Crazy Ideas, From Shipping Flowers to Crab Whiskey

Episode page: https://leanblog.org/whiskey34

In Episode 34, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh begin by belatedly celebrating the 3rd birthday of Lean Whiskey. No, this wasn’t a pandemic-launched podcast, although if we hadn’t started it yet it probably would have become one. We also learn of Mark’s pending trip to Islay, where an awful lot of good whisky is produced. Apparently, Jamie wasn’t invited to record an “on location” episode. 

Most of the episode we explore the challenges, benefits, and approaches to developing and seeing through the crazy ideas. This conversation builds from an episode of Mark’s My Favorite Mistake podcast in which he interviews 1-800-FLOWERS founder Jim McCann. FedEx founder Fred Smith told McCann that shipping flowers via FedEx wouldn’t work. Not only did Jim not fold in the face of Fred’s advice, he eventually partnered with FedEx to bring this program to life. But bringing big ideas to life is about more than just ignoring the doubters, but adjusting or trimming the idea, learning through rapid testing, and having the courage to move forward through adversity as our explanation of the Netflix story examines. 

We wrap up exploring another crazy idea, whiskey made from crabs. Well, that’s not technically true, but it is distilled crab stock added to a bourbon base, and specifically to raise awareness about the invasive green crabs that destroy the mussel population. Tamworth Distilling from New Hampshire are the brains behind this particular project. Thanks to our friend Dan Markovitz introduced us to this idea. Maybe Mark will detour his trip to Scotland towards New Hampshire instead.  

• Happy 3rd birthday to Lean Whiskey, so here’s Episode 1
• Mark heading to the Isle of Islay with their classic distilleries 
• Jamie working with Lehigh University on building an accelerator (back of Jamie’s head in the photo while leading the design team)
• Mark and Jamie both engaged with KaiNexus
• Mark’s Moscatel Finished Straight Bourbon Whiskey from Woodinville near Seattle 
• Jamie’s Four Roses Private Selection Single Barrel, see their bourbons and recipes
• Our discussion builds on this episode of Mark’s My Favorite Mistake podcast with 1-800-FLOWERS founder Jim McCann, with this excerpt of the featured point
• What’s crab whiskey all about? Check out Crab Trapper
• Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey 

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