Local Company Works to Provide a Product While Making a Difference Locally and Beyond

Steven Bonifazi

Local health and beauty company Pit Liquor has extended their Not-So-Secret-Santa gift campaign now through Friday, January 8, to provide some relief for small business owners struggling during the holidays.

The campaign was announced by Pit Liquor on Thursday, December 10, involving Pit Liquor providing local businesses with two free 50ml Pit Liquor products of their choosing. Businesses can participate in the campaign and receive their free products by private messaging Pit Liquor on their Facebook or Instagram accounts or emailing them with their business’s Employer Identification Number (EIN).

“We have all been there, where you want to buy gifts for everyone, but your pocketbook says no, so we wanted to remove that feeling for small business owners as much as we could,” said Erica Feucht, co-owner and co-founder of Pit Liquor. “We gave things to small business owners, and it went well,” Erica said from her warehouse for Pit Liquor located in North Fort Collins.

Erica grew up in Fort Collins, where she attended Poudre High School and later earned a degree in creative writing and poetry from The University of Colorado Denver. She taught for a while in Africa, later returning to Loveland, working as an editor at the religious organization Group Publishing.

It was not until after she quit her job at Group Publishing and became pregnant with her first child that Erica and her husband, Jason Feucht, who is also the co-owner and co-founder of Pit Liquor, stumbled upon the idea to start up Pit Liquor Whiskey and Vodka Natural Deodorant in 2017. The company is now on track to hit a million in revenue in January 2021.

The idea came to the husband and wife-duo during Erica’s pregnancy when she switched to using traditional deodorants after giving up on natural deodorants due to experiencing rashes or non-pleasant smelling deodorants. When Jason told Erica that she should stop using traditional deodorants, she used a bottle of hand sanitizer instead.

“Jason is a materials engineer by training at Colorado School of Mines and said the alcohol was not natural, but in that moment a light bulb went off, and he said what about whiskey, so he started reading medical textbooks on the subject and talked to our doctor,” said Erica. “He wanted to find something that was in long use in the human food system and not having a history of causing allergic reactions, and he made this product out of roots, teas, and whiskey, and he made it for me,” Erica said.

Erica and Jason later gave the crafted deodorant to their neighbor Nancy who enjoyed it and began distributing it among people she knew. The two created a Facebook page and began giving it away to people, later creating a kick starter that did very well.

Today Pit Liquor is working to create more products, releasing a limited edition grapefruit gin and fennel deodorant and hand sanitizer. Erica spends her days creating new processes and procedures and working with investors while switching back and forth with Jason from working to take care of their children.

Erica and Jason take the time to give back to communities beyond Northern Colorado, donating a portion of the proceeds from Pit Liquor to the country of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa to help pay for people’s medical bills. The donations to Guinea-Bissau are part of a project called the Tolos Project, named after a dear friend of Erica and Jason, who passed away from not paying medical bills.

“We were going through grieving about it and named the project after him,” said Erica. “We had someone who was in the hospital for a full month after having a baby, and we paid for her food and medical care,” Erica said.

For more information regarding Pit Liquor, visit: pitliquor.com or take part in the Not-So-Secret-Santa gift campaign, email Pit Liquor [email protected] or visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/distilledbathandbody.