Hi friends! 

Exciting news to share! We will soon have coffee from a Single Malt Whisky barrel from Brickway and a Templeton Rye barrel of coffee as well. Next in line after that we are back to bourbon with another local distillery in Iowa. Lonely Oak Distillery is worth a whole separate blog post because those guys are the real deal. From the corn to the final product, these guys are true to their brand! I can't wait to try their coffee. 

I look forward to expanding outside bourbon to bring you many more barrel aged coffees. 2020 is going to be a badass year for Clout and we can't wait to share it all with you! 

Cheers! 

XOXO - CS

Wow! It's been a decade since a blog post. That joke is pretty much overused at this point but I am still running with it. 

A contact of mine recently emailed me and after about a week sent a follow up email kindly "bumping" the message to the top of my inbox. I thought to myself "wow, I've become that person" and not in a good way but way more ashamed than that. First, I thought, that was a really kind way to tell me to get my shit together and then I thought, when did I become that person? I used to hate waiting for responses. Now, I'm the one slacking. 

I know people who have way more going on. Yet they seem to have a better grip on it than I do. And at the same point I have people constantly tell me they aren't sure how I do it all. Well, between you, me and everyone else reading this, someday's I am not sure either. Let's call it love of the game. 

I have much bigger goals this year and it's going to take some serious game face. It's crazy to look back on the growth over the last 3 months and work to scale up. It's more than coffee to me and I can't wait to show you what I have in store. 

Tonight I finished a fun collaboration with a local retailer that brought in a private barrel pick of Four Roses bourbon. I am honored that Clout was chosen to partner with them on this pick and am thrilled at the response from the many guests tonight. 

It really takes a village and a great team of supporters around you to accomplish things. If you don't have the right team going in the right direction, it can be easy to spin. 

Here's to a year of clear vision, goals and CLOUT!

XOXO - CS

I was recently telling another frazzled business owner to breathe and work through it. Turns out I needed to take my own advice. This is without a doubt a very busy and challenging time. I'd be busy continuing to bag coffee but I knew the website needed an update and I wanted to vent/blog a little while I enjoy a glass or 3 of red wine. Shocker I know. This bourbon gal also likes red wine. 

The growth on Amazon is spectacular. The growth at the retail locations is growing. The growth on my website is tremendous. So much so, that I had to log in and put some things out of stock so I can catch up. I also had to update everyone on barrels. When I logged in to update the site, I was on barrel 12 being "in progress". Currently, barrels 16, 17 and 18 are actually "in progress" :) 

I did a tasting at a Hy-Vee earlier this month and while the coffee was percolating in their break room, I was signing labels. I absolutely love this crazy life and I wouldn't have it any other way. Cheers, friends!

XOXO - CS

Hi friends,

It's been 2 months since my last post. For weeks now I've told myself that I need to sit down and update my blog with recent happenings. We've been a bit busy coming into the holiday season! 

So many wonderful changes to tell you about! We welcomed our very first coffee roaster to the business. Black Betty is an Ambex YM-5 and she is helping us scale up our business and reduce costs. We now have our own manufacturing space in LaVista! My husband got an upgrade from CGO (Chief Grinding Officer) to CRO (Chief Roasting Officer). Meanwhile, I'm trying to manage scaling up on a budget. That part sucks, BTW.

While my husband was learning the ins and outs of roasting our coffee, he was told that at some point, he would drop the green beans without having closed the release for roasted beans. Sure enough, a few batches in and green beans dropped into the roaster and immediately into the cooling tray on top of roasted beans that were cooling. Lesson learned. I have to admit, after a long day, all I could do was laugh. Heck, if that's the biggest problem of the day, I call that a good day! 

As we go into the holiday season, I want you all to know how thankful I am for each of you. Consumers, critics, readers, supporters and even haters. I love you all. You are what push me to do more, be more and give more! 

Have an amazing week ahead!

Cheers,

xoxo - CS

Building a loyal brand takes time. It also takes trust, transparency and good intentions. The recent batch of Clout Coffee was a Soldier Valley Bourbon barrel and within hours of announcing the batch of coffee was ready, a very loyal customer to their brand, many states away contacted us about purchasing that specific barrel aged coffee. They noted that they travel an hour each way just to buy that bourbon on base and have for several years. 

Solider Valley Spirits are more than spirits. Faith, family, and service to country is more than a motto to them. It is a way of life. 

That motto shows through in many ways. More so than a loyal fan committing to try my brand because of their brand. I am working diligently to build the same community of enthusiasts. 

Since the coffee has been roasted, more orders have followed. So much so, that we started another barrel which will be ready mid October.