July 12, 2023 • 43 mins
0:00 Intro
1:19 Bourbon Smash
- 2 oz Ben Holladay Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon
- 3/4 oz Honey-Cinnamon Syrup
- 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
- 3-5 Fresh Mint Leafs
1:38 Building a brand
2:27 Welcome Rachel Dignan (Design Manager)
3:02 Where it all starts
8:47 All the dead bourbon products
13:57 Quickly and slowly building different brands
18:32 Tweaking products to make them better
18:57 Everything that goes into the process
20:57 Before there was flat Kyle, there was flat Patrick
22:17 Storytelling makes all the difference
25:12 Coming from different backgrounds
30:42 Favorite memory from launch day
33:37 What else does Kyle make?
38:57 Favorite cocktail and bourbon?
©️2024 Holladay Distillery Weston, MO. Drink Responsibly. Drive Responsibly.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Your wife left like.
So.
Patrick likes to talk aboutflat.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Kyle a lot.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
But have we mentioned that there's been?
multiple flat Patrick's,because that's how this all got
started.
Those were hero images yearsago The design team, as a way to
entertain ourselves, made aflat Patrick that we left in the
office and would decorate anddress up and all kinds of stuff.
So, like flat Patrick happenedlong before flat Kyle.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I walked in to our area and I found, like I know,
stephanie was part of it too.
So, stephanie, she's terrible.
There was like 4000 pictures ofmy face everywhere, like I
don't know what was going on.
but I didn't love me as much asI do.
I had him in like super pastfive.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
Welcome to holiday happy hour presented by the
holiday distillery in WesternMissouri.
I'm Jordan and we've got apretty fun happy hour playing
for today.
But before we get to the fun,Brendan, what are we drinking?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Today we are drinking a bourbon smash, and it is two
ounces of Ben holiday bottledand bon bourbon, three quarter
ounce honey, cinnamon syrup,three quarter ounce of lemon
juice shaken up with some freshmint and then garnish with a
sprig of mint.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
So we want to talk today about building a brand.
So we talk a lot about drinkingthe brand, but we don't always
really talk about how to build abrand.
We also talk a lot about how tomake the product with Kyle and
all the science that goes behindthat, but we do a lot of what
we call like lunch and learns orwe call them brunch and I don't
(01:58):
know whatever it was.
We invited Rachel to come to ahospitality meeting recently and
I asked her to talk aboutlabels and to talk about what
goes into label production andthe legalities of it and the
design and all the things, andshe came with this very
impressive presentation and Iwas wow, I'm invited to come,
I'm going to show up.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, she did show up So embarrassing with a crappy
PowerPoint.
No, and it was not crappy atall.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
It was quite incredible.
So, yeah, with that being said,you know Kyle, you know Patrick
Brendan, of course, on the mic,but this is Rachel, rachel
Dignan, hello.
Rachel's our design manager andwe're lead designer up in the
marketing house and does a lotof good things, so and makes
really great PowerPoints.
So please don't let that bewhat.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I'm known for.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Yeah, you have a lot of other skills that we can
share.
But yeah, so we're excited totalk today to Rachel about how
the design process works.
But I'm just going to kind ofstart here, though, because I
feel like with Patrick, it'salways like well, this is what
we're going to work on.
You're kind of the leader ofthe ideas.
(03:08):
It comes from you, it comesfrom Mick, and you say we're
going to work on this, theleader of most of the ideas is
Mick.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And yes, we work a lot together, but we've got a
really good team of peopleRachel and Brendan and Gabby and
the whole group But you know,an idea is a weird thing.
So around here an idea could besomething physical at our
distillery as, far as a location, it could be a brand thought,
it could be a thought of, youknow, something that started as
(03:38):
a cocktail that turns intosomething you put in a bottle.
I mean, there's so manydifferent layers of what we do,
and to have a group of peoplethat can handle all those
different crazy thoughts andturn them into what they should
be is that's a huge skill.
It's a talent, to say the least.
So especially when you have like, because of the liquor side of
(03:59):
it.
There's tons of regulations onlabels alone, Like you have
things you have to do.
So it's very interesting Likewe've been doing this for a long
time but we keep challengingourselves and doing bigger,
better things, And right nowwe're hitting our stride and
some of the coolest brands I'veseen anywhere So and Rachel's a
(04:19):
huge piece of that- Andsometimes it's like a
full-fledged concept will comeacross my desk of like Hey,
here's like a name, a product,whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And then sometimes it is literally an envelope that
has been doodled on by peoplewho had maybe one too many cave
collection tastings.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
That was one time Rach That I then have to
translate and figure out whatthe heck that means Great
drawing And yeah, so I have anarchive of some very interesting
drawings between our sales teamand you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, ideas that we try to translate and turn into
like reality.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Yes, yeah, sometimes it is kind of like you have to
be a detective and kind of putall the pieces together, but
that's part of the fun of it.
