How One Liquor Brand Impresses Its Most Important Customer: Bartenders "Bartenders are our best salespeople and the opinion leaders," says Dragos Axinte, founder of Brazil's Novo Fogo Cachaça.

"Bartenders are our best salespeople and the opinion leaders," says Dragos Axinte, founder of Brazil's Novo Fogo Cachaça. (Cachaça is a spirit made from sugarcane juice.) That's why liquor companies typically ply them with contests, free trips, premiums and cash. But as a small player, Axinte couldn't keep up with that. So he offers yoga classes, 5K runs and softball games. There's no firm tie to sales, but Axinte says it matters: Revenue in the first quarter of 2016 is up 164 percent over the year prior. So why'd it work?

Did bartenders buy into it right away?

Our first event was a 5K run at Portland Cocktail Week in 2011. My wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and it triggered my sensitivity about health. I saw bartender friends who were on a tough road of excess and wanted to do something. So we paid a $20 entry fee to cancer research for any bartender who showed up and finished -- we got 50 people and a dog!