Age: 39 & 33
BS information systems ’01 & BS information systems ’07
Co-founders, Boardroom Spirits
Vlad and Marat Mamedov traded in their golden tickets with top consulting firms to craft liquors, European-style brandies and unusual vegetable specialty drinks for American spirits enthusiasts.
Brothers Vlad and Marat Mamedov both attended Drexel, both studied information systems and both landed jobs post-graduation as consultants for top consulting firms. Their path promised financial rewards and security, but something was lacking. They craved a life with a little more, so to speak, spirit.
So when they were ready for a career change, the Armenian brothers, along with Marat’s Hungarian wife Zsuzsa, opened a craft-distillery. In a nod to their corporate backgrounds, they named themselves Boardroom Spirits and began distilling in February 2016.
Their special contribution to the market is their own fresh spin on Hungarian pálinka, an aromatic and flavorful fruit brandy popular across Eastern Europe but not widely known to American drinkers.
“We saw a chance to do something with personal significance, because the product connected to our Armenian and Zsuzsa’s Hungarian brandy-distilling heritages,” Marat says.
Unlike distilleries that focus on artisan methods, Boardroom emphasizes technology in its manufacturing process. Using leading-edge equipment, their distiller can access the still with an internet-connected laptop from anywhere in the world, providing insights and data at every stage of distillation.
“Having gone to Drexel, the core value of ingenuity and innovation was important to both of us in our business model,” Marat says. “We see automation as a transformative opportunity in our field, as it helps to make the production safer and more efficient, which translates to a more consistent and precise spirit.”
The company’s Lansdale location, with its gleaming stills, serves as the North American showroom for Hagyo Distilling, a Hungarian still manufacturer, to market equipment to other producers.
Last fall, Boardroom Spirits launched B, a vegetable eau de vie made entirely from red beets. The beets are ground, fermented and distilled into a spirit, rather than added later as an infusion. The result is a clear liquor that smells uncannily fresh, as if each glass contained beets plucked from the farm.
It is the first release of the company’s “Periodic Table of Spirits,” a line of fruit and vegetable distillates (A for Apple, C for Carrot, Cr for Celery Root, etc.). The spirits can be enjoyed as either aperitifs or digestifs, and they’re already being served in several bars and restaurants in the Philadelphia region.
Given that two thirds of the company’s co-founders studied at Drexel, Boardroom has remained actively engaged with its alma mater from day one. Fellow Drexel alumni help with accounting, legal and facility services. Drexel friends have participated in focus groups and helped spread the word about the brand.
“In that diverse environment we were able to learn about who our future customers would be,” Vlad says. “We saw that there was a gap in the market and now we’re filling it.” — Elisa Ludwig