Back Bar Project to Launch Covalle Tomato-Water Gin Nationally

Seattle, Wash. (February 23, 2026) – Back Bar Project, renowned boutique craft spirits importer, today announced the national launch of Covalle Tomato-Water Gin, the company's first domestic venture.

Covalle Tomato-Water Gin captures the vivid freshness of a tomato garden at peak season through a pioneering aroma-transfer technique developed to preserve the fruit's most delicate green notes. Tomato leaves and stems are pulverized into an apple-cucumber pulp, then pasteurized, clarified, and blended into a London dry gin. This allows Covalle to carry the essence of the tomato plant without compromising its fresh and fragile character. Bottled at 46% ABV, using low-pH water to accentuate freshness, the result is a strikingly fragrant, green, and herbaceous spirit. The gin botanical card includes juniper, angelica, coriander, lemon oil, grapefruit, cardamom, orange, wildflower honey, cinnamon and anise, and is designed to balance a classic gin profile with the evocative expression of a tomato plant in peak season.

"We champion brands that are shaping the future of the spirits industry—built on quality, heritage, and innovation," said Kaj Hackinen, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder, Back Bar Project. "Consumers are craving distinctive, nationally available distilled spirits. Covalle delivers something entirely new, adding a fresh, herbaceous twist to gin-based cocktails."

Covalle was developed by liquid and packaging design firm Project Optimist. To date, it has been part of the Small Victories Imports portfolio. William Schragis, who founded both Project Optimist and Small Victories, has held various positions in the wine and spirits industry, including work as a sommelier, product development specialist, whiskey blender, and national sales director for a bourbon producer spanning all 50 U.S. states.

Long before Schragis ever dreamed of working in cocktails and spirits, he was obsessed with tomatoes. As a kid, his family grew tomato plants in pots on the balcony of their New York City apartment. In his 20s, he worked on organic farms in Italy and even hosted a tomato-themed birthday potluck called "Tomato-Fest," after which he decided to use surplus tomato water in a cocktail for the first time.

"I poured my heart into developing Covalle. It took more than a year of R&D to work out how to capture the freshness that makes in-season tomatoes so special," said Schragis. "It was a concept crystallized from my own dreams and my own love for historic and eccentric martini culture. All of us at Project Optimist/WellSpun Consulting are thrilled to partner with Back Bar Project. I have long admired their vision and work representing high-quality brands and truly partnering with independent businesses. There is nobody I would trust more to steward something so close to my heart."

Covalle debuted in New York and New Jersey in Spring 2025 via Small Victories Imports —a boutique distribution portfolio. The niche brand entered the market during a period of contraction in the liquor industry, yet consumer demand for this distinctive spirit proved remarkably strong. Produced in small batches, it sold out quickly, driving an exceptionally high reorder rate among early-adopting retailers.

Covalle's packaging features a hand-drawn label as beautiful as the brand itself, depicting a beach in the fictional tomato-famous town that Project Optimist considers Covalle's "spiritual storybook home." It was drawn by Creative Director Eli Dreyfus as part of Project Optimist's guiding philosophy to keep brand development and commercial launch work in-house, driven collaboratively by the same core team that will ultimately take it to market.

Covalle Tomato-Water gin is now available online and will roll out nationally in 700mL and 1L formats for the suggested retail price of $40 and $47, respectively, which may vary by market. A highly mixable new offering, Covalle elevates classic cocktails, including a Martini, Gimlet, Negroni, Gin & Tonic, and Highball.

For more information, please visit CovalleGin.com and BackbarProject.com

About Covalle Tomato-Water Gin

Inspired by a lifelong love of the scent of tomatoes on the vine, we pomace, centrifuge, and macerate our way to a tomato-water gin that brings a fresh, herbaceous twist to cocktails.

About Back Bar Project

Founded in 2012, Back Bar Project is the exclusive U.S. importer of a collection of premium spirits brands that meet the U.S. and global spirits industry's demand for more specialized, high-quality ingredients. Our team is comprised of leading spirits industry professionals from around the country, dedicated to providing world-class spirits to the U.S. market.

About WellSpun Consulting, Small Victories Imports, and Project Optimist

Founded in 2023, WellSpun Consulting is a boutique end-to-end consultancy that works in and adjacent to the beverage space. Small and thorough, WellSpun believes in having capabilities to take a dream all the way through incubation and market work but believes in filling only gaps where their highly specialized team can add value to each specific client. That same team operates Small Victories Imports and Project Optimist Drinks.

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