Wholesale Vodka from Misadventure & Co.

Misadventure & Co. is a craft distillery in Vista, California that makes vodka out of food that was already destined for landfill. Surplus bread, cupcakes, donuts and other unsold baked goods are collected from food banks and retailers, stripped of their usable starches, fermented and distilled into a clean 80-proof spirit. The result is a vodka with a genuine reason to exist on a shelf that is already crowded with vodkas that do not have one.

This page is for trade buyers: bar and restaurant beverage programmes, bottle shops and retail chains, distributors and importers, and companies looking at private label spirits or corporate gifting. If you are a consumer looking to buy a bottle, the product page is the place to start.

Why buyers stock Misadventure Vodka

Vodka is the hardest category in the back bar to differentiate. It is legally defined as neutral, most brands compete on packaging and advertising spend, and the customer standing at the shelf has very little to go on. Misadventure sells because it hands your staff and your shelf-talkers something concrete to say.

A category story that does not need explaining twice

“It is made from rescued baked goods” is a complete sales pitch in eight words. It survives being repeated by a busy bartender on a Friday night, it fits on a shelf-talker, and it gives a guest a reason to choose it over the well pour without anyone having to describe a filtration process. Every bottle diverts food that would otherwise have gone to landfill, which means the story is not marketing language layered on top of an ordinary product — it is a description of how the liquid is actually made.

Award-winning liquid, not just an award-winning idea

The concern with any sustainability-led spirit is that the story is carrying a product that cannot stand on its own. Misadventure has been judged on both. The distillery was named Best Distillery in San Diego by San Diego Magazine in 2020, and was also a runner-up for Best Cocktails in the same reader's poll. It won the Mayor's Challenge for Sustainability from the City of Oceanside in 2021, and was named New Business of the Year at the Vista Chamber of Commerce Heroes of Vista Awards in 2022. In total the brand has been recognised with 18 awards.

Competition scores for your buying sheet

On blind-judged competition results, Misadventure Vodka has taken 94 points and a Great Value designation at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge (2018), a Gold Medal at the SIP Awards judging of craft spirits, and a Gold Medal for Best Domestic Vodka from The Fifty Best. These are the numbers to put in front of a buying committee that wants a score rather than a story.

The competition tasting note reads: “Elegantly fragrant nose of coconut pulp, shaved almond, nectarine, and orange blossom. On the palate it is textured, toasted, and incredibly bright and clean. Savory finish of roasted pineapple and crushed peppercorns.”

National press your team does not have to generate

Misadventure has been covered by NPR, Food & Wine, The Boston Globe, Bravo, the San Diego Union-Tribune, VinePair, Grub Street, The Spirits Business, Rachael Ray Every Day, Master of Malt and Alaska Beyond, among others, and featured on America's Test Kitchen's PROOF podcast. For a retail buyer this matters in a practical way: a portion of your customers will have already encountered the brand before they see the bottle, and the coverage gives your own marketing something to link to.

“…a diet rich in Misadventure Vodka is an elegant way to address the miscalculations in our food supply chain” — San Diego Beverage Times, 2017

Product specifications

Bottle and liquid

Tasting notes for your menu and shelf copy

Misadventure Vodka is smooth, gently sweet and richly layered, with a clean, refined finish and none of the aggressive bite that characterises a lot of vodka at this price. It is crisp enough for classic cocktails and polished enough to sip neat or over a single large cube. Serve chilled; store cool and out of direct sunlight.

You are welcome to use the language on this page verbatim in your own menus, shelf-talkers and e-commerce listings.

How Misadventure Vodka is made

The process starts where most spirits production does not: with food that nobody bought. Unsold and surplus baked goods — bread, cupcakes, donuts and similar — are collected from food banks and retailers before they reach landfill. The usable starches are extracted from those baked goods and converted into sugars. Yeast ferments those sugars into alcohol. That alcohol is then distilled repeatedly into a clean, smooth vodka.

It is worth being precise about what this does and does not mean. The baked goods are the fermentable base of the spirit, in the way that wheat, potato or grape is the base of a conventional vodka. The difference is that the base material had already been produced, already been transported, and was already going to be thrown away.

Wholesale programmes by channel

Bars, restaurants and hotels (on-premise)

For beverage directors, the case for Misadventure is a well or call vodka that gives your bar team something to talk about without slowing down service. The liquid is built for mixing — it holds up in a martini, a Moscow mule, an espresso martini and a straightforward vodka soda — and the sustainability story is short enough to deliver in one sentence during a table turn.

It also gives venues with a sustainability position on their menu something defensible to point at. A restaurant that has done the work on food waste in its kitchen can extend that story across the bar without adopting a spirit that tastes like a compromise.

