New Allergy-Friendly Vodka From Two Texas Women Entrepreneurs Makes Drinks Organic — Meet Queen Bee and Its Hive of Female Workers

Cocktails at 10:30 am? When you’re having a meet-up with founders of Queen Bee, a new allergen-free vodka, how can you possibly say no to their offer of a taste? So it was that well before noon, I joined the duo in sampling a Southern Belle cocktail, which is concocted around Queen Bee Osmia Vodka, an honestly organic spirit.

The founders, both homemakers and moms, have a story to tell.

While they were taking ballet lessons and swimming lessons together back in their hometown of Tyler, Texas four decades ago, Catherine Faulconer and Kim Martin never imagined that as adults they would reconnect as besties and business partners. In June, the entrepreneurial duo, living just doors from each other in Houston’s chic Tanglewood neighborhood these days, introduced an allergen-free vodka crafted from bee honey and organic, non GMO sugar cane.

Faulconer and Martin both have allergies and autoimmune issues making typical vodkas crafted from potatoes or fermented grains taboo. Neither could find a vodka or any alcoholic beverage pure enough for their consumption. And that was no fun.

With a friendship renewed and mutual health issues, they took the jump into creating their own spirits free of grains, gluten, nightshades and GMO ingredients.

The first step was distilling school in Denver after which they had momentary doubts about the endeavor. Faulconer recalls saying, “‘Kim, there are gentlemen out there who have no teeth that make moonshine. We have college degrees. We can do this.’ And sure enough, we have been able to do it.”

From the outset, their goal was to create a woman-owned business dedicated to producing allergen-free, ultra-premium, prestigious spirits. The result is Osmia Vodka, 80 proof with no glycerins, no chemicals and no additives, unlike most other spirits.

“We decided to use honey because it’s anti-microbial, anti-bacterial,” Faulconer notes. “We’re helping the environment, with a much smaller carbon footprint than anything else. We’re helping bees. So we really felt, let’s call this Queen Bee.

“Let’s hire women. Let’s lean into this as women-made for women. And, you know, in a hive, it’s all female workers.”

Following distilling school, they connected with a female distiller in Santa Fe, New Mexico named Caley Shoemaker, and a female beekeeper in Tomball, Kelly Brantley. The New York based artist who designed the beautiful octagon shaped bottle with a tableau of colorful roses in the glass and the floral Queen Bee logo is also a woman. The roses are a nod to the founders’ hometown, which they proudly remind is the Rose Capital of America.

With all parts in place, Queen Bee Distilling was born. Their first product is the Queen Bee Osmia Vodka, named for the Osmia bees from which they get their honey.

After only a few months after its initial release, the vodka is available at Spec’s and is also carried at Tony’s, Park House, Carrabba’s on Kirby and on Woodway, and a growing number of restaurants and liquor stores.

The vodka is just the first in a line of pure spirits that Martin and Faulconer have in their future. Next up: Queen Bee tequila.