OUR FOUNDERS
Built together from the beginning, Hard Cut is the result of a shared obsession with making vodka differently — with purpose, precision, and personality.
A shared vision.
A better vodka.
The story behind Hard Cut
I founded this brand with my amazing wife Emma Kroktal. It’s been an extremely hard work and also a fantastic experience to be working together on something we both love. It’s been exciting to watch our baby grow up and finally come of age. It all started back in 2019, when I was dating Emma, having taken her up to the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara for the weekend. We were sitting at the bar and I complained that I couldn’t find a vodka I liked. I’m from Sweden and Emma from Norway so we both have some experience with clear spirits, being part of old Scandinavian culture.
After listening to another complaint, Emma said;” You’re a chemical engineer, you played a Russian a few times, you’re from Sweden. Why don't you make your own?” After a laugh, I glanced at the vodka section behind the bar and it seemed much more boring than the tequilas or whiskies. So then and there we decided to create our own brand: “the smoothest, best tasting vodka on the market”.
It’s been 6 years of creating our vodka, designing the bottle, coming up the name and the brand identity. Emma and I have been working together on this every day for all these years now - and I believe that’s why people feel the love and authenticity when they try Hard Cut. The name comes from film editing, when you make a ‘hard cut’ from say, LA to New York. Our bottle is also ‘hard cut’ like a diamond - and some (or most...) of the movie characters I’ve played are ‘hard cut’ men.
“Our vodka is like Dolph in a bottle.”
“At least I finally got some use out of my Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering.”
HARD CUT, EVERYWHERE
