Harridan Paranormal Reserve: An Interview with Bridgette Taylor

Recently launched Harridan Vodka has gone where no spirits —of the alcoholic variety— have ever gone before. Or, rather, the company has done something no other has ever done before. Especially not a vodka brand.

They created a collection of 60 special bottles called Paranormal Reserve. The bottles were divided between three haunted locations to “rest” for seven days. 36 went to the Farm on Round Top Road (a.k.a. the Conjuring House). 12 each went to the Villisca Axe Murder House and the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

On October 13 of this year, they went on sale —and about just as quickly sold out.

No surprise. They came in keepsake wooden boxes with handmade leather neck tags and a pair of gloves.

I had questions galore about all of this when I initially wrote about Harridan Vodka Paranormal Reserve Batch No. 1. So I reached out and asked for an interview. To my delight, the founder of Harridan Vodka herself, Bridgette Taylor, agreed to talk with me!

We video-recorded it, which I posted on YouTube. It’s embedded below. However, I’ll sum up a few of the questions I asked and Bridgette’s answers here.

1. What inspired the idea for the Paranormal Reserve?

As Bridgette explained, Harridan is a “dark and witchy brand.” She’s a total fan of the dark, mysterious and unusual, especially horror movies and the paranormal. All she knew was that she wanted to do something “unbelievable” for Halloween.

Here’s how she described how the idea for the Paranormal Reserve was born:

It started out as, “What if we brought Harridan to haunted houses and partnered with them and showed Harridan with the haunted house?” And then we built on that and were like, “No. Let’s do the way that whisky is aged in barrels, let’s ‘age’ our vodka in haunted houses.”

Or “rest” it as she explained since vodka isn’t an aged liquor. You make it, you drink it. But the “resting” was sort of a spooky pun on the spirited creation of the Paranormal Reserve product.

Such a brilliant idea!

2. How did you pick the 3 haunted locations for Batch No. 1? Why these 3 haunted locations?

I thought it was interesting that they had a short list. They only reached out to five “haunted establishments,” but right away three were on board.

And she explained what a cool experience it was, especially in the Conjuring house. Cory Heinzen gave them a tour and he was the one who said, “You have to put the bottles down in the well,” when they were in the basement.

So they did!

3. What’s up with the gloves?

Have I mentioned yet how cool the packaging is? Besides the great keepsake box and the handmade leather neck tag, the other thing that caught my eye was each bottle came with cloth gloves. But why?

I don’t know diddly about vodka. Did the gloves help preserve the integrity of the fluids somehow? Or did it have to do with any spiritual influences that may have attached themselves to the bottles?

As it turns out, they are for spiritual protection!

Bridgette admitted that even though she’s a paranormal enthusiast, it creeped her out a little handling the bottles. Also, she didn’t want to absorb any of the potential energy that should stay with the bottle and go to its new rightful owner.

So she and her team decided gloves would be a great addition to the packaging. Just in case others felt the same and wanted a little added protection. Plus you can totally use them for other things too, even hiding unmanicured hands. (That will make sense when you watch the interview.)

4. Have any Paranormal Reserve buyers reported any unusual paranormal activity after their purchase?

Bridgette said besides the stories she has herself, she’s only heard one other thing. (So far!) Here’s what she said:

A customer took her bottle into a hotel that has a haunted reputation and she has a podcast. And she’s sitting down to set up for the podcast and there’s a knock at her door. She opens it and there’s no one there. There’s a family that’s walking down the hall and she asks them, “Did you see anyone knock on my door?” And they were like, “No. There hasn’t been anyone walking in the hallway.”

Creepy! Were the hotel’s restless spirits knocking to come have a nip of that vodka?

A really good follow-up question would’ve been, “Do you know the name of the podcast?” Which now I’m on the hunt for. I want to know which bottle the customer had, which hotel she was in, and if anything else happened!

But in my defense, I was distracted because I was enthralled with Bridgette’s accounts of the unusual activity she’d experienced after bringing Paranormal Reserve bottles to her own home.

This is my second year I’ve lived in this apartment. Ever since the bottle —the Conjuring House in particular— is in my apartment right now. Ever since it came here, we have this one light that turns on by itself. And we’re not talking like once a day, but it’s turned on by itself twice since “the bottle” came in my apartment. 

That was something she’d never had happen before.

Then when I found out she lived in a pre-Civil War apartment, I joked her that maybe it’s got spirits and they’re excited to have the bottle from the Conjuring House. Maybe something extra was infused into while it rested there and the ghosts of her building want to get the party started!

5. Any hints on which haunted locations Paranormal Reserve Batch No. 2 will rest at?

Bridgette gave two hints. The first was that all the locations would be in the U.S. and, as she put it, “We’re heavily looking at some places in Massachusetts.”

She did also throw out another little teaser/hint. She hopes future batches may take a jaunt to a haunted location or two overseas somewhere for their “resting period.”

But for now, the next batch will stay stateside.

Watch the Interview

For More Info

Visit paranormalreserve.com.

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Do you ever watch Shark Tank? As I talked with Bridgette, I was like, “She would so rock it on Shark Tank!” So I told her she should go on, but she’s pretty sure she already knows what they’ll say, “This market is tough and already oversaturated.”

Maybe. But just the exposure alone, even if she doesn’t get a deal, I think would help blow up Harridan Vodka even more.

What do you think though?