I think that's like, really,what our company is good at is
not only the unique ideas thatpeople come up with certain
people in this room.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Honestly, if you're not kind of coming up with new
ideas and throwing more and morespaghetti at the wall to see
what sticks, then you're justsitting stale and everything is
very boring.
So you might as well just comeup with some of that, the
nudiest ideas for some of thecoolest things, and, you know,
one random thought or one jokeor one conversation leads into
something that could be the nextbig thing.
(05:32):
I mean, five farms is kind ofpart of that.
Yeah, johnny Hart came here,our guy we've known for years
from Ireland.
He sat down with Mick andwanted to get some business
going because he made some ofour other products in the past
and we weren't doing businesswith him at the time.
It was a let's do something andMick told him like okay, well,
(05:54):
give me an Irish cream made fromone cow, which is ridiculous,
but also it's awesome, becausethat led to what now is the
highest rate Irish cream inhistory, the best tasting cream
liquor ever, in my opinion.
Here we are.
That's how it happens.
It all just starts with thereare some things at the wall and
it sticks.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Five farms had a lot of things thrown out the wall.
I remember before it was evennamed, you brought this weird
ceramic jug and set it on mydesk and said Irish cream,
county Cork go, and I'm like noother details, nothing.
We didn't have anything yet,thanks So yeah, that was
definitely a throw things at thewall and see what stuck because
we went through so manydifferent versions.
I think if you dig through ourarchives, there's different
(06:37):
names, different bottles,different colors, before it ever
even approached what it lookslike now.
Yeah, like you would neverrelate the two products if you
look at the beginning and endAnd even that, that jug.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I remember that jug specifically.
It was mainly the top.
Everyone liked the top, theidea of that closure, something
like our 360 line of vodka,where it's it's reusable, it's
recyclable, there's all thesethings versus just a plastic cap
or something else Like.
There's something about thatkind of element that made it
seem authentic and real and oldstyle.
(07:09):
That that's what.
That wasn't Obviously evolvedinto what it is, but that's fun.
You have to start somewhere,guys, my favorite thing is
watching Rachel's reaction,depending on the amount of info
she gets It's.
I mean, if you piss Rachel off,things go south in a hurry, but
it's fun.
If you can get that reaction,then just run Like I just run.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, I don't look back.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
You do tend to drop a bomb and then run away, and I'm
kind of left like all right howdo I explain this to the rest
of the team And we'll all startworking on things.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And it's interesting to see everybody's
interpretation of it because I'mlike, oh, that's not what I
thought he meant, But that'sclearly what either Gabby or
Brendan thought he meant.
So that's why we work as a team.
So much is just different ideasspiral and create more.
And a lot of times when we'reworking on something, Brendan
has the unfortunate seat in themarketing building where I can
see his screens.
So he'll be working on somethingand I'm like you need to move
(07:59):
it to the left or change thatcolor.
And I'm sure he hates it, butthat's just part of the process
I'm.
it's what we do.
I mean bounce ideas off of eachother.
We're always editing and likenot stealing each other's ideas,
but you see something you'relike, oh well, i want to do it
this way.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, the collaborative part is what makes
it so special.
Everyone kind of knows Beat offeach other, move things around
until it starts to feel like thereal deal, think it's perfect,
give it a mix.
He's like fuck that It's allwrong, we start over And then it
ends up being even better.
But that is the point.
We all have like the differentlevels in this thing, and that's
(08:38):
why we're turning out some ofthe coolest packages and
products that anyone's ever seenin this business.
So it's all for a reason.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, when I was talking to the hospitality team.
We were kind of talking aboutbourbon specifically, because I
was like there's too many brandsto cover them all.
So I dove all the way back to Istarted in 2015.
So bourbon, getting started,all of that.
So I went through and pulledjust a few of each of the stages
of bourbon that we thought wasgoing to be real.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
So we had labels at two year, we had labels at three
year, we had a label marked ata year and a half that we were
going to call holiday halfwayThen we had four year a five
year, finally a six year, andwithin each of those there were
probably like 50 to 100 versions.
(09:27):
So it's it was a very longprocess to ever get to the label
we have now.
And even the label we have now,i remember leaving on a Tuesday
and we're like, all right,short up, We're going to send it
to TTV on Thursday.
And I came back Thursday andBrun is like you don't believe
what happened yesterday,re-counting the story of riding
(09:47):
a bike up and down the hillshowing proofs, and then that
Thursday evolved into me runningup and down the stairs showing
proofs to you guys in the garageand tweaking little bits here
and there And that's honestly myfavorite part of like building
a brand is that final editing.
It's chaos and it's stressful,But something that we had put
(10:08):
three or four bottles down andnobody would know the difference
.
But you have to point them outand they're like, oh okay, that
does matter And stuff like that.
That was always like myfavorite part, But it was coming
back that.
Thursday Brendan looked like hehad been through something.
I did not realize that it wasmy turn that day, and that was a
blast.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
You were there for a while That was my first
experience watching that.
