Spirits
Afterdream
Building DTC infrastructure for a craft spirits brand navigating three-tier compliance.
Overview
The Brand
Afterdream is a craft spirits brand that needed DTC ecommerce in a category where direct-to-consumer sales are heavily regulated. The challenge was building a real DTC channel within the legal constraints of the three-tier distribution system.
The Challenge
The spirits category has unique DTC constraints — most states prohibit direct-to-consumer shipping, which means a spirits DTC channel has to be built differently. We needed to create a DTC experience that drove real revenue through compliant channels (state-by-state fulfillment partners, pickup experiences, gifting) while also building a community and CRM that served the brand's long-term growth.
Our Approach
How We
Grew Afterdream
-
01Route To Market
We mapped Afterdream's viable DTC footprint by state, identifying the 12 states where compliant direct shipping was possible and building the logistics infrastructure to serve them efficiently. We also designed a 'local pickup' conversion flow for states where shipping wasn't possible.
-
02DTC Strategy
We built Afterdream's Shopify store around community-first mechanics — a cocktail club membership, limited release drops, and a private members area — rather than standard ecommerce. This turned the regulatory constraint into a brand asset: scarcity and access became part of the product experience.
-
03AI Landing Page Testing
We ran 18 variants of the membership landing page using our AI testing system. The winning page converted at 6.2% — significantly above industry benchmarks for spirits subscription products.
-
04AI Brand Discoverability
We built Afterdream's content presence around cocktail culture, craft spirits education, and at-home bartending — positioning the brand to be discovered by AI search engines through high-intent query clusters rather than competing on branded terms.
Results
