Sonat Birnecker can do it all.

The co-owner of Chicago-based Koval Distillery, she’s most recently built a reputable brand that makes brandy, whiskeys, gin, vodka and liqueurs with her husband, Robert, while consulting DOZENS of would-be distillers on the trials and tribulations of booze making. But she also bought herself a master’s degree from Oxford and a PhD from the University of London by working as a fashion model for designers like Armani and Gianfranco Ferré. And she now finds time to run her company while homeschooling two young children. Oh yeah, she’s also gorgeous.

Sonat Birnecker owns Koval Distillery with her husband, Robert.

Sonat and Robert met in Washington, D.C. Sonat was a tenured professor, and Robert worked as a deputy press secretary for the Austrian embassy (he is Austrian with a PhD of his own. Robert “did not think he would be wearing overall and big boots to work one day, but we’re really glad that we took the risk,” Sonat says). Afterward, the couple moved to Berlin, where Sonat won the Walter Benjamin Chair of German Jewish Cultural History at Humbolt University, and Robert followed. They returned to D.C. after the Humbolt fellowship was over and soon after, opted for a dramatic life change. The couple moved to Sonat’s hometown of Chicago to start Koval back in 2008 when there weren’t yet that many craft distilleries in the United States.

I recently chatted with Sonat to see how she’s managed to accomplish so much and how she manages to life as a full-time entrepreneur and full-time mother. Here’s what she said:

Robert Birnecker and Sonat Birnecker

KK: When you started Koval in Chicago, craft distilleries and the ability to retail on site were illegal in Illinois. How did you finally get your distillery opened?

SB: Nobody had made spirits in Chicago since the mid 1800s. When we started it not only had never been done, but I had go to Springfield [state capital] to get the laws changed. I was pregnant with our second son, debating the merits of starting a distillery. We made friends with Gene Schulter, an alderman (like a councilman). He put me in contact with all the right people and arranged a meeting with our state house representative and senator. I was blindsided when I showed up and there were 10 lobbyists representing the distributors – all men sitting in the same room. They were opposed to our plan. But I testified and explained why it was important. That completely changed the liquor business in Illinois.

KK: Wow, that’s pretty badass. And you were pregnant, too! You must never tire. Tell us what you were trying to do with your brand and where you’re going with it now.

SB: We are grain to bottle, and now we make lots of products like liqueurs and brandies too. We wouldn’t have left our careers and the safety net just to buy our stuff from Canada and put our own spin on it. Since we’ve started, we’ve seen a huge boom in the distilling industry in Illinois and we have a very good knowledge of what’s going on. Robert and I have helped set up 75 distilleries and educated about a third of everybody who has set up a distillery in the last five years and Canada. Consulting is a big part of our business now.

KK: You’re still truly a small producer, with 20,000 cases of booze a year. Ever think about ratcheting it up a few notches?

SB:  We started with 800 cases our first year. Our biggest issue has been growth. Our model is not one that relies on having our own bar on site or a big event space. Our revenue has to come from the alcohol. So we need to constantly develop our distribution and sell more product. That can be really really difficult because what we have to do is play futures with whiskey. There is a huge investment in doing that.  Sometimes there are things you really want to do for your business but you can’t yet because you’re not ready. We try and be very conservative. That has really helped us. When we started, we moved into my brother’s old bedroom in my parents’ house and lived there for two years. We invested every penny in the distillery. We are completely and 100 percent family owned and operated. As a result, we’ve made tough choices. When we needed a new piece of equipment for the distillery, we delayed buying ourselves a house. But we have no bank debt and no investors. 

KK: That’s amazing – and rare. What’s the best advice you give your consulting clients who are new to the game?

SB:  We’ve seen people overextend themselves. It takes $250,000 to do even just a very, very small startup distillery and you don’t even know if you’re going to be good at it. We tell people to start small and make sure they are prepared to make the best product they possibly can. Because if people start trying craft brands and they’re horrible, they will think they are all like that.

Working at the Koval Distillery in Chicago

KK: Alright, we have to chat about the juggling you do, running the distillery and homeschooling your kids. You’re helping your son with math homework as we speak. You’re a master multi-tasker! What’s that like?

SB: I am seriously a full time mom who’s also constantly working.  For us, the distillery is a legacy for our sons. The kids are growing up in the distillery. I have the only 6 and 4 year-olds that know more about liquor than most grown ups. They’re learning about work in a way that’s very different from what other kids know about what their parents do.  My kids understand what work is and what marketing is. My 6 year-old will say, “I think we need a billboard” or “I think we need more impressions.”  From the beginning of the business, I would have sales meetings with the kids present. That was my own foray into a new generation of feminism.

KK: I love the way you put that. It shows you can have it all if you have the stamina!

SB:  My mom and her friends taught us that we could do anything we wanted…but with that came a tradeoff that you end up having kids late because you develop a career first. I did not want to miss out on being with my children even though I wanted to work. When we started, it was just me, Robert and our kids in a Pack & Play. Now we’ve got 20 people working for us but I am still switching off between checking the still and reading Sylvester and the Magic to my kids. I love it.