Jake Krausz and Adrienne Stillman Krausz, The Dry Goods Beverage Company

Location: Napa CA

Title: Co-founders

Years in the Industry: 

We’ve been in the industry for 10 years (Adrienne) and going on 25 years (Jake) - if you count teenage years spent pulling rocks and planting vines at his family’s Napa Valley winery, Arkenstone on Howell Mountain. More officially, since 2010 Jake has been Estate Director for the winery, managing sales, marketing and wearing many other hats!

Meanwhile, over in New York City, Adrienne came to the beverage world by way of cocktails and spirits. We met at a wine and food festival in Rhode Island and shortly thereafter Jake lured Adrienne out to Napa. 

Since then, Adrienne has written two books, Where Bartenders Drink (2017) and Spirited: Cocktails from Around the World (2020), both from Phaidon Press. She also spent five years as Director of Marketing for wine DTC ecommerce and fulfillment company WineDirect. Today, we are proud co-founders of The Dry Goods Beverage Company: an online source for non-alcoholic wine, spirits and cocktails!

Our Top Three Challenges to Wellness:

1.     Overwhelm: We have so much going on, especially with a new business it is A LOT. The to-do list is neverending. No matter how many hours we work, there is always more to do. It’s hard to remember to stop, breathe and take a break.

2.     Passion: This can be a double-edged sword. We already had a lot going on before starting Dry Goods, but we were so excited about the idea, we just had to do it. It’s a constant balancing act to feed our passion for our business while also maintaining healthy habits to feed our bodies and souls.

3.     Celebrating Success: Because we have so much going on, we sometimes forget to celebrate our achievements. We are always onto the next thing. When you’re your own boss, it’s extra important to make time to pat yourself on the back, recognize what you’ve done and mark the occasion.

How We Keep It Together to Stay Well 

First of all we are trying to redefine our success in a more holistic way. Success is not only whether we are making money. We could be hugely profitable but if it means we are working 12-hour days and total stress bombs, that is not success. It’s hard to do this in a world that prioritizes the external trappings of success - money, power, achievement - over the intangible internal ones.

On that note, we both find meditation is key. Jake recently started using the Headspace app and Adrienne does Kundalini yoga and meditation.

We are also passionate home cooks. We buy almost all our groceries at the Napa farmer’s market and take a lot of pleasure in cooking healthy, delicious meals. Perhaps most importantly we have an amazing dog (Arwen) who is always overjoyed to see us when we walk in the door and gives really great snuggles.

What Inspires Us: 

We are so inspired by the incredible people we work with in the non-alcoholic beverage space. Just like in wine and spirits, there are talented, dedicated professionals who truly care about making high-quality products. 

We also love it when we hear from people that we are helping to make their lives better when it comes to cutting back on alcohol. There is so much social stigma around not-drinking, an automatic assumption that something must be wrong with you if you decline a glass of wine. It’s hugely stressful and isolating. Our real goal with The Dry Goods Beverage Co. isn’t to sell products, it’s to change the conversation around booze and make it more “normal” not to drink - whatever your reason may be.

A Quote We Love: 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? 

- Mary Oliver

You can connect with Adrienne and Jake on Instagram @drygoodsdrinks and at drygoodsdrinks.com