It was a lot of fun andstressful.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
What's going on?
I was doing all the work.
What are you guys doing Like?
oh, really, Watch this.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
This is where it gets really bad day to wear new
boots.
Like my feet hurt so bad, thenyou could have seen Brendan
pedaling on that bike.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I mean we've got golf carts.
He could have been drivinginstead.
He's coming down sweaty from.
The ride down is great, Thepedaling up I wouldn't want to
pedal up that.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I mean, i'm old and lazy, tretcherous.
Yeah, it's not a mountain bike,it was like a BMX single gear,
monster energy.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, it was amazing, but it also has become like a
an ongoing joke of typically ifRachel's not in the office.
So most of our design teamworks for tense, which is so
cool.
My first year here was for tenseI thought was the greatest scam
of all time.
So fact we brought that back.
I like it was great.
(11:21):
But anytime Rachel's not here,major shifts happen on whatever
she was a part of that.
Typically she thinks we're likeoh, we're almost done, and like
a bomb goes off and she gets itall the next morning And it's
very fun to watch that happen.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Makes me happy.
Thursdays are always a realgamble on what I'm walking into.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
It's Monday, Part 2 for you, I mean pretty much.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It is Monday Round 2.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
She's so calm though all the time.
I mean, my hair can be on fireand I'm like I don't know what
to do.
She's like one thing at a time.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Make a list, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You're right, yeah, she's the voice of reason.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
No, it always gets done Right, always, yeah.
So let me ask you this Wheneveryou started, was Bourbon being
talked about Like?
were there already design labeldesigns in the process?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, nothing, okay.
So when I started, it was we'remaking Bourbon.
I'm like all right, cool, whatelse?
Like we're making Bourbon?
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Or trying to figure this out.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The Welcome Center was torn apart, was getting put
back together to start doingtours, and stills were.
They were still.
I don't think Kyle had evencome on just yet.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
No.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So still very experimental, getting everything
rolling, how do we do this,that sort of stuff?
And then, for like the firstcouple of years I was here, the
running joke was every yearsomething was going to be due on
April 1.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
The first year tourism is going to start April
1.
Did not start April 1.
And then the next year,something else It did start
April 1.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
You're right, it started April 1.
I don't know if we can callthat a real experience.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
It's got much better since But every year for about
three or four years.
It would come up on mid-MarchAnd Patrick would be like all
right, we're going to do thisthing, let's do April 1.
And I'm like are you shitting?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
me Like please stop with April 2.
Say April 2 for the love of God.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
I mean even whenever we did the rehab of McCormick on
Maine downtown April 1.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Bourbon cutting Bourbon launching.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
That's our day.
That's our day.
That's our day.
Yeah, I curse April 1.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, kind of grown to like it.
We're planning the next April 1.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Right now Just don't know what it is, yet We're
starting the process, the factthat you're planning it now is a
relief, because usually youdon't plan it till March 1.
It's an unplanned plan.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
March 1 is when the actual plan takes.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Just know what's coming, right, yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I mean, is it intentional with April Fool's
Day?
Like I'm not in the loop onthis, no, it just.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It was completely accidental, like somebody had
just said, april 1.
We're going to do tours, andthen every year after that it
became a joke.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
But then, like we really did a thing yeah, on
April 1.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
So it's fun.
It's a lot of fun.
It's our day.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, with building brands, some things happen
quickly.
So I'm rewinding my brain to360 Vodka And I was back at the
ad agency for the company atthat time, out in Los Angeles,
and the idea came through oflet's create the world's first
eco-friendly vodka, right?
So that seed is planted And innine months we had distribution
(14:19):
of a finished brand on the bestvodka's ever made in every
single way 50 states in ninemonths.
It was crazy.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
That's fast.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
So some things can happen at that level, Other
things, like we're talking aboutbourbon.
we've been working on this fornine years straight.
And not since we've startedstilling, because obviously now
we have some bourbon that'sseven years plus old.
There was a year and a half twoyears of preparing the location
, restoring it back to itshistorical set, of redoing a
(14:51):
still making everything aroundhere so that someone comes up
here for a tour Awesome, i meanreally a night and day shift in
the entire company is kind ofphilosophy in where we were as
far as who we are locally andwhat we mean to the community.
Because we're out in the hillsof Western Beautiful Like
historic location.
(15:11):
Lewis and Clark charted ouroriginal spring, all these cool
things, but we were reallyhidden.
No one knew about us.
People still don't know enoughabout us in Kansas City alone.
It's 15 minutes down the rip,so it's a process that takes
that many years.
It's almost harder because youhave time to tweak and rethink
(15:32):
and rethink again and go again,and we did that.
That's the longest process I'veever been a part of, especially
with the whole team.
But to develop what startedwith Ben Holiday and now Holiday
Soft Red, out of all that time,knowing that it all paid off,
is pretty cool.
And you throw this guy's juiceand the bottle on top of it.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
It's not a magical thing, right I?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
remember the.
