Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Tom, seated, and his son in law Scott prepared last week to debut Adelaide's Dreamsicle in local stores. The company recently moved into its new Kimball home from Colorado.
A new company moved into Kimball last week and the owner, Tom Carr, said bringing Carr Spirits to Kimball is a bit like coming home in more than one way.
Feeling right at home.
Carr and his wife, Darcy, bought the Colorado Cattle Company in 2009, at a time when Tom was still working in the liquor industry. With the purchase of the ranch Tom quit the business and began ranching full time.
In March 2015 Tom began Carr Spirits with the purchase of a company that owned a brand called Fuegon.
"I really liked the brand because I really liked Twizzlers," Tom said. "Fuegon is the original red licorice liqueur."
Re-entering the spirits business felt natural to Tom and, with 31 years of experience under his belt, he began looking for a way to expand his new business.
Tom came into contact with the owners of Green Point alcohols, who owned the brand Hog Master, an herbal liqueur. Tom bought 49 percent of that company as well.
"It is kind of like Jagermeister, only more sophisticated," he said. "It is not the challenge shot, this is more of a higher end, like Pastis or Chartreuse type of brand. It is very at home at a club, but also in mixology."
My granddaughter, the muse.
As their company was expanding, so was their family. In October 2014, Tom and Darcy welcomed their first granddaughter, Adelaide. Tom wanted to commemorate the occasion, but he wanted to do something different. No cigars or candy bars would be passed about memorializing Adelaide's birth.
"I wanted to memorialize the event, but I wanted to do something unique," he said. "When Adelaide was born I really had this desire to do something fun and unique, plus in an area that I knew what I was doing. I am a horrible plumber, I'm a lousy electrician, but I know how to do drinks and that is what I wanted to get back into."
After being involved with the Bailey's cream liqueur in the 1980s, Tom has noticed that while many Irish cream style brands have entered the market, they have all been cheaper.
"So there really hasn't been anything innovative in that whole category," he said. "So I thought that it would make a great cream brand and that Adelaide's would make a great intro into it. I wanted it to be a premium brand, be profitable and a very well-thought of brand recognition."
Tom found a company in Amsterdam that makes a cream product using all-natural, organic, gluten-free materials.
"The chocolate they use is real European chocolate, the coconut they use is real, imported coconut, the coffee beans are real coffee from South America," he said. "And, they were non-alcoholic. All we needed to do was add alcohol."
He began a business enterprise with this company, called Friesland Campina, who has a subsidiary company called Creamy Creations in New York and New Jersey. Carr Spirits brings the juice from Holland to the United States and the alcohol is blended into the juice there.
The distillery is in Florida, where the product is bottled and shipped to more than a dozen states.
"Right now we have three Adelaide's flavors," he said. "We just launched Nebraska recently and so all the stores here in Kimball, thankfully, carry Adelaide's."
Tom runs this new Kimball business with his daughter Jackie Mallory, who is the Chief Financial Officer for the company and his son-in-law, Scott Mallory, the National Sales Manager. Scott and Jackie Mallory live in Kimball with Adelaide.
Orange Wine Cream, under the umbrella of Adelaide's Dreamsicle, joins Caramel Mocha Mojo and Coconut Liqueur are currently available with unique flavors coming soon.
"We actually trademarked the term Dreamsicle," he said. "I assumed the name Dreamsicle was taken, and I am sure everybody else thought so too. But we applied for it and the answer came back a yes."
It's good to be home.
Both Tom and Darcy both have ties to Nebraska, Darcy was born in North Platte, grew up in Alliance and graduated from high school in Omaha.
"My family owned a large international printing and publishing company in Fremont," Tom said. "There is a unique history and connection we have with Nebraska."
They bought the building at 109 Walnut St. here in Kimball.
"Once we started growing more and more, and we were tripping over each other and we really needed to separate the business, it was the logical next step," Tom said. "We have really transitioned over to Nebraska. It is good to be home!"