On-premise accounts: contact [email protected] for current on-premise pricing and sample availability ({{SAMPLE_POLICY}}).

Liquor stores, bottle shops and retail (off-premise)

In retail the problem is shelf differentiation, and this is where the upcycled story earns its keep. A shopper deciding between eight vodkas in the same price band has almost nothing to choose on. A bottle whose entire premise is that it is made from rescued food gives them a reason, and gives your staff a recommendation that takes five seconds to make.

The press coverage supports sell-through in a way that is unusual at this scale: coverage in NPR, Food & Wine and The Boston Globe means a proportion of shoppers arrive already primed. Shelf-talker copy, case cards and the product photography are available to stockists on request.

Distributors and importers

Misadventure works with distribution partners by territory. The brand has an established base in California and an award and press record that travels — national coverage rather than purely regional — which makes it a straightforward story to take into new markets.

Current distribution: {{DISTRIBUTOR_LIST}}. Territories currently served: {{STATES}}. If your territory is not listed, it is likely open — get in touch.

Corporate gifting and private label vodka

Custom and private label runs are handled case by case. This tends to appeal to two kinds of buyer: companies that want a corporate gift with an actual sustainability story attached rather than a logo printed on something generic, and venues or groups that want their own label on a spirit whose production method holds up to scrutiny.

Private label minimum: {{PRIVATE_LABEL_MOQ}}. Lead time on custom runs: {{LEAD_TIME}}. Enquiries to [email protected].

Wholesale terms

Minimum order and pricing tiers

Minimum order quantity is {{MOQ}}. Cases are supplied {{CASE_PACK}}. Freight terms are {{FOB_POINT}}.

The tiers below are transcribed from the wholesale sell sheet currently published on this page. Confirm they are current before this page goes live.

Deeper tiers beyond three cases are quoted individually — ask us.

Licensing requirements

Alcohol wholesale is licence-gated in every state, and we cannot ship to a buyer who does not hold the correct permits. To open a wholesale account you will need {{LICENSE_REQS}}. We will ask for copies before your first order ships.

Shipping, lead times and territories

We currently ship to {{STATES}}. Standard lead time from confirmed order to despatch is {{LEAD_TIME}}. Because distilled spirits shipping is regulated state by state, please confirm your territory with us before planning a promotion around a delivery date.

How to open a wholesale account

Step one: get in touch

Email [email protected] or call (760) 536-3271 with your business name, licence details and the channel you operate in.

Step two: samples and pricing

We will send current trade pricing for your channel and arrange samples where permitted ({{SAMPLE_POLICY}}).

Step three: licence verification

We verify {{LICENSE_REQS}} before the first order ships. This is not optional and it is the step most likely to add time, so send documentation early.

Step four: first order and reorder

Minimum {{MOQ}}, despatched within {{LEAD_TIME}}. Reorders can be placed directly by email.

Sales support for stockists

Point of sale and merchandising

Shelf-talkers, case cards and high-resolution product photography are available to accounts on request. The single-sentence version of the story — vodka made from rescued baked goods — is designed to work on a shelf-talker without further explanation.

Staff training and cocktail support

We can supply serve specifications and cocktail builds for accounts putting Misadventure on a menu. The four serves that work hardest on a list are the vodka martini, the Moscow mule, the espresso martini and the vodka soda.

Visiting the distillery

Trade buyers are welcome at the tasting room at 2420 Grand Ave. Suite C, Vista, CA 92081. Seeing the production process tends to do more for a buyer's confidence than any sell sheet, and it is the fastest way to understand what upcycled distillation actually involves.

Sustainability credentials

Hedonistic sustainability

The brand's framing for this is “hedonistic sustainability” — the idea, borrowed from the leave-no-trace principle in the outdoors, that enjoying something and being responsible about it are not opposed. Every drink produced is intended to be part of the solution to food waste rather than a small penance paid against it.

The food waste problem, in numbers

The context the brand cites: Americans waste roughly $218 billion a year on food that is never eaten — about 1.3% of GDP — amounting to 50 to 60 million tons of uneaten food. Those figures come from the Natural Resources Defense Council and ReFED, referenced on the brand's own sustainability page. Misadventure's position is that a portion of that stream is perfectly good fermentable material.

Upcycled Certified

Misadventure was among the first cohort of Upcycled Food Association members to certify when the Upcycled Certified standard launched in 2021. For buyers who need third-party substantiation rather than brand claims for their own ESG or procurement reporting, this is the mark to reference. Please confirm current certification status with us before citing it in your own published materials.

Frequently asked questions from trade buyers

Is Misadventure Vodka gluten free?

Independent testing puts Misadventure Vodka under 10 parts per million of gluten, which is inside the standard generally applied for gluten-free labelling. This comes up constantly in both on-premise and retail, because “is vodka gluten free” is one of the most common questions guests and shoppers ask about the category, and the answer varies by brand and base material.

