GRIMES, Iowa — MarKaus calls himself an activist, a musician, and a businessman. Those titles came together for him during the last week of 2020.
The Iowa resident announced to his fans on Instagram that his second whiskey line called Burn the Boats would be available in 44 states. Previously, it was largely just available on local store shelves. But now, he's already shipping his straight rye whiskey across the country.
"This wasn’t overnight. This wasn’t quick. And it wasn’t by accident," said MarKaus as he described the six-year journey that started when he was teenager trying to figure out how to pay for college
"It took six years of saving, planning, bumping my head, messing up, mispricing things, mis-marketing things, not doing enough of this, doing too much of that and…learning," he said.
MarKaus partnered with local beverage producer and bottler Stuart Oxer, who owns Red Boot Distillery in Grimes. Oxer helped MarKaus produce nearly 5,000 bottles and eventually find a distributer in Florida who could help him take his product nationwide.
"There were so many people that wanted to help, wanted to get involved, wanted to somehow see a black business thrive," MarKaus said.
And he feels like his business is thriving. Within 24-hours of taking his product online, he sold 200 bottles. MarKaus says each of those bottles represents a investment back into his community.
He said "finding ways that we can make our community work, finding ways that we can keep our dollars in our community, funding good things, funding good people" is the goal of everything he does.
His latest whiskey is also "infused" with his music. Each bottles comes with a QR code that sends buyers to a website where they can listen to his latest album.