Young professionals swarmed the bar at Alibi in the Liberty Hotel on a recent night to sip drinks made with Beija rum that included a basil martini and a cocktail called Brazilian Sunrise. A few weeks earlier, clubbers mingled at a Beija party at a lounge called District.
At No. 9 Park, patrons can order a Beija Flip made with egg whites. And Jackson Cannon, the bar master in charge of the drink menu at Eastern Standard, serves up 1940s-inspired fizzes. The main ingredient? Beija cachaça rum.
Just what is this Beija?
Customers at the more than 20 trendy restaurants in Boston that serve the new rum may be surprised to learn that Beija is a tiny start-up run by two men who have no experience in the liquor business. Kevin Beardsley, 24, and Steve Diforio, 23, who grew up together in Weston, Conn., are taking a big risk with this venture, but they have faith that it could pay off. After all, Grey Goose was started by an entrepreneur who eventually sold his premium vodka label to Bacardi for more than $2 billion.
Already, you can order Beija drinks in OM, City Bar, Olives, Via Matta, Green Street Grill, and the Foundation Lounge. You can also find Beija rum in a growing number of liquor stores around Boston. A 750-milliliter bottle costs $29.
"We're flying by the seat of our pants with no relative security," Beardsley said with a nervous smile in the Charlestown apartment he shares with Diforio, which serves as Beija headquarters.
The idea for Beija started in August 2005, when Beardsley was entering his senior year at Duke University and was doing a finance internship at
The young economics student decided he might be able to make money selling his own cachaça blend in the US, if he could figure out how to make it in Brazil and import it home.
During his senior year at Duke, Beardsley got going with the plan. He picked a name - Beija, from the Portuguese verb "to kiss" - and hired a North Carolina artist to create a logo, the sexy silhouette of a woman. Next, he found a business partner - his friend Diforio, who was finishing his undergraduate degree at George Washington University and was also looking to avoid a desk job.
The duo hunted for a supplier in Brazil that could make a unique cachaça liquor, something similar to what Beardsley tried during his internship but smooth for American drinkers. They tasted cachaça samples mailed to them by about 20 Brazilian distilleries, and eventually traveled to Sao Paulo to sign a deal with the plant that made the recipe they liked best. Following the business practices of the big liquor companies, they arranged to have the rum shipped to France for bottling and then imported to the United States.
With a product in hand, Beardsley and Diforio spent August and September of 2006 approaching bartenders at upscale restaurants about Beija. One of the first in the local industry to agree to buy it was Cannon, at Eastern Standard. He tasted Beija and liked it. Moreover, he liked that he was face-to-face with the men who started the company.
"It's just a treat if you can be in on the ground floor and build a relationship as they're growing," he said.
Cannon's early interest was key for Beardsley and Diforio, who used it to persuade a Massachusetts distributor, M.S. Walker, to take them on as clients and sell the product, and it was validation that their venture wasn't a big mistake. They had financed the Beija operation with credit cards and part-time jobs. Beardsley valet-parked cars at restaurants, some of the same restaurants he hoped would eventually carry his product, and Diforio worked at a publishing company in New York to save money until he could afford to move to Charlestown. They lobbied friends and family for investments, all of which were on the books and give those investors a stake in the company.
"It's a long process to convince someone to write a check to 22-year-olds for a liquor company," Beardsley said.
It helped to have their families' blessings. Diforio's father, literary agent Bob Diforio, acknowledged that his son has taken a risk by starting a company in his 20s - as opposed to working for one - but he's confident it will work out for the best. "To me, the whole idea was wonderful," he said. "And even if it fails, they will have learned so much. And I don't think they're going to fail."
The partners won't disclose how much they've spent and borrowed to get this far, but when asked, they look nervous. For now, the men are working on their Boston orders, but in order to make money they'll have to try to take the brand national. And then, they hope, maybe a big company will buy them out, just like Bacardi and Grey Goose.
Because at the end of the day, Beardsley and Diforio aren't really rum guys - they're entrepreneurs.
"I'd love to be done with this when it's not fun anymore," Beardsley said. "The degree to which it works is going to dictate what we can do next."
Beija events
Today, 4-6 p.m.: Beija tasting at Charles Street Liquors, 143 Charles St., Boston
Thursday, 8-10 p.m.: Beija cocktails and live music at Felt, 533 Washington St., Boston
Friday, 6-8 p.m.: Beija tasting at Top Shelf Spirits, 161 Charles St., Boston
Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com.
