Cocktails With Dina by Dina Novarr—
March is a month we collectively agreed to celebrate the women that helped shape this world. So many of these pioneers flourished without waiting for permission, breaking down barriers in conditions that weren’t designed for them.
Chareau, a plant-based spirit made with California organic cucumber, spearmint, muskmelon, and lemon peel, then finished with fresh aloe, is the first aloe plant-based spirit made in California. It didn’t arrive with a legacy distillery behind it or a celebrity check in front of it. It arrived because Helen Diaz decided that a resilient, sun-loving plant that heals things and breaks down its own barriers deserves to be taken seriously. And she dedicated twelve years of her life to making sure the rest of the country agreed.
Diaz, the Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales and Advocacy at Chareau, states proudly in the very first line of her LinkedIn that she is “a mama first,” and not a founder who happens to be a mom. She is a mama first, who also happens to have built a national spirits brand from the ground up, placed in the top 8 nationally at a Speed Rack bartending competition, judged at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, developed bar programs from the Bay Area to Tokyo, and is now launching a family coffee brand because, apparently, the bar keeps getting raised.
None of this happens in a vacuum. In an interview with CanvasRebel, Diaz states that she grew up in a big Latin family, surrounded by good food, culture, and the kind of beautiful, productive chaos that either breaks you or builds you into someone who can raise a family while running a national spirits company. She moved to San Francisco at 19, landed in a restaurant, and never looked back. The chaos and noise of that world felt like home, and the strangers became like family.
That context matters. The spirits world has not historically been a place that rolled out the welcome mat for Latinas, for women who lead, or for founders who put “mama first” in their bio and mean it. When Diaz became the first Latina to win Miss Speed Rack California, it wasn’t just a title. It was a data point the industry had to recognize. When she walked into rooms to build Chareau’s national distribution, she wasn’t just selling a bottle. She was making an argument that the people building the future of this industry may not be whom you expect.
Women’s History Month asks us to look backward, to honor the trailblazers, the firsts, the hard-won ground. But history is also being made in real time all around, by women like Diaz who are doing the unglamorous daily work of growing something new in soil that wasn’t always welcoming.
Chareau tastes like proof. It is cool, herbaceous, a little unexpected, and with the kind of finish that makes you pause and reconsider what you thought you knew about spirits. It defies traditional liqueur categories. It just is what it is, unapologetically, which feels exactly right.
Pour it over ice with a splash of sparkling water and a slice of cucumber. Keep it simple. Let it be the thing that surprises you.
History isn’t only in the archives. Some of it is being poured right now, by trailblazing women who decided the world needed something it didn’t know it was missing.
Learn more about Chareau at: https://chareau.us/
San Francisco-based Dina Novarr enjoys sharing her passion for fine wines, spirits, non-alcoholic craft beverages, and more with others.
Cocktails with Dina
Published on March 13, 2026
Recent Comments