Walk into any bar or beverage retailer and you’re greeted with a sea of vodkas. Why would anyone in their right business mind make another vodka in this market—and a flavored one at that? You do when one half of your team originates from Poland and has the taste and know-how of high-quality vodka in their blood, and the other is an entrepreneur who’s never been afraid of a business challenge. Meet Bea and John Dale. That’s not exactly how the story began, but there’s truth to it.
Bea and John are serial entrepreneurs who moved to Venice, Florida, from California in 2020. They were quickly hooked on the laid-back Gulf Coast lifestyle, with beautiful weather, outdoor gatherings, and sharing early evening drinks with new friends and neighbors. They often joked about wishing they could bottle those moments.
On one of those evenings, a friend said, half seriously, “You should make your own vodka.” They laughed it off. A month or so later, they looked at each other and thought, why not? The challenge was on.
In Bea’s native Poland, vodka is sipped neat, not masked in cocktails, so it had to be a vodka good enough to meet her heritage’s standards. Neither Bea nor John had any experience in the spirits industry, but they were confident they could figure it out.
John firmly believes you can do anything you put your mind to, and he wanted to be an example to their sons, showing them that anything is possible. After 22 years as entrepreneurs, Bea and John already had the perfect recipe for building something new—Bea likes to manage the details, while John likes to build and make things happen.
The name came easily. Venice is known as the “Shark Tooth Capital of the World,” and keeping things local was important. Citrus was a natural choice, and they couldn’t resist leaning into the flavor and playfulness of sharks with that of blood orange. Staying true to a locally made Florida product, the base grain is sweet Florida corn, which lends a subtle natural sweetness to the finished vodka. The oranges are also from Florida, with the essence extracted for a concentrated citrus flavor.
I had the chance to taste Shark Tooth Vodka at Fins at Sharky’s in their signature cocktail, the Ocean Blue Cosmo, which recently was judged “The Most Artistic Martini in Venice” at the Venice Art Center’s 2026 Artini competition, beating out some of the best cocktail creations in the area. But in the spirit of Bea’s Polish roots, I first tasted it straight, at room temperature, without a suggested chill. The aroma smelled like a sun-ripened orange orchard ready for harvest, and the flavor was equally delicious—concentrated and naturally sweet, just as they described—going down smoothly without a touch of burn.
“When we first started, no one wanted to talk to us because we didn’t know what we were doing,” they said. That didn’t hinder their drive one bit, and they started with one bottle on the shelf. Eventually, retailers became receptive and stocked a few hundred bottles of Shark Tooth Vodka in their stores. Gold Coast Eagle later took them on as a distributor.
They worked with a skilled chemist who understood their goal: to craft the perfect spirit using blood oranges and sweet corn, without any added sugar. It came down to getting the right grind size on the corn; experimenting with the yeast, mash, and fermentation; then distilling it 17 times on copper plates to get the flavor just right.
John explained, “Vodka [distillation] has three parts: the heads, the hearts, and the tails. What you want are the hearts, and that’s one reason good vodka costs more.”
They’re not simply flavoring vodka. The aroma is beautiful—you can smell the freshly squeezed juice and the zest of the skin, with hints of grapefruit and lime. It tastes exactly how it smells.
Bea and John say they didn’t start Shark Tooth Vodka simply to make money. From the beginning, the goal was also to give back to the community that supported them. One natural connection was with Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, a marine research center focused on shark and ocean conservation. The partnership felt like a natural fit, supporting shark research aligned with the brand’s identity.
You can find the vodka in that fantastic Cosmo at Fins at Sharky’s and other establishments in both Sarasota and Manatee counties, including Pop’s Sunset Grill, Made in Italy, Summer House on Siesta Key, Evie’s Spanish Point, and at local independent retailers like Venice Fine Wine & Spirits.
In a sea of vodkas, Shark Tooth hooks you in with bright blood-orange notes—smooth enough to sip straight and bold enough to shine in a cocktail—all while supporting a local brand. It’s a vodka worth diving into.
