Photo courtesy of Revolution Experiment, LLC
It has international inspiration, national origins, statewide distribution and – as of late 2016 – local production.
And it can be part of your Bloody Mary, mule, lemonade or punch variant.
It’s Karate Cowboy, a sake-infused liquor available in two flavors: honey wasabi and ginger mint.
Karate Cowboy is the brainchild of New Albany resident Mark Tinus. Tinus officially created Revolution Experiment LLC, the company behind Karate Cowboy, in New York, but it was always The Ohio State University graduate’s plan to roll it out in Columbus.
First things first: Karate Cowboy is not sake. It’s infused with the traditionally Japanese rice wine, but it’s white whiskey-based grain liquor, not wine. And it’s more suited to shots and cocktails than sipping.
The name comes from the “East meets West” nature of the inaugural spirit: Japanese wasabi meets American honey. The flavor, inspired by flavor profiles at popular New York Asian restaurants, is intended to start out sweet and smooth (honey), followed by a burn (wasabi). The mint and ginger, in that order, has a similar effect. Tinus calls it a “truly global product.”
“Ultimately, we’re building this company as a string of brands that are very innovative and different,” he says.
Tinus started out in the beer world as a brewer for Anheuser-Busch, then got into branding and sales for liquor companies, later working for Heineken as well. When he decided to build his own brand, he didn’t want to explore ground that was already well-trod – vodka, whiskey, rum, etc.
“So we came upon sake as a starting point,” he says.
Sake, he learned, had appeal, particularly among young audiences. But a lot of people hadn’t tried it and didn’t know where to start. In the surveys Revolution conducted, 90 percent of respondents knew what sake was, but only 6 percent could name a brand.
Complicating things further was the fact that a lot of bars didn’t stock sake – in large part, because it’s considered wine, so bars without much (or any) wine to speak of didn’t think it would appeal to customers. Younger customers gravitate more toward shots than wine, anyway, often only encountering sake in bomb form, so it made sense to approach it as liquor, Tinus says.
Photo courtesy of Revolution Experiment, LLC
Karate Cowboy was previously manufactured in Louisville, but Tinus moved production back to Columbus late this past year. The whiskey comes from Indiana, and the sake from Japan.
The past year has been wild, Tinus says, with many of the company’s goals coming to fruition, including moving into markets in Cleveland and Cincinnati and further expanding into Columbus suburbs. Among the local bars and restaurants carrying it are Local Roots in Powell, Flip Side at Easton Town Center, Barrel on High in the Short North, Pigskin Brewing Co. in Gahanna and Zauber Brewing in Grandview Heights.
“Karate Cowboy has gone from, essentially, a quirky new-age spin on sake to really pushing new boundaries in the cocktail space,” he says.
Among the 100-plus recipes the company has on hand are Wasabi Bloody Mary, Tokyo Mule, Honey Wasabi Cowboy Up, Space Cowboy, Adult’s Orange Julius, Ginger Mint Julep and Jet Puffed Martini, as well as such martial arts-themed options as Throat Punch and Roundhouse Kick.
“We’re a brand that is meant to be played with,” Tinus says.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Elder Cowboy
Photo courtesy of Revolution Experiment, LLC
Ingredients
- 2 oz. Honey Wasabi Karate Cowboy
- ½ oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur
- ½ oz. lemon juice
- Ginger beer
Instructions
Combine Karate Cowboy, St. Germain and lemon juice over ice. Top with ginger beer and serve.
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