DALLAS, Texas— Despite the explosion of canned cocktail offerings in recent years, Nicole Craven and Alexis Smith found themselves waiting for their favorite libation — the espresso martini — to appear in a convenient, ready-to-drink format. After months of waiting, hoping someone else might bring their vision to fruition, the two publicists quit their agency jobs to pursue a profit-promising gap in an already booming market, and Après Hours was born.
Après Hours is a new line of ready-to-drink, canned espresso martinis designed for a gluten-free, dairy-free lifestyle. The brand officially launched in Dallas on August 1 is now available in select liquor stores throughout the city and online with nationwide shipping to 39 states.
“We’ve always preferred our espresso martinis with tequila instead of vodka, which is where we got the idea to use agave-wine as our base,” says co-founder Nicole Craven. “It gives the entire cocktail a smoother, rounder flavor and allows us to be sold in grocery stores as well as liquor stores.”
Après Hours is available in three gluten-free and dairy-free flavors — Salted Caramel, Classic, and Vanilla. Each 12-ounce can is 10% alc/vol and contains 40 mg of Colombian caffeine, slightly less than a standard shot of espresso.
“One fluid ounce of espresso contains roughly 64 mg of caffeine.” explains co-founder Alexis Smith. “We’ve always known that combining coffee and booze is a delicate balancing act and wanted Après Hours to make us feel refreshed, not jittery. We researched and taste-tested until we achieved the perfect balance we envisioned from the start.”
However, building a business wasn’t as easy as balancing a beverage. Craven and Smith ran into multiple roadblocks along the way, especially with funding.
“Raising money to get this idea off the ground was not what we expected,” says Craven. “We are two young, female entrepreneurs seeking to shake up the male-dominated alcohol industry, and many did not believe we would make it to the production stage. It was simultaneously deflating and motivating, but we believed in our product and mission, so we pressed on until we found our perfect financial partners.”
These initial difficulties made the sudden success and warm reception of Après Hours by Dallas shoppers even sweeter. Their first run sold out the day it hit store shelves.
“We knew we needed to know twice as much about the industry and present ourselves in a more polished fashion than our male counterparts. We wanted our ideas to be respected and for our business to be taken seriously,” Smith says. “So many told us we wouldn’t be able to do it, but we did. And when we heard our product sold out in a single day, we felt so validated.”
According to a recent study by BevAlc Insights, less than 2% of companies with an RTD offering are owned by women. Hence Après Hours’ tagline, “It’s time to shake things up.”
“We wanted to honor the tradition and craft of bartending while communicating a greater message to aspiring female entrepreneurs,” says Craven. “We’re so proud of the work we’ve done to build this brand and we hope to inspire other women and girls to do the same. That’s why we’ve established our “Après Hours Grant Program” to help fund female-founded start up businesses.
The goal of the program is to streamline the fundraising process for women and girls to create businesses of their own. Applications will be accepted via the Après Hours website beginning in September 2022.
“Creating Après Hours wasn’t easy, and we believe it shouldn’t be that difficult for anyone else as it was for us,” says Smith. “We want to help other women, encourage them to start businesses, work hard to grow them, and celebrate all their victories. I think that’s something we can all toast to. Cheers!”
About Après Hours
Founded by two female marketers turned entrepreneurs, Après Hours is a Dallas-based spirits and lifestyle brand born from Nicole Craven and Alexis Smith’s obsession with espresso martinis and a lack of the classic caffeine-infused cocktail in the ready-to-drink spirits industry. As female community leaders who are always on the go, Smith and Craven developed a sophisticated yet convenient canned espresso martini cocktail that combines daytime fuel with a wind-down buzz, perfect for any after hour activity.
Providing the pick-me-up needed to take on the day or night, Après Hours is available in three dairy-and-gluten free flavors: Classic, Salted Caramel and Vanilla. Après Hours and its social club seek to create a culture that empowers change, encourages women to break boundaries and levels the male-dominated playing field to change the dynamics of drinking overall.
For More Information:
https://drinkapreshours.com/