Dirty Dill cofounders Warren Wood, left, and Dan Graves. (Courtesy Dirty Dill)
Dirty Dill is taking a shot – at $500,000.
The local pickle-infused vodka maker that can be found in 5,000 liquor stores across 13 states is hoping to raise that much within the next six months, co-owner Dan Graves told BusinessDen. That would be on top of $300,000 the company raised from investors last year.
“It’s amazing what getting a little bit of capital can do,” Graves told BusinessDen. “Consumers outside of Colorado didn’t know what a pickle shot was, but now we’re getting distributors calling us. It’s like a 360. I used to cold-call distributors and get ‘No’s’ all the time.”
Graves said he’ll use the funds to add one or two new flavors — the existing ones are dill, spicy dill and bloody mary — and ramp up sales and marketing efforts.
He’s also planning to shed a warehouse and production facility at 58th and Washington in Adams County, when its lease expires at the end of the year, and shift to contract packing.
“We took a weird route to get here, but we need to keep up with demand and focus on being a brand,” Graves said.
The Colorado native jokes that Dirty Dill only recently became a “legit business” despite its founding in 2022 by him and Warren Wood. In the first couple of years, the pair battled equipment and shelf-life issues, Graves said.
Wood had experience in the beverage industry beforehand, but Graves didn’t. Before Dirty Dill, he ran a construction company, growing it from $300,000 in work a year to $5 million, he said. But once the pandemic hit and material prices got “wonky,” he said, the self-described lifelong entrepreneur went a different route.
“I love pickle shots. My wife and I had made them and you always saw them at bars, but you didn’t really see them in liquor stores,” he said of the inspiration behind Dirty Dill.
“But we had no idea what we were doing at first,” he added, with a laugh.
Dirty Dill sells its Dill, Spicy Dill and Bloody Mary flavors in 50 milliliter nips and 750 milliliter bottles. (BusinessDen illustration)
After refining the recipe, getting industrial production gear and signing on with Republic National Distributing Co. this past May, however, Graves said he believes he’s in a good spot.
A year ago, Dirty Dill was in about 1,800 stores. By the end of this year, he said, the product will be in 6,000 spots across 18 states. Nearly all of those are liquor stores, although Dirty Dill can be found in some bars, including DNVR Bar and Zanzibar Billiards locally.
Dirty Dill did $300,000 in revenue last year and is on track to hit $1 million this year, Graves said. In 2026, when it plans to be in up to 30 states, he hopes to post $2 million.
The shots sell for $1.49 apiece in stores. Online, they can be bought in packs of 12 for $18 to $20. Bottles are also about $20.
Graves said last year’s $300,000 raise coincided with a “pickle industry boom.” The capital allowed the co-owners to hire sales and social media teams, start attending events and come out with new flavors.
Graves said he has $200,000 committed toward the $500,000 he hopes to raise this round.
So far, Dirty Dill’s best-selling states are Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Michigan. Graves hopes to spread the pickle shot gospel to the coast, where he said people are less open to drinking the sour juice with alcohol.
In-store promotions will be a big part of that.
“Everybody’s getting into tequila and bourbon, vodka is saturated, craft beer is saturated, but there’s still a place to find something unique,” he said.
Dirty Dill cofounders Warren Wood, left, and Dan Graves. (Courtesy Dirty Dill)
Dirty Dill is taking a shot – at $500,000.
The local pickle-infused vodka maker that can be found in 5,000 liquor stores across 13 states is hoping to raise that much within the next six months, co-owner Dan Graves told BusinessDen. That would be on top of $300,000 the company raised from investors last year.
“It’s amazing what getting a little bit of capital can do,” Graves told BusinessDen. “Consumers outside of Colorado didn’t know what a pickle shot was, but now we’re getting distributors calling us. It’s like a 360. I used to cold-call distributors and get ‘No’s’ all the time.”
Graves said he’ll use the funds to add one or two new flavors — the existing ones are dill, spicy dill and bloody mary — and ramp up sales and marketing efforts.
He’s also planning to shed a warehouse and production facility at 58th and Washington in Adams County, when its lease expires at the end of the year, and shift to contract packing.
“We took a weird route to get here, but we need to keep up with demand and focus on being a brand,” Graves said.
The Colorado native jokes that Dirty Dill only recently became a “legit business” despite its founding in 2022 by him and Warren Wood. In the first couple of years, the pair battled equipment and shelf-life issues, Graves said.
Wood had experience in the beverage industry beforehand, but Graves didn’t. Before Dirty Dill, he ran a construction company, growing it from $300,000 in work a year to $5 million, he said. But once the pandemic hit and material prices got “wonky,” he said, the self-described lifelong entrepreneur went a different route.
“I love pickle shots. My wife and I had made them and you always saw them at bars, but you didn’t really see them in liquor stores,” he said of the inspiration behind Dirty Dill.
“But we had no idea what we were doing at first,” he added, with a laugh.
Dirty Dill sells its Dill, Spicy Dill and Bloody Mary flavors in 50 milliliter nips and 750 milliliter bottles. (BusinessDen illustration)
After refining the recipe, getting industrial production gear and signing on with Republic National Distributing Co. this past May, however, Graves said he believes he’s in a good spot.
A year ago, Dirty Dill was in about 1,800 stores. By the end of this year, he said, the product will be in 6,000 spots across 18 states. Nearly all of those are liquor stores, although Dirty Dill can be found in some bars, including DNVR Bar and Zanzibar Billiards locally.
Dirty Dill did $300,000 in revenue last year and is on track to hit $1 million this year, Graves said. In 2026, when it plans to be in up to 30 states, he hopes to post $2 million.
The shots sell for $1.49 apiece in stores. Online, they can be bought in packs of 12 for $18 to $20. Bottles are also about $20.
Graves said last year’s $300,000 raise coincided with a “pickle industry boom.” The capital allowed the co-owners to hire sales and social media teams, start attending events and come out with new flavors.
Graves said he has $200,000 committed toward the $500,000 he hopes to raise this round.
So far, Dirty Dill’s best-selling states are Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Michigan. Graves hopes to spread the pickle shot gospel to the coast, where he said people are less open to drinking the sour juice with alcohol.
In-store promotions will be a big part of that.
“Everybody’s getting into tequila and bourbon, vodka is saturated, craft beer is saturated, but there’s still a place to find something unique,” he said.
