One Community, One Pulse: Veteran Creates Unity Through Vodka | News | yesweekly.com

After the first sip, you’re grabbed. There’s a slight tingle in the chest and a warm sensation that almost pulses throughout your body. It’s remarkable, it’s Pulse Vodka. Bottled here in North Carolina at The Old Nick Williams Company in Lewisville comes a locally sourced premium handmade vodka that is nearing its fourth birthday.

The devastating mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016, left George Gerdes and Patrick Reese wanting to band together and create something unique in remembrance of those 49 lives lost and 56 injured. For three years the two brainstormed ideas for a product, until ultimately deciding on vodka. Gerdes said Reese “caught him on a good day” when he decided to invest in Pulse. As a Marine and third generation Veteran, Gerdes was “all in” after discovering that three army personnel were shot and killed the day of the shooting.

As an ultimatum for investing with Reese, Gerdes insisted that the slogan “One Community — One Pulse” be printed on the back of every bottle. “I served this country for everybody to have the right to be who they are,” said Gerdes. “It’s about time we remove hatred with one bottle of Pulse Vodka at a time.”

While Gerdes was focused more on the military side, Reese wanted to shed light on the LGBTQ+ community. “We support both sides, we support everybody, not just the military and not just the LGBTQ+, we’re all one big happy family,” said Gerdes.

To return some love to the community Pulse donates a portion of their proceeds to various fundraisers and organizations such as The Winston-Salem LGBTQ+ Organization, Toys For Tots, American Legion Post 55, 40 and 8, La Femmes, American Legion Riders, Angels Among Us, local youth soccer teams, Winston-Salem State University, Breast Cancer Awareness and since Gerde’s wife is from the Philippines proceeds help to sponsor scholarships for the Filipino Community.

Readers may ask themselves, out of the hundreds of vodka brands to choose from, why should I choose Pulse? Gerdes said it would be because of their ingredients.

“Our ingredients, it’s 60 percent sweet corn, 40 percent wheat, and is force filtered four times,” said Gerdes. He credits Ryan Reynolds for the inspiration behind the production process, stating “[He] says if you force filter something four times it’s the purest and cleanest product you’ll ever get. You can force filter something 100 times, but at that point, you’re only wasting your time and money.”

When compared to other vodkas, Pulse gives off a smooth finish, and doesn’t burn the throat like most vodka does when drunk straight, describes Gerdes. Unlike gin or whisky or bourbon, which are all chest-heavy spirits, most vodkas punch you in the back of the throat, but Pulse has leveled the playing field by creating a vodka that gives a slight vapor feeling in the chest, hence the rainbow vapor that appears on the bottle.

In October 2021, Reese and Gerdes had a falling out resulting in Gerdes buying out Reese and taking over the company. Pulse vodka can be found in 140 ABC Stores in North Carolina, along with some liquor stores in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada. It is also under contract to be in Montego Bay, Jamaica by November, according to its owner.

Gerdes is currently working on expanding to Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island. When it comes to the future of Pulse, he has had thoughts about curating canned drinks using the vodka, broadening his horizons to other spirits like whisky, and possibly making a lavender-infused vodka inspired by his wife, Candy. Recently, Pulse won silver for Premium Vodka at the Vodka Masters competition in London this past August. Pulse is now on the shortlist of competitors and in November Gerdes will find out where he stands in the world.

Maggie Marshall is a Greensboro based freelance writer and zine maker. She graduated from UNCG with a bachelor’s degree in Media Studies. Her writing interests include music, film, sustainability and counterculture.

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