So you brought up the HolidayHalfway or Halfway Home,
whatever it was, and I remembergetting those labels and
thinking man, why did anyonewaste their time on this?
I don't want to put Berman in,i want to wait.
What's the rush?
And obviously I still wouldhave if that was the decision.
(16:15):
But I'm glad we didn't becauseI was not sure what I was going
to put in there There's a wholegraveyard of projects that never
made it out of marketing.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
So, many things I've worked on that never ended up
coming to be, or there's justdifferent ideas that went by the
wayside.
So that's just a common thingwith design is that very small
portion of what you actuallywork on ever makes it out into
the world, and sometimes we havea very long time.
Like Berman, it took years andyears and years.
(16:45):
Other times we have productsthat got out in months.
I remember designing for WickedPickle.
All of us were working ondifferent labels, trying to get
the right vibe, bouncing thingsaround.
That went so quickly, it wasjust chaotic.
And then you have other brands,like Tequila Rose to, where it
went through a rebranding rightbefore I started.
(17:06):
But even changing over back toglass bottles took a few years
before everybody startedrecognizing it and getting used
to it.
And then even then we switchedto thermochromatic labels.
That took a couple of years toget rolled out and switched over
.
So our timelines are veryinconsistent.
Sometimes you're moving reallyquick, sometimes you're just
(17:27):
waiting to see if a tweak thatyou made two years ago is going
to pay off.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, no, it's endless different opportunities
of where it's all at and how itcould all be.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Sorry, don't mind me, i'm just over here.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
I wanted my drink.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
You're reaching over my drink And this is the first
time I've ever moved my micduring a podcast.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
It just feels weird, like I'm not, you look weird
doing it.
Yeah, it's so weird.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
No, i feel You try to grab yours next.
I will, but we'll make a gameout of it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Just kind of back and forth.
No, but all these differentthings as you go through it, the
different timelines, differentpriorities, different levels but
it is very interesting thatit's never the same way Every
time we work on something.
it's different.
It's a different intensity,different speed, different
priority level.
It's fun, like right now, we'redoing a whole lot of things to
(18:15):
kind of get in and make thingseven better on some of our
products, kind of historicalproducts of how can we tweak
things that we're good and makethem great.
I mean, there's so manydifferent ways you could look at
things, and that could bepackaging, that could be
environmental benefits ofpackaging itself or the product,
it could be sugar levels.
I mean all these differentthings you have to look at from
(18:36):
Kyle's side, managing the laband kind of that piece of the
product, of the meticulousnature of how you can create
something, 100,000 differentways and you have to find the
right way and then what you putit in, but it really is a neat
process.
It's.
my favorite thing to do is kindof the reworking, honestly.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Well, we've talked about the liquid and the
packaging and labels a lot, ButI mean, building a brand is so
much more than that, because itcomes into the copywriting and
PR.
What is the voice of this brand, What's the story of it?
How are we going to talk aboutit?
Who do we think is going toconnect with it?
And then the photography teamhas to take bottle shots, hero
(19:19):
images, lifestyle images andwork with social media And that
sort of stuff.
So it really there's a veryall-encompassing piece that
obviously you have to have apackage, but you have to craft
this entire experience thatsomebody's going to have and
treat it as the brand is anexperience And the product is
like what they decide they wantto take home with it.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
What is a hero image?
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So a hero image.
I have no idea what that is.
It's mainly a picture of meLike cool Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I definitely set you up for that and that was way too
easy.
Sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
So a hero image would be like a single shot where
you're trying to kind of givethe overall vibe of the brand
but you're still showing off thebottle.
So sometimes when you dolifestyle images, it's cocktails
, people holding the bottle.
The bottle might be atdifferent angles, moodier
(20:12):
lighting, but with a hero imageeverything is still very
properly lit.
It's what gets used inadvertisements a lot, or, like
our banners, that sort of stuff.
So it's really just how can wemake this the prettiest, the
bottle the prettiest, without itbeing isolated on like a white
background?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, it's like the image that you can use in
multiple applications of like,present, the brand, whatever
that is, anytime we go on theroad and we have to set up the
all the giant backdrops.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
That's a hero image.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Pretty much.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
OK, cool.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Anything that you would like put on a canvas or as
art would be considered like alifestyle image, but if it's
being used more in anadvertisement sense, then it
leans towards a hero image.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
We do have a hero image of Kyle Well.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
I mean flat.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Kyle.
We've talked about flat Kyleand that's your hero image.
Your wife loved flat Kyle.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So Patrick likes to talk about flat Kyle a lot.
But have we mentioned thatthere's been?
multiple flat Patrick's,because that's how this all got
started.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
None of those were hero images.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Years ago the design team, as a way to entertain
ourselves, made a flat Patrickthat we left in the office and
would decorate and dress up andall kinds of stuff.
