Rifino Valentine: “From my perspective, becoming sustainable is simply an investment to do the right thing”

…At this point, I don’t think a business can be more profitable by being sustainable and environmentally conscious. From my perspective, this is simply an investment to do the right thing. The equipment we are installing has such a long pay-off time, that it isn’t necessarily good business sense. I’m hoping that we can inspire other businesses to invest a portion of their profits into these systems. I’m also hoping that in the near future, the government can take a bigger role and maybe these initiatives will make more sense economically for businesses.

I had the pleasure to interview Rifino Valentine. Rifino spent his childhood growing up in Leelanau County in Michigan. He then ventured off during his college years to attend Cornell University where he majored in economics and was a member of the wrestling team. In 1993, Valentine graduated from Cornell with his degree. From there, he went on to Wall Street where he was an equities trader for 11 years. His adventure into the spirits industry all started while he was out one night and had ordered a dirty martini. Valentine realized that the only way he could receive a dirty martini was to consume a mass-produced, imported vodka. And people were claiming those to be “top shelf.” Yet, he didn’t understand why he wasn’t able to find a quality American produced vodka. This set him out on his mission that is known today as Valentine Distilling Co.

In 2005, he came back to Michigan and started working side-by-side with Dr. Berglund who leads the Michigan State University’s Artisan Distilling program. Dr. Berglund mentored Rifino to show him the ropes of fine distilling craftsmanship. His experience on Wall Street led Valentine to realize we were losing quality manufacturing in America. It is moving overseas and mass production has diminished the quality of products. Rifino set out on a goal to create a manufacturing business revolving around distilling quality products in the former birthplace of manufacturing known as Detroit. And in 2007, he founded Valentine Distilling Co. with the intent to show America that quality manufacturing still exists in Detroit. Valentine Distilling Co. is globally and nationally recognized. Valentine is a founding member and served as the first president of the Michigan Craft Distillers Association. He resides in Ferndale, Michigan with his wife, Alina, and dog, Sherbert. Valentine Distilling Co. is an American pioneer of small batch spirits. Receiving international recognition, Valentine Vodka, won the World’s Best Vodka in 2016 and 2017 at the World Vodka Awards in London. Valentine Distilling Co.’s Liberator Gin has also received the “Best American Gin Distillery” at the Berlin International Spirits Competition. In summer 2019, Valentine’s Mayor Pingree Whiskey received 93 points and a Top 10 ranking from Whisky Advocate. In the tradition of Detroit’s manufacturing leadership, Valentine Distilling Co. is dedicated to American ingenuity, quality manufacturing, and small batch distilling using old-world techniques that create superior products.

Thank you so much for joining us Rifino! Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I grew up on a farm in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. I was actually born on the farm, delivered by my dad. It wasn’t a typical farm though. It was more of an effort of my parents, who both grew up in cities, to get away from the unhealthy aspects of life. So, we raised chickens and goats. We ate mostly what we grew or raised organically. (I still can’t stand the taste of goat’s milk!) What we didn’t grow or raise ourselves, we bought from local farm markets.

We planted evergreens to replace the barren pastureland at first just for the benefit of the environment. My dad also ran tree planting crews every spring and fall and figures that they’ve planted more than 2 million trees in a three-county area. The trees we planted on the farm eventually turned into a Christmas tree and landscaping tree business.

Was there an “aha moment” or a specific trigger that made you decide you wanted to make sustainability a priority for your business?

I am not a scientist or an environmental leader. I am a business owner that realizes we can’t keep doing what we’re doing as a society. My business philosophy parallels this thought. I can expand on this, for more time than I have to write, but it’s essentially that we have lost quality and choice as consumers, because we have transitioned to an economy where the only goal of businesses is profit. There has to be a balance. We need to get back to the point of businesses beings great because of the products they make, not how much money they make.

Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?

We are in the first year of a 10-year climate sustainability initiative with a commitment of $500,000 being invested in this initiative. The first phases are reduce, recycle, reuse. The next phases will be installing energy generating systems (wind/solar).

1) We have installed a water processing system that will save us nearly 2,000 gallons of water per day.

2) We have installed energy efficient LED lights throughout the 20,000 sq. ft. distillery production facility.

3) Launched the farm-bottle-farm program- we ship our spent grains to local farmers for cattle feed.

Read more about our initiative here.

How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?

At this point, I don’t think a business can be more profitable by being sustainable and environmentally conscious. From my perspective, this is simply an investment to do the right thing. The equipment we are installing has such a long pay-off time, that it isn’t necessarily good business sense. I’m hoping that we can inspire other businesses to invest a portion of their profits into these systems. I’m also hoping that in the near future, the government can take a bigger role and maybe these initiatives will make more sense economically for businesses.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

It is definitely my parents. In a lot of ways, I think they were way ahead of their time. Forty years before Whole Foods, they were eating organically. They were growing and raising their own food, because they didn’t want pesticides and hormones in their food.

They were talking about the environment decades before it became mainstream. Back then, I remember one of the things was the Ozone layer. We didn’t use aerosol cans ever. Many years later, we were able to tackle that problem as a society. I hope our current problems can be tackled too.

You are a person of great influence and doing some great things for the world! If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I hope that our business platform can inspire other businesses to do likewise. We have been a leader in this industry for more than a decade, and we are imitated often. I’m hoping that these initiatives will be imitated as well. Then, these benefits will be multiplied on a bigger scale.

Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?

I wrestled from the time I was 9 years old through college. It taught me many of the life lessons that I still carry to this day. That’s why I like this quote from Dan Gable.

“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” — Dan Gable