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They didn't know if they would make it

Channon Hodge/CNN
It wasn't always a sure thing that they would survive, but after more than a year into the business, a man walked into their store and changed their lives.
He stopped by in November 2014, asking Steve, "What's your best non-alcoholic drink in your non-alcoholic bar?"
Steve made him a Lumberjack Love, which has spruce pine syrup, lemon, spiced tonic, Alpine Herb bitters, wormwood bitters, and Owl & Whale's persimmon bitters.
"After two sips, he's in love with this drink," Steve said. "He says, 'What's going on in my palate?' I said, 'I told you, it's the bitters.' I explained the bitters."
After he left, Johanna and Steve's phones starting buzzing with text messages.
The man was Food Network star Alton Brown, who was in town doing a show at Merrill Auditorium.
His Twitter followers had recommended that he visit Vena's. After enjoying his Lumberjack Love, he had tweeted out his love for the shop.
"He put Vena's Fizz House as one of his top eight tour stops on his national 2014 tour," said Steve. "Thank you, Alton Brown."
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