So flat Patrick happened longbefore flat Kyle.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I walked in to our area and I found like and I know
Stephanie was a part of it too,so, stephanie, she's terrible
There was like 4,000 pictures ofmy face everywhere, like I
don't know what was going on,but I didn't love me as much as
I do, i'd have been like superpissed, but I didn't know it was
fun.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
I think I remember walking in at one point and
Flatpatrick was holding awhopper like a cheeseburger.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I mean why not?
Speaker 5 (21:54):
I mean, he's done a lot of things.
He's been to a lot of coolplaces.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
We're getting a whole collection, like I mean,
between Flatpatrick Flatkyle.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Jonado We did introduce Jonado a few weeks ago
.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, it's a whole crew going on in the marketing
building.
It's a family.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
Yeah, it's fun, it's a good time.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So we do other things besides design labels, branding
ourselves Flat versions.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Life-size images.
But you mentioned you didmention copywriting and
storytelling, and that is a bigpiece too of what we do, right?
So the website that's always abig one, yes, where it's like oh
, we need to figure out, like,how we want people to think
about this brand, or wheneverthey're researching it, like
what do we want them to knowabout it?
(22:39):
and as short of a few sentencespossible, like how can we grab
them?
And so that's always hard tooto start thinking about.
Okay, like we can sit down andwrite forever, but what is that
first grab that's really goingto get people to stay.
I mean, your beautiful imagesdefinitely help, brendan, you're
a rock star at that.
And then, yeah, then we have totell the people about it.
(22:59):
So in comes Audrey on the socialmedia which we introduced
Audrey a few weeks ago too, butyeah, there's a lot of working
pieces to it And luckily I feelvery fortunate that our team is
in-house So it's very easy forus to communicate.
We have our ways of just likegetting in touch with each other
very quickly, so it's not likewe have to send off outside to
(23:20):
another company And nothingwrong with that, but I think it
just helps us to move thingsalong faster.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, well, you're obviously a huge piece of that,
with the storytelling and thecopywriting and us putting all
the things together to tell thestory.
One thing I will say that Ithink is super refreshing that
what we do here is we focus onthe word real.
A lot Like the things thatwe're making are real.
We're not just making randombrands that are from somewhere
(23:47):
that mean nothing.
Like the things that we'reproducing now mean something.
They're a part of us.
They're cutting no corners,like we're trying to do
everything and make everythingas real as possible.
Urban, for us, was we're notgoing to do it unless it's
perfect for how this locationoperates, what we did in the
past and what we can do into thefuture.
Five farms literally developedthe entire process from start to
(24:12):
finish, went and met thefarmers and their families.
To select those five farms iswild and it makes our jobs kind
of easy when it comes to thatthe storytelling, because
there's an actual story to tellComing from the other side
building brands, when, again,adding to the side of things
Rachel's been there too Youcould have a client that comes
(24:36):
to you with name your product.
That, basically, is just agiant pile of random thought
sourced by whatever they couldthink up and you need to make it
hit some crazy level of salesor whatever their target is.
But if there's nothing there, ifthere's no real substance,
those are the things that shouldprobably be doomed like they
(24:57):
shouldn't exist because it's ahalf-assed thought.
Our thoughts here, everythingwe do here and the team we have
is about that making it real,doing it right and that is a lot
of fun to play on that side ofit versus the other.
I mean like what's one of theweirdest things you worked on
from your old days before yougot here?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
So my agency that I worked for was a lot smaller,
targeted, mostly smallbusinesses, so everybody who
came in super passionate aboutwhat they did.
But sometimes they would bereally niche.
Like we had a lady who madecustom dog beds where you could
pick out the fabrics andembroider your dog's name and
all of these crazy things andshe was so passionate about it
(25:37):
but her ideas were like so offthe wall that sometimes you're
like okay, i don't even know howto begin to tackle this.
And then, like agency side,obviously you're working with
clients so you have to considertheir input and what their ideas
are and kind of figure out thenice way to tell them when you
don't think something's a goodidea.
So that is like a big part ofnavigating agency life.
(25:58):
And so I remember working onthings where you started out
really excited about them and bythe time you turned over the
project you were just likedrained.
You're like I don't want to seethis ever again.
I hope I forget that I everworked on it.
But being an in-house designer,you get to like take some
ownership in the brands andreally like develop your own
(26:18):
relationship with them.
And how does their stylingchange over the years, so that
even though there's been somelike weird off the wall stuff
here, i think it's not nearly ascomparable to agency life.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Agreed.
No, i mean, that's one of thethings that drew me to knowing
when there was an opportunity tocome and work for our company
Moving from the West Coast outhere.
to me it was a no-brainerbecause it's there's some of the
only brands I ever worked onthat it felt like oh yeah, this
I feel like I'm a part of thisin some way, because you work on
all these things and peoplecome and go and companies and
(26:51):
clients come and go, but it'spretty neat being a part of what
we're doing here now and andthen building the team from that
point has been fun.
And, kyle, you, i mean you'renow in the brand business, like
with Bourbon.
