{"id":167674,"date":"2021-01-07T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=167674"},"modified":"2021-01-08T09:40:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T14:40:58","slug":"alum-created-merican-mule-cocktail-company-plenty-celebrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/01\/alum-created-merican-mule-cocktail-company-plenty-celebrate\/","title":{"rendered":"Alum Who Created ‘Merican Mule Cocktail Company Has Plenty to Celebrate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sales of \u2018Merican Mule premium cocktail have skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, fueling the good spirits of its UConn alumnus co-founder.<\/p>\n

\u201cSales have been shot out of a cannon,\u2019\u2019 says Dean Mahoney \u201909 (BUS). \u201cThe pandemic posed challenges to people who typically went to bars and restaurants. They wanted a quality cocktail at home, so they shifted their search to liquor stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sale of other canned cocktails is up 90 percent, and our beverage is up significantly more,\u2019\u2019 says Mahoney, who earned a finance degree. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen dramatic growth.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Merican Mule, based in South Norwalk, made its beverage debut with its reinvention of the popular Moscow Mule cocktail. Because it requires only a few ingredients – including vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice – people mistakenly believe it is an easy drink to create.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an easy drink to make, but a hard drink to make well,\u2019\u2019 Mahoney has said. He and his partners made, and tasted, more than 70 versions of the mule before developing their final recipe.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve since added three new mules, including Mexican, Tropical, and Southern versions, as well as an array of seasonal varieties, including its new Fire Mule, made with bourbon, proprietary ginger beer, and cinnamon. New flavors are on the horizon this year, as well as a prospective business partnership.<\/p>\n

Merican Mule has joined with the Bishop Family, founders of both the SoBe beverage company, which grew to a $220 million firm in just four years, and Blue Buffalo pet food, which became a $1 billion business. In addition to their role as investors, the family will advise and help guide \u2018Merican Mule\u2019s growth and brand-awareness strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey saw what we were doing and how we were trying to disrupt the alcohol industry, and they liked it,\u2019\u2019 Mahoney says. \u201cThey have tremendous experience building brands from small startups to industry standouts.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Merican Mule has grown its presence from two states in 2018 to 12 states today, with plans to expand along the East Coast.\u00a0 The canned beverage has gained a foothold with boaters, beach goers, as well as managers of golf courses and pool bars, who don\u2019t want broken glass on their property. \u00a0Mahoney says he expected his target audience to be customers in their 20s and 30s, but discovered a strong market among middle-aged consumers as well.<\/p>\n

\"Four
(Courtesy of ‘Merican Mule)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finding the Formula for Success <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mahoney, a native of Southbury, comes from a family of entrepreneurs, and says he always knew he would own a business. After graduating from UConn, he worked in a financial leadership rotation program at United Technologies Corporation, honing expertise on cost saving and spending reduction. He later worked for data security, analytics, and storage giant EMC Corporation (now Dell EMC) for three years as a field account executive.<\/p>\n

When he and friends saw people drinking Moscow Mules in a Santa Monica bar, and found that liquor stores didn\u2019t sell them pre-made, they realized they had an opportunity to create something new. After crafting the original beverage, Mahoney returned to the East Coast to spearhead distribution. He got a big break at the end of 2017, when a major liquor distributor agreed to add the company as a client.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started this company, I recognized the importance of perseverance. You have to constantly be determined or you\u2019re going to fail,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cBut now I\u2019ve also come to appreciate patience as well. If you\u2019re patient and calm, you can analyze your next step, whether it is a partnership, adding a new flavor, or who to hire. I\u2019m still learning sometimes to wait and think about things. You need to be driven, passionate and motivated, but having patience increases clarity on strategic decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs your company grows, everything becomes more complicated,\u2019\u2019 he continues. \u201cI\u2019m very focused on creating a strong team and culture that resembles my time in tech, that fosters the culture, heart and voice of the brand. I want to create a customer-focused, fun and young brand and find the right employees.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

He has hired UConn graduates for marketing and sales positions, and is considering starting an internship program. \u201cI am a proud UConn alum,\u2019\u2019 Mahoney says.<\/p>\n

In addition, Mahoney will serve as a mentor this year to the School of Business\u2019 Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, guiding and advising UConn-affiliated startups. It\u2019s a role he\u2019s excited about, as he believes Connecticut needs more vibrant and innovative companies within its borders.<\/p>\n

But future entrepreneurs should know that owning a business isn\u2019t as glamorous as it might appear, Mahoney says.<\/p>\n

When the distillery shipped 100 cases of the beverage to New York, and forgot to include the pak-tech handles that bundle the cans together, Mahoney had to drive to Long Island with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo job is too low for the owner,\u2019\u2019 Mahoney jokes. \u201cWe\u2019ve bootstrapped and band-aided along the journey and we wear a lot of hats running a startup.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

But four years later, he hasn\u2019t grown tired of drinking his \u2018Merican Mule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Moscow, our flagship and the original, is still my go-to drink. It is \u00a0widely revered and the most successful, but the other beverages have earned a great deal of respect,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cWe think we have something special.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dean Mahoney ’09 (BUS) is in high spirits, as the cocktail company he founded in South Norwalk continues to grow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":167676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,2192,1862,2235],"tags":[2254],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2105],"class_list":["post-167674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-fairfield-county","category-busn","category-today-homepage","tag-alumni"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 01:54:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167677,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167674\/revisions\/167677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/167676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167674"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=167674"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=167674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}