Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Groenhof.
Hi Joe, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Brewing soda started in 2013 when I went down to Florida to help my brother. During the month I was down there; he told me that I should look into brewing soda. He had just started home brewing beer, and I found that fascinating. For several years after that I started working on different soda recipes.
Then in 2017, I started looking into starting a soda company. A few guys I knew wanted some of my sodas at their place. In 2018 I started brewing soda at their brewery. They would use the sodas as mixers. In 2019, they came to me and said they were too busy for me to be brewing soda there. For the summer, I was able to brew blueberry soda at a farm market. That farm market used the soda as a slushee mix. It took several months to get a place ready for me to brew. In December of 2019 I finally got licensed, but it took several more weeks to refine the process.
In the first 2 weeks of March I started going around to different stores and restaurants. There was a lot of interest, and several places were ready to start serving and mixing the sodas at bars and restaurants. Everything shut down for several months so, in 2020 I mainly supplied those who had already used my soda. There were a few other farm markets that took on the blueberry soda. (My family owns a blueberry farm, so I was able to contact a few of the farmers in the area). In February of 2021, I started getting out to a few more places. The only soda I had at the time was blueberry soda.
In July of 2021 2 more flavors were added to the line up. Currently the 3 flavors are Blueberry Bliss Soda, Cloud Hopper Cream Soda, and Klompen Stomper Grape Soda. There are other flavors I’m working on, and those will come out sometime in 2022.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As with most of the other businesses out there, the covid shutdown and restrictions were hard. The soda was in places but I couldn’t give out samples to people. It’s hard to have people try the soda when you can’t give out samples.
Coming up with labels and recipes takes time. It takes several variations of each recipe to get the flavor I’m looking for. Then getting the nutritional facts and the label design does take quite a bit of time.
I’m trying to make the company without taking on much debt while working full time on the family farm. It takes a bit to figure out what I need to buy and when I can buy it. Also having enough time to do it all.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Kittywampus Soda Brewing?
We specialize in making bold soda flavors. The blueberry soda and the grape soda each contain 60% blueberry or grape juice. We also use raw Demerara sugar instead of processed cane sugar. It’s a more expensive sugar but it imparts a unique flavor aspect to the sodas. We don’t use any artificial flavorings or coloring in the soda.
The natural flavors add the amazing taste and color we need. I get asked a lot about the name Kittywampus. How and why it’s named that way. Kittywampus means askew or out of place. Well in the soda market we are a little out of place. We use a high amount of juice in our fruit sodas, the use of Demerara sugar isn’t heard of, so yea it’s different.
The labels are bold and unique with a sense of adventure. Most of the other craft soda companies use the same label design for each flavor. Kittywampus crafts a unique label for each unique flavor. The label and flavor name invokes an element of curiosity to the drinking experience. Another thing, Kittywampus is fun to say; just try saying it without a smile.
It’s a tiny company, and we haven’t expanded to many places past Holland. Some of it is finding the time to pound the pavement at new areas while still brewing enough for what I supply. Also, our equipment is pretty small so it takes a bit of time to make the soda.
Right now we are working on a website design, and also coming out with a few new flavors. I get a lot of help from my sister and brother-in-law.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
As for the future for the overall soda market, I don’t know, but the future for Kittywampus looks good. We will continue to slowly grow. There’s a lot of things to work on that I haven’t thought about. Website, new labels, and flavor, finding new places to carry the soda, refining the procedure, and getting new equipment. Right now we are focusing on building a foundation that the company can be supported by.
There are a lot of behind-the-scenes things to do while the company grows. I’m confident about the future, and yet cautious about how fast or slow it will grow.
Pricing:
- The price of the soda can vary from $2-3 per can + deposit
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Kittywampus-Soda-Brewing-103608914566365/?ref=bookmarks
Image Credits
Tanner M Productions.
