of hospitality,” explains White Coat CAP, Cris Dehlavi. “As many of us in this industry find ourselves unemployed during this unprecedented time, I can speak for us all that we are humbled and grateful for Rabbit Hole’s partnership with the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, and its generous donation to the CAPS to help us get through this. This is the true definition of hospitality!”
It’s not celebrating the same-old-same-old. Rabbit Hole Founder and Whiskey Maker, Kaveh Zamanian would like to know your dreams, and then, he’d like to help you make them come true. Sure, posting your dream with the #2DreamInside hashtag on Instagram or Facebook is easy, but truly nurturing an inner spark, fueling it, and creating something fresh and innovative takes guts, passion, and hard work. And that’s what this campaign and Zamanian intend to foster. He’s a man who knows a lot about those things.
Kaveh Zamanian met his now-wife Heather 17 years ago. He was a Scotch drinker. She was a Kentucky girl, infatuated with American whiskey and bourbon. Today, they own Rabbit Hole––an award-winning brand of premium spirits made with one-of-a-kind recipes, right in the heart of Louisville.
“I was formerly a clinical psychologist,” said Zamanian. “I am kind of a history geek, and I naturally like exploring ideas. The more I learned about bourbon and the more I started coming to Louisville to visit Heather, the more excited I got.”
He pivoted. Hard. He founded his whiskey company in 2012, developing his own recipes and finally releasing his first product in early 2017. He named the company Rabbit Hole, in a nod to embarking on the life-altering journey of opening a distillery and building his own spirits brand.
“If you are really in love with something or someone,” Zamanian continues, “you have to consider what you are willing to give up to make it happen. The same goes for making whiskey. You have to wait several years for it to come of age. You have to be patient. You have to sacrifice time and money and resources.”
Today, Rabbit Hole’s portfolio is available nationwide and includes “Cavehill” and “Heigold” which are both Kentucky straight bourbons, a Kentucky straight rye called “Boxergrail”, another straight bourbon finished in PX sherry casks called “Dareringer”, a London dry gin finished in rye barrels called “Bespoke Gin”, and a vodka called “Liddel” that’s filtered through Kentucky limestone and only available at the distillery. Kaveh’s brand is the official whiskey of the James Beard Foundation’s Taste America Series, and his gin earned that distinction this year, as well.
It stands to reason that when presented with Coronavirus, Zamanian’s natural reaction was to dream big in terms of helping out.
“I’ve personally been a fan of Tales of the Cocktail Foundation for a long time,” he says of the partnership that felt natural to him. “I wanted to make sure our dollars would be well spent. I also wanted to make sure that we could help take care of those frontline food and beverage workers and I wanted to partner with an organization that is dedicated to its members.”
His initial contribution of $50,000 is going to the CAP class, to help support them during these lean times of financial insecurity. The remaining $150,000 will help underwrite health and wellness initiatives for Tales of the Cocktail Foundation through 2020. This includes our FULL HANDS IN / FULL HANDS OUT bi-weekly seminar, which is now live on the web and brings beverage industry leaders together to plot a course for sustainable health in the drinks industry for the future. “Beyond the Bar” is another program that Rabbit Hole’s donation will help fund, to empower health, recovery, and longevity for all in our industry.
“Our weekly webinars bring Tales to you; right in your living room,” says Tales of the Cocktail Foundation President, Caroline Rosen. “It has been incredible to see people from all over the world come together to learn from one another. Sharing resources, best practices, and experiences is so important right now and we are thankful to be able to provide that platform for information to our industry. We are grateful for our partnership with Rabbit Hole and their support in not only providing education but also in inspiring people to invest in their passions.”
The #2Dream Inside campaign is simple to participate in. “It’s really any dream,” says Zamanian. “Big or small, we want you to post it. The idea is for us to hear what your passions are. We want you to reflect on them and to talk about them. We want to foster discussion of meaningful ideas. We want you to have the courage and the connection to then be able to go after your dreams.”
Post your dream to social media with the included hashtag of #2DreamInside. Rabbit Hole will donate $2 for every hashtag out there.
What are your dreams? How is this time of upheaval best spent? Could you, in fact, turn your anxiety about the future into profit, growth, and potential? Can turbulence foster lasting, positive change?
Is this the time to pivot? Indeed, it just might be.