That wasn't your world, butyou're an ambassador and a face
and you're a part of what we'redoing, so much fun.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
He loves it.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I love it, i mean because talking about like kind
of what you did before incomparison to and even leading
up to launch, like how much isyour life shifted?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah, i mean I.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
This bright light shining on your face.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
I'm getting a sunburn from all the lights in this
building right now.
But yeah, no, i being theengineer type, being the nerd
type, you are very much behindthe scenes and then it's
suddenly like, oh hey, you knowyou need to go talk about
everything and it's verydramatically different.
And yeah, that's It's beenobviously a challenge, just
(27:46):
because I am that introvert typeof person.
But I think it's even goingback to a point previously, like
it's a lot easier when it's areal thing, it's real bourbon
that I enjoy making, and sotalking about it isn't that
difficult.
But yeah, it's definitelydifferent and unique for me.
And the first month I think ofthat I was trying to get used to
(28:09):
it and we had all thoselaunches that we've talked about
before and and I think afterevery single different
presentation that I did ortasting that I did, patrick
would be like, hey, yeah, thatwas good, next time do this.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Say that Don't use that word.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
You need to change it up.
Words matter.
I was back when I thought hewas, you know, useful and knew
what he was talking about, andso I listened to him.
He's the worst.
Here we are.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
No, it is funny but and part of my enjoying this guy
turning into the clear assholehe has now become, which I love
for it.
But you know, in some of those,like those initial events, my
favorite things were we hadplenty of people that really
came up and some people are justdownright like cocky about how
much of a bourbon person theyare and what they know and what
(28:57):
they know about the process Andlisten.
There's plenty of people thatknow a lot of things.
It's fun, but a few times whena couple of those people might
have sat down with this guy andthen you can hear him very
calmly explain, like how reallife is and what is actually
happening versus some of theirthoughts.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I mean he's a lot of cliches and they just like it's
not based on science and itdrives me nuts.
But yeah, there was kind ofgoing back again to the change
and I guess my personality Idon't know That's not a good
thing.
But earlier this week we had abarrel pick and the guy that was
(29:34):
doing that he said he was uphere for one of those events And
he's like I think my favoritepart was just how awkward you
were during the tasting.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
It's like thanks.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Thanks man, thank you I appreciate that, but I
probably am still equally asawkward, but at least I'm a
little bit more comfortablebeing awkward in front of people
.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So you've popped out of your shell a lot.
Yeah, i think you've owed it.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Kyle.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
It's different when you're throwing in it all the
time.
It gets easier, you get moreused to what's going on And it
is especially at the beginning,like again building that brand
and been a holiday, that firstlaunch day, and you know six,
seven, eight years in the making, if you pull it all into
account.
And then you have everyonethat's going to taste it and
start to judge and talk and doall the things And thankfully
(30:18):
we're making some of the bestbourbon ever made in the history
of anything ever.
So that's been easier.
But you know you have toprepare yourself mentally for
those thoughts, thoseconversations how's this thing
gonna go?
who's gonna say what?
who's gonna write what?
I mean?
everything comes to play and soit goes.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Okay, the design team leading up to launch day was
like a little chaotic because wehave the package done and out
the door.
And then, like a month beforelaunch, we're like, oh god, we
need like banners and backdropsand developing all these things.
And then I was talking toBrendan earlier today.
One of my favorite memoriesfrom launch day actually stemmed
from that of we found out wehad sold out.
(31:00):
So I went upstairs, grabbed abanner that I had made that said
sold out, brought it down toMick and Patrick to put on to
the front to say that we weresold out.
And Mick kind of looked at mefor a second like I was crazy
for having made it ahead of time.
And he's like, did you reallymake a sold out banner?
and I was like, yeah, we did.
Like had no idea if we wouldneed it, but we hoped, and so
(31:22):
that was like really kind of acool part of the Ben launch.
And luckily, with software, i'dlike I think we were a little
more okay.
We've done this forprofessionals.
Yeah, and it was still evenwhen you got to launch day.
You're like, okay, yeah, thisis still different, didn't?
Speaker 4 (31:37):
know as much as we thought we did, but it was so
much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
In a very different way, i worked like pre-sell
pickup on software at launch andso seeing the people who came
back, who had met you beforethey were asking where Kyle was
that asking about what else wehad going on and we had just
done Rick House proof, sogetting to like send him inside
to check out that sort of stuff.
People like, once they've beenhere and meet the team and
(32:01):
experience holiday, i mean, justsomething clicks they're our
friends.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Yeah, just become part.
Part of it turns into fun.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Yeah it's like the brand becomes a full experience,
like that's what you want tohappen right you're not just
making something that's you knowthere's a label in a bottle,
there's liquid, but it'severything that's built around
it.
The the time you share drinkingit with friends, like we're
doing now.
The the moments and thememories you have on those
launch days, our man Brandonalmost passing out behind the
(32:31):
bar of that launch day and thenhe was like about to pass out,
couldn't, didn't.
