Community Highlights: Meet Patrick Sheridan of Akos: Made From Palm Sap

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Sheridan. 

Hi Patrick, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
A few years ago, I met a close friend and climbing buddy, John Souther, at the Golden Diner where he told me about his idea to tap palm trees for sap, take this tree sap, and ferment it like a beer into a 1 ingredient alcohol. He even had a name for the product: Akos. 

The premise was that the trees, once tapped, would become more valuable to farmers alive and producing sap than they would have been as lumber. His crazy idea was that we could slow the deforestation of palm trees in SE Asia, fight the palm oil industry, and provide a second form of income to local farmers all by just making this unique, beer-like product here in the US. 

He went on to make valuable points about consumers having a desire for a low calorie, low carb, option that wasn’t pumped full of chemicals and artificial flavoring like all the seltzer products we have seen pop up the last few years. 

After that breakfast meeting, I think it was a whole year of my friends filing legal paperwork, studying palm trees and their sap, and learning how to set up a supply chain from Asia all the way to Denver before I joined the team in official capacity. Through that process, I always heard random updates and stayed in the loop on progress but I wasn’t directly involved in these super early stages. It wasn’t until John and I went on a run from his apartment up to Castle Rock on S Table to sort out the details of me becoming officially involved. This was followed by a few more serious conversations with the rest of the team to finalize everything and from there my objectives were set. I was going to have to figure out how to sell, market, and scale Akos. 

Launching during Covid lockdowns meant bars were off the table so we sold Akos into about 40 initial liquor stores between Golden, Denver, and Boulder, and then we spent our weekends in the stores talking with customers to learn the market, why they buy, why they don’t, and how we could improve. 

A few product changes, some marketing adjustments, and a whole lot of learning later we launched in Wyoming, North Carolina, and then with EagleRock Distributing here in Colorado to get the product into many more stores around the state. We are continuously learning how to better serve the consumers, liquor stores, and bars that support us and I think we are all very stoked for what the future of Akos will bring. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think it’s ever a smooth road when you start a business from scratch, and we have had our fair share of bumps along the way. Finding a successful partnership for contract brewing proved to be quite the challenge, and then once we got our first batch ready to be brewed there was a nationwide can shortage that almost stopped us from making it on shelves. Luckily, we found a brewer, eventually found cans, learned how to sell an obscure alcoholic product through lots of trial and error, and eventually found a handful of amazing distributors that have taken us to the next level. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I think what I’m most proud of with Akos is the commitment to the people involved and the world around us. From the trees that remain unharmed, to farmers and agricultural Co-op in SE Asia through to the end consumers that have a better option with no preservatives or additives, I think Akos is a product that provides a real net positive to the world outside of just another beer or seltzer. 

Another thing I’m proud of is that we are a few friends with an idea and a vision that went out and started something together. Everybody has ideas but it seems rare to act on those ideas, take the risk, and put yourself out there. Happy to have friends with great ideas, that took action, and that invited me to come along for the journey. 

What were you like growing up?
I think you’d have to ask friends to get a good idea of who I was growing up but I’d say I was passionate, impulsive, and creative. My friends might word that different and say something along the lines of an addictive personality, willing to take too many risks, and constantly trying to take the hard road or find a new way to do something. 

Contact Info:

• Email: Pat@drinkakos.com
• Website: www.drinkakos.com
• Instagram: @DrinkAkos @Jpatricksheridan