Best-friends-turned-business-partners Daphane Carter and Taia Rashid exited high-profile careers to achieve the milestone of starting the first Black women-owned citrus-based liqueur in the United States.

The founders of handcrafted spirit brand Cashid Beverage Ltd Co conjured the idea for the liqueur while attending weekly gatherings with friends and family, according to the company website. The women recognized there were not enough “sippable spirits without adding tons of ingredients.”

The final motivator was a conversation with Carter’s husband. While the two were vacationing in Italy drinking limoncello, he encouraged her to start her own company. Carter then asked her friend Rashid to tag team on the venture — at which point she received an immediate green light.

“I had worked corporate before. Was a stay-at-home-mom for a while because my husband worked a ton, and I was ready to transition into something else,” Rashid said during an interview with Click 2, an NBC affiliate in Houston, TX. “Daphane was leaving corporate, ready to transition. So, we talked about getting into something not knowing exactly what it was going to be, and low and behold, that trip it was like a wild fire, and it’s been that since then.”

Within one month, Cashid Beverage Ltd Co. went from inception to business, and products were shelved in stores within less than a year. The brand boasts two products, Daphane Limoncello and Daphane Raspberry Berrycello. The liqueurs boast high-quality ingredients such as Meyer Lemons, premium agave syrup, and six-times-distilled premium vodka.

“Cashid Beverage Ltd Co began believing that ultra-premium liqueurs could have a special place in the current beverage landscape,” read a company statement. “Liqueurs are often looked at as a drink option for the novice drinker simply because the sweetness typically overpowers the taste of the base liqueur, allowing the producer to use lower-quality ingredients in their juice recipe. However, we firmly believe that a liqueur can be both tasty and refreshing while including the highest quality ingredients on the market.”

What’s more, the liqueur brand has already received various recognitions including two Silver Medal wins in the 2023 Bartender Spirits Awards as well as the 2023 John Barleycorn Double Gold Award in Taste Competition and Silver Award for Best Overall Marketing and Design, according to the press release.

“We are extremely pleased that our spirits performed so highly at the recent Bartenders Spirits Awards,” Rashid said, according to The Hype Magazine. “Winning this award is particularly important to us because it shows that we are making the types of spirits that spirits drinkers actually want to buy and enjoy.”

The recognitions aren’t the only cause for celebration as the founders have also expanded into retailers including Cork & Barrel Club, Total Wine, and Emilio’s.

The liqueur is now available in California and coming soon to Texas and Florida.