Basem Harb of Fierce & Kind (Courtesy photo)
Spirits, South Park
In the Spirit of Social Goodness
South Park Entrepreneur Takes Distilling to a Noble Level
By Frank Sabatini Jr.
In a single, congruent discussion, Basem Harb can talk knowledgeably about human rights issues as well as the art of producing ultra-smooth vodka. That’s because through firsthand experience, he is keenly aware of the plights of excluded communities, and also because he runs a growing distilling company called Fierce & Kind, which is fueled by more than a decade of passionate self-education.
What is most impressive, however, is how he has seamlessly linked the two subjects together through the creation of an equity foundation that helps combat social injustices and economic inequality.
In our chats with Harb, who lives in South Park, we learned how humanitarianism leads to a successful business. And in this case, we’ve become aware that sipping spirits made with pure, sustainable ingredients can contribute to bringing positive change in the world.
Downtown Condo Guys: When did you start Fierce & Kind? And what was the catalyst for doing so?
Harb: I began working on the company three years ago, during the summer of the George Floyd protests. I wanted a foundation to help build entrepreneurship and economic equity in historically excluded communities. So I combined that with my passion for whiskey. In doing so, we started the spirits company to fund our non-profit, Fierce & Kind Equity Foundation. Essentially 25 percent of our profits go into funding entrepreneurship and other social-justice initiatives.
Also, as a young Palestinian immigrant with an accent from Jerusalem, I was subjected to a lot of bullying and verbal and physical violence in a small town in The Bay Area. The community boycotted my father’s grocery business, and we ran out of money, and we were forced out of town because of it.
There are currently four of us in the company, two based locally and two in Los Angeles. We incorporated in the summer of last year, and we just launched our products in January of this year.
Downtown Condo Guys: What are those products?
Harb: We have the Fierce & Kind Straight Bourbon, which is utterly delicious and made with sustainably sourced grains. We also have the Fierce & Kind American Vodka. It’s a 100 percent corn vodka distilled six times. For that, we did side-by-side tests with food and beverage experts, using the same vodka base but blended with different-treated waters. The difference between the outcomes was palpable, and we settled on the one that created a spirit that is silky smooth and luxurious. We blend and bottle the products at a facility in San Diego County.
[Regarding the vodka]: We just got a call last week that it won the gold medal in the 2023 TAG Las Vegas Global Spirits Competition.
Downtown Condo Guys: What retailers carry your spirits?
Harb: We care about local and walk the neighborhoods talking about our company. So that’s how we are starting out. We are currently in The Bottle House in South Park; Ray’s Liquor Center and Parkside Market, both in North Park; and we most recently landed in Golden Hill Liquor. We are also in active conversations with national retailers, and bottle shops in Downtown San Diego.
Downtown Condo Guys: Does your interest in distilling date as far back as when you became in tune to social issues?
Harb: My father was a scotch drinker, so I grew up a Scotch aficionado. I had an interest in it at an early age, and it’s been an incredible passion in my adult life. I read about the distilling process for the better part of the last decade before deciding that I wanted to do something with it for a good cause.
Downtown Condo Guys: What organizations have you chosen so far as beneficiaries from your profits?
Harb: We’ve established a City Heights beneficiary, which is the Nile Sisters Development Initiative, which trains immigrants and local women in the healthcare fields to build self-reliance. We have a national one too—Palestine Legal, which works on First Amendment and constitutional-rights issues. Every year we’d like to work with four to six beneficiaries, and with a local aspect to them.
Downtown Condo Guys: What were you doing before starting Fierce & Kind?
Harb: In my last year in college at UC San Diego in La Jolla, I started my first technology company. It was one of the larger military contractors in the industry. We were in seven cities in four states, and I ran the company for 18 years before selling it.
Later I started One’Sphere, which provides control automation and entertainment solutions for large, private residences and the hospitality industry. It’s a fully functioning successful company that I still own.
Downtown Condo Guys: How did you come up with the catchy name, Fierce & Kind?
Harb: My favorite poet is Maya Angelou, and the term “fierce and kind” comes from a talk she was giving once. The line that she used it in was: “Continue. Be loving and be strong. Be fierce and be kind. And don’t give in and don’t give up.”
Downtown Condo Guys: Where would you like to see Fierce & Kind in five years from now?
Harb: I want us to eventually be a global brand that not only continues to craft amazing social beverages, but to impact people’s lives and social justice around the world.
