Sarah Pierce has a great love for Port Washington. She spent her first 18 years in town, attending Guggenheim, Weber and then graduating from Schreiber in 2010. Now she has her goals set high for her new business and product, Tiqo. Pierce created this new drink, a mix of super pure tequila blanco, lime juice, turmeric root, coconut water, carbonated water and ginger flavors when she was still a college student at Barnard College. Her college roommate, GG Mirvis, became her future business partner.
The idea developed when Pierce noticed the ease for beer drinkers to just grab a beer at a party or bar. But, for anyone who wanted a mixed drink it was a much lengthier process and there was a great uncertainty about the alcohol being mixed. Pierce continued to think about this while she she was backpacking in Central America between her sophomore and junior year. One day, while relaxing on the beach, she decided to make her own drink mixing tequila and carbonated water. “I wanted something light and refreshing and healthy, not something that bloats you like beer with a ton of calories,” she said. Finding it delicious and refreshing, she knew she had come across her big idea. When she got back to Barnard, she told Mirvis about it and they started trying out flavors that would work well with Pierce’s concept. It didn’t take them long to create their masterpiece, Tiqo. The name was suggested by a local bartender, who thought it sounded like a combination of tequila and coconut water. Now they had the task ahead of them to start figuring out ways to manufacture their idea as well as brand and market it.
That’s when they had the luck of meeting their third partner, Alex Combias, a friend attending Parsons School of Design in New York, who not only had a background in design but a family background in liquor distribution. By their senior year of college, the three friends had hired a family run tequila plant in Tequila, Mexico named Casa Maestri to make the super pure 110% tequila blanco they use for Tiqo. They hired a small Mexican design company to create the packaging of the sleek black bottle, using modern, clean geometric shapes. Finally, in December 2015, they were ready to launch their marketing campaign using may of their artist friends.
So far, 15 bars and restaurants are selling Tiqo in Manhattan, where the three partners live, as well as six or seven establishments in Montauk and the Hamptons. They are in the process of seeing how people respond to Tiqo and educating consumers about this new product. Pierce feels that their ultimate goal “is to see this product become people’s ritual…for them to have an easy go to drink..something light and refreshing that they feel confident holding.” They also hope to become successful enough to give back, especially to Arts Education charities and local musicians and artists.
One of the first places to hold a tasting was Black Tie Wine and Spirits in Port Washington. “Port Washington is a really supportive community of people…even when you leave, there are always Port kids that come back together in the city and anywhere else you are and support each other…it (Port) follows you everywhere,” Pierce said.
