Perhaps you’ve spied the bottle on the shelf at the local liquor store or bar—a clear glass bottle with a label featuring a wolf peering out of pine trees (an updated version of what used to be a jaguar peering out of the jungle, which they changed to showcase their Idaho roots)—and were intrigued enough to order a drink made with this award-winning, craft vodka made in Idaho from locally sourced russet potatoes. This is Party Animal, a cause-based vodka produced right in the Wood River Valley that not only tastes exceptional but also gives back to the many animal organizations in the area. After six years in business, Party Animal is going strong and has no plans of stopping.
How It Started
While Party Animal Vodka would get its official start in the Wood River Valley, the brand’s origins trace back to a Friday night in college, when founder Kate Cullen was pondering her weekend plans which, like that of many other college students, included drinking. It was 2011, and Kate felt unsatisfied by the vodkas on the market. She wanted something that related to her and her lifestyle, from having friends over to the dorms to attending a dinner party, hostess gift in hand, to taking shots at the bar with the other party animals. She decided then and there to create a vodka that had the characteristics she was looking for: quality, philanthropy, and an ethos that related to the party lifestyle.
After deciding her vodka’s name and what the brand would stand for, Kate attempted to get the product off the ground, even using it as the basis for a class project, where she met with the founder and CEO of liqueur Veev and learned what it would take to make her dream a reality. But she struggled to get funding and eventually other pursuits, like getting her masters in taxation and becoming a tax accountant, took precedence over Party Animal, and the idea was shelved.
After several years in California, she and her long-time boyfriend Josh Hanson decided they needed a break and moved to Sun Valley after visiting a friend and falling in love with the place. It seemed like the perfect time to get back into Kate’s passion project and really make Party Animal a reality. After trademarking the brand and getting some initial investment in 2017, Kate and Josh began trying different flavor profiles, eventually settling on an Idaho russet potato vodka from Drinc, out of Rigby, Idaho.
On the philanthropy side, Kate and Josh decided that a percentage of their profits would go to local animal organizations. The vodka’s label speaks to both the “Party Animal” ethos but also to the animals that customers help support with their dollars. The first batch officially launched in 2018.
How It’s Going
In the years since Party Animal launched, a lot has changed—most notably, Covid happened, which changed the game a lot in terms of distribution and getting Party Animal into the mouths of potential new customers. In 2019, Party Animal started to really ramp up their distribution and volume of sales, locking in deals with Alberton’s and distributing in Idaho, California, and Wyoming. But when things shut down in 2020, Kate and Josh were no longer able to do in-person tastings, putting a damper on their best promotional method. “2020 really shifted our focus back locally, because people were just looking to get in the grocery and get out,” says Kate.
Kate and Josh made some big shifts, producing the vodka themselves (though they still use Drinc for the distillation process) at their production facility in Hailey, pulling back distribution, and scaling back their team of employees to just the two of them. In 2021, the couple also welcomed their first child, which also helped cement their prioritizing of the local market and doing less traveling/promoting of the brand.
Kate and Josh have since welcomed their second child, which means they have to be even more conscientious of how they use their time with Party Animal. They’ve enlisted the help of a statewide sales team and try to personally only do key account visits and work from the management side of the business.
Seeing the community’s resilience during Covid and the support they’ve personally received has only reinforced Kate and Josh’s passion for keeping their business in the Wood River Valley. “The people here are very creative and unique, and there’s so many people doing really cool things here, so we’re honored to be part of the community, ‘says Kate. “It’s such a neat place to be. There’s so much creativity to be had here.” Josh agrees, saying, “The sense of community is cool to see. And from the outdoors perspective, it’s incredible—you walk out a mile and you’re in the great wilderness of central Idaho.”
The Party Haus
Kate and Josh decided to bring all vodka production for Party Animal in-house in 2020, partnering with a local ramen shop to open a space in Hailey where they could work out of. After the ramen shop moved out, they wondered what to do with the rest of the space—open a restaurant? A kitchen? A tasting/tap room? Rather than attempt to enter the restaurant space, which they aren’t familiar with, the couple stuck with what they know—the booze side of business—and created an event space known as the Party Haus, for both private and pop-up events.
While they originally intended to be open to the public, local fire code limits public hours in relation to production hours, so for now the space is for private events only, like brunches and wedding parties. Party Haus provides a great event space with vast flexibility. In terms of food, clients can use caterers or even have food trucks come park to service the event. The bar service is flexible, with the ability to make custom, Party Animal-based drinks or even ready-to-drink bagged cocktails.
Helping the Animals
One of Kate’s founding tenets for Party Animal was philanthropy, which the brand accomplishes by donating a portion of profits to animal-based organizations in the areas it’s distributed. To date, Party Animal has donated $75k to a variety of organizations, including Idaho’s Mountain Humane, Idaho Humane Society, Rilo’s, and Idaho Conservation League, as well as California’s Oceana, Glendale Humane Society, and Bolsa Chica Conservancy. By tailoring donations to local organizations, Party Animal helps their customers feel like they’re making a bigger difference in their own community. Since Covid, Party Animal has also started donating to several human organizations too (humans are, after all, also animals).
The Future
After scaling back during and post-Covid, Party Animal is back in the swing of things, ramping up production, which extends to widening distribution. At the moment, Party Animal is only available in Idaho, California, and a bit of Wyoming, but in the next year, Josh and Kate have their sights set on expanding into Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Arizona.
They also have intentions for expanding their product line, in the form of the aforementioned ready-to-drink bagged cocktails. The idea came to the couple while on a Middle Fork trip, where they put vodka in an MSR three-liter bag and realized the potential market for an outdoor cocktail that is light and doesn’t take up space after it’s emptied. While they’re still working out the kinks in production and the name, they’re hoping to launch soon. Another potential future endeavor is expanding into other alcohols—Josh and Kate would love to do a whiskey or a tequila. Though for now, Party Animal as it stands, as well as their two children, keep them plenty busy.
“We’ve got two anchors now,” says Josh. “We’ve planted some pretty deep roots here, so, we’re not going anywhere.”