What does “carbon negative” mean for this product?

Misadventure has been reported as the world's first carbon-negative consumer good — North County Daily Star, September 2021 — and the brand describes itself as a carbon-negative vodka. If you intend to repeat that claim in your own advertising, please request the current substantiation from us first. Environmental marketing claims are regulated, and the liability for repeating one sits with whoever publishes it.

Does it taste like baked goods?

No. The baked goods are the fermentable base, not a flavouring. After repeated distillation what reaches the bottle is a clean, gently sweet vodka with a soft finish. Guests who are told the story after tasting are consistently surprised by it, which is a useful thing to engineer into a serve.

How does it perform against a standard well vodka?

It is built to mix. The absence of an aggressive bite means it disappears cleanly into a soda or a mule, and it holds its shape in a martini where a harsher spirit would not.

Can we get samples before committing?

Sample availability depends on your state's regulations. Current policy: {{SAMPLE_POLICY}}.

Can we private label it?

Yes, subject to volume. Minimum {{PRIVATE_LABEL_MOQ}}, lead time {{LEAD_TIME}}.

Where is it made?

Vista, California. The distillery and tasting room are at 2420 Grand Ave. Suite C, Vista, CA 92081.

Buying vodka in bulk: what to ask any supplier

If you are comparing bulk vodka suppliers, the following questions separate a real production partner from a reseller. We have answered each one for Misadventure so you can hold the comparison side by side.

What is the base material, and who controls it?

A surprising amount of vodka on the market is bought as bulk neutral spirit, cut with water and bottled under a brand name. Misadventure ferments and distils its own base from upcycled baked goods at its own facility in Vista, California. That means the production story you are buying into is one we can actually show you.

How many times is it distilled, and does that number mean anything?

Distillation count is one of the most abused numbers in the category, because past a certain point additional passes stop meaningfully changing the spirit. Misadventure is distilled {{DISTILLATION}} on a custom-built column still. What matters more than the count is the finish, and the finish here is clean and soft rather than hot.

What is the gluten position, and is it tested or assumed?

Many brands assert gluten-free status on the basis that distillation removes gluten proteins. Misadventure has been independently tested at under 10 ppm. If a supplier cannot tell you whether their figure is tested or inferred, that is worth knowing before a coeliac guest asks your bartender.

What is the minimum order, and what happens if you reorder small?

Minimum order quantity is {{MOQ}}, supplied {{CASE_PACK}}. Reorder terms are the same. Ask any supplier what their reorder minimum is separately from their opening order — the two are often different, and the gap is where margin quietly disappears.

Can they substantiate their sustainability claims?

This is the question that matters most and gets asked least. Ask for third-party certification rather than brand language. Misadventure holds Upcycled Certified status from the Upcycled Food Association, and we will provide current documentation on request.

How Misadventure compares to conventional vodka

None of this is an argument that conventional vodka is badly made. It is an argument about what a buyer can say at the point of sale, and about what happens to the raw material before it ever reaches a still.

Serve specifications for menu development

These are the four builds we recommend to accounts putting Misadventure on a list. Each is chosen because it survives a busy service and because the spirit's soft finish is an advantage rather than something to work around.

Vodka martini

The test case. A vodka with a harsh finish has nowhere to hide in a martini, and this is where the distillation work shows. Serve very cold, with a twist to lift the gentle sweetness.

Moscow mule

Ginger is aggressive enough to flatten a lesser vodka into background alcohol. Misadventure's slight sweetness holds its own against the ginger rather than disappearing beneath it.

Espresso martini

Still one of the highest-margin serves on most lists. The soft finish keeps the drink from turning bitter at the back, which is the usual failure mode of this build.

Vodka soda

The most unforgiving drink in the category, because there is nothing to hide behind. This is the serve to pour when a guest tells you they cannot tell vodkas apart.

About the distillery

Vista, California

Misadventure & Co. produces in Vista, in northern San Diego County. The distillery and tasting room share a site at 2420 Grand Ave. Suite C, and the operation is small enough that a trade buyer can see the whole process in a single visit.

Recognition from its own community

Alongside the national coverage, the brand has been recognised locally in ways that matter to a regional buyer: New Business of the Year at the Vista Chamber of Commerce Heroes of Vista Awards in 2022, and the City of Oceanside's Mayor's Challenge for Sustainability in 2021. San Diego Magazine named it Best Distillery in San Diego in 2020.

Start a wholesale account

Email [email protected] or call (760) 536-3271. Tell us your channel, your territory and your licence status, and we will come back with pricing and next steps.

Misadventure & Co. · 2420 Grand Ave. Suite C, Vista, CA 92081 · (760) 536-3271