I mean, he's like fainting itwas like three of us were solid,
like we were ready to go solidterm but yeah, yeah, i was
(32:51):
something.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I'll give Brendan some credit he gets voluntold a
lot yeah and different peoplewould be like, hey, we should do
this.
And he's always the first oneto jump in and say like, alright
, i'll figure out how and hedoes I always tell him I was
like I'm sorry, my mouth getsyou into a lot of extra work,
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
I mean, they always feel very bad making fun of him
when he doesn't have a mic,that's honestly it makes me
super happy he's got theheadphones listening.
You just can't speak everythingwe say, he's looking right at
us.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
It's definitely judging us that's a very.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
It is quite good.
Speaker 5 (33:28):
Yeah, i know I have to move my mic.
Get my drink back to the goodsokay, i do want to ask one, or
bring up one thing too, aboutbuilding brands when it comes to
Kyle.
So we talked a lot about howKyle makes bourbon right, we all
know that you make a lot ofother things.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I, i work on things.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
Yes, so Kyle, with his science lab background,
works on a lot of differentflavor component excuse me,
flavor components.
Brendan, your smash is gettingto me for different products, so
it might be like, okay, i don'twant to give anything away, but
I know he's working on somecool stuff right now yes to
where it's like okay, we wantthis flavor profile.
(34:13):
Okay, maybe remove a littlesugar, like what Patrick said.
Or maybe we take this productand just swap out the spirit,
and there's different ways wherehe's always looking at the back
end of that.
Yeah, we know how to taste itand what we like and what tastes
good, but Kyle is looking at isit stable?
is it going to mix well withother vodka's?
can it be mixed with citrusright curdle, like there's so
(34:35):
many things yeah it, it is a lotof fun doing that.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I like creating or making things.
It's still kind of it's adifferent side of it right, that
it's it's flavor, but you'restill ultimately using very
structured methodology to createthings and that's that's fun
for me.
It's very weird, i get it, but,like, i enjoy doing that and
it's just every aspect of it.
You have to think about it,whether it's, you know, scalable
(35:00):
or shelf stable or what,everything that you talk about,
and so it's just, yeah, it's,it's all about creating things
and in the way that you know, icould never.
I could never do any sort oflabel or hero image or any of
that stuff, because that's nothow my brain works, but the, the
structured type of engineeringstyle.
(35:22):
That's that's where I'm at andI enjoy that, and so that's what
we do.
I haven't even talked about thebackground, but that's what we
do in here is the lab, the city,the library make things so I
have the lab, or else we don'thave any reason to design labels
.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I mean, if we're like Patrick said, if you're just
slapping labels on any oldproduct and it's not worth
drinking, somebody'll buy itonce because of the way it looks
.
You'll never buy it again likewe convince people to buy it not
knowing anything but yourliquid and what's in the bottle
is what convinces people tobecome brand fans and loyal and
that sort of stuff yeah, gottabe right.
Speaker 5 (35:58):
You know, do it the right way yeah, we'll have to
bring on some of Kyle's new newproducts here sometime.
One of these days could be fun.
I mean, i do love bourbon, butthere's some other fun stuff
happening it's the kind of thingI I also get judged.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
I usually don't take it to Mick right away, i take it
to Patrick and he immediatelyis like yeah, no, this is shit.
Like, so you know, we have toalways go through that, but it's
, you know, it is the tastedrives it, and then everything
else adds into it as well.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Yeah, it's fun yeah, i mean, there's the door.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Just he's tried so hard to close it quietly, but
it's just like the loudest yeah,quite close ever in the history
of doors, like when walked in.
I mean I thought we were safebecause Joe's out of town, but
the Joe NATO can hit at any timehe just influences others.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
But yes, back to Kyle .
We are always working on.
Again.
I go back to creating somethingfrom scratch is fun, but I
really really like takingsomething that might have
existed and making it better andif you have something, that's
what we're very careful withlaunching anything new, because
if you do if you cut a corner,or if you compromise and do
(37:20):
something maybe this way insteadof that way, and if maybe we
push a little harder, we couldhave gone that way.
All those tiny details can makeor break a brand being, you know
, from 10,000 cases a year to 3million, i mean you just never
know what that is.
So it's fun to be able to takeand tweak little things that
(37:42):
were way before all of our time.
We've been around 167 years alittle bit of history
continuously operating, not likesome people out there that
might throw a number out thereand they just started three
years ago.
We just never know what it is.
There's lots of history peopleadapt to.
We've been doing it this wholetime.
So we naturally have productsthat are old before all of our
(38:04):
time and if you can take thoseand as, like you know, flavor
profiles and people's taste budsshift and everything kind of
changes over the years.
So a little tweak skill a longway.
I mean we've done it.
We've we've done that withbrands from the beginning to
Keyla Rose is one of our biggestbrands worldwide.
It's an amazing phenomenonright now in the UK,
(38:26):
unbelievable things happeningwith that brand.
But I mean even that formula.
It started in 93.
It's changed about sixdifferent times as things go
along and how you can kind ofnoodle and make things better.
So yeah it's not just theoutside or the package that you
update.
labels That's one thing, butlike what shifts do, and that's
all the part of the process youknow that's a good point.
Speaker 5 (38:47):
Yeah, and that's all done.
Here We could make some reallycool stuff guys.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
We've got all the pieces here.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Yeah, that's good.
Well, rachel, when we invitepeople to holiday happy hour, we
always ask what their favoritebourbon is or cocktail.
What's your favorite?
I need to know.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Cocktail is easy 1856 , old fashioned, with an
embarrassing amount of theLuxardo cherries because they're
the greatest.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
How much is an embarrassing amount?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Like I want the bartender to be a little
uncomfortable giving me that,yeah, he's like listen.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
there's $70 and cherries in the box.
They just like take one out ofthe jar, take another, another.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Keep them coming.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
So that's my favorite cocktail easily, but I'm with
Jordan, i'm team Ben.
I like that little bit of extraspice.
That's got going on Sure, and Ithink probably like October has
been my favorite October.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
October Ben was a magical month.
We've talked about thatmultiple times, but that to me,
i just our distributors fromIllinois were in yesterday And
we were talking about OctoberBen And what I have narrowed it
down to me as being is you couldhave a bourbon like some some
of the months that we'rereleasing now this May Rick
(40:02):
house of our soft red is insane.
That's phenomenal.
So some things will just hityou and you're like, oh my God,
october was like if you drink abourbon and it hits your palate
and it's just so, just velvetyand and damn near perfect on
(40:23):
just being an easy, drinking,amazing bourbon.
That is October.
Like it was soft, it had alittle bit of that rye bite from
the Ben recipe It was.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
It was almost like somewhere between a melding of
wheat and rye and the sense ofit.
Yeah, Had a closer finish tothe wheat but it had that rye
flavor.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
It was So yeah it was an interesting.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Yeah, but I'm, I'm with Jordan team Ben.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
I mean it's one.
It's right when I started.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
It was the first big launch.
I remember the whole process ofthe label.
So, yeah, yeah, I as much as Ithink soft red has great things
about it and I do enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
If.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
I'm picking a bottle and it'd be Ben, there you go.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Like it.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Sometimes you have to pick, just grab one and pour it
.
What I do to all have afavorite kid, you just don't
tell it to their face.
Oh yeah, for sure.
No, i mean, i also say I'msupposed to tell.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
If you want to, you know, let them know the ranking
order.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
That's what my I mean he's against each other right,
Straight up tell them which isher favorite and which is her
not Like.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
she knows how to work the system.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
So that's your goal, as long as I tell them why they
slipped in the ranking, yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
Like they can work on improving that.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yeah, it just be a little bit.
That sounds very engineering ofyou, yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I know you're four, but I'm not going to give you
these goldfish.
Your brother is going to getthem because you're not my
favorite today.
Speaker 5 (41:50):
I'm not going to say Good job, kyle, he's better than
you.
Yeah, it's good to be honestwith people.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Kyle, I like that.
Do you have a spreadsheetranking your children?
I mean, I should.
Or they don't see anyone MaybeGoogle, google?
Speaker 3 (42:02):
I heard that was a hot topic.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
All the hands for a reason to Glen Caron's two
bourbons.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
Oh that's true, that's true Love for both.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, side drinks.
Yeah, the reason you can't sidedrink with.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
No, there is absolutely no rule.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
That's the.
Speaker 5 (42:19):
Patrick classic.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Honestly, the next podcast I'm probably going to
side drink with another.
Just to prove the point.
Speaker 5 (42:25):
I think so.
Yeah, we'll do that.
Well, guys Look forward tobuilding more brands with you.
It's been fun.
Cheers to team Ben.
Cheers, that doesn't click,that doesn't click.
That's not as cool.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Never, ever have a broken parenthesis that ends
(43:06):
active events.
Your wife left like.
So.
Patrick likes to talk aboutflat.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Kyle a lot.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
But have we mentioned that there's been?
multiple flat Patrick's,because that's how this all got
started.
Those were hero images yearsago The design team, as a way to
entertain ourselves, made aflat Patrick that we left in the
office and would decorate anddress up and all kinds of stuff.
So, like flat Patrick happenedlong before flat Kyle.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I walked in to our area and I found, like I know,
stephanie was part of it too.
So, stephanie, she's terrible.
There was like 4000 pictures ofmy face everywhere, like I
don't know what was going on.
but I didn't love me as much asI do.
I had him in like super pastfive.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
Welcome to holiday happy hour presented by the
holiday distillery in WesternMissouri.
I'm Jordan and we've got apretty fun happy hour playing
for today.
But before we get to the fun,Brendan, what are we drinking?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Today we are drinking a bourbon smash, and it is two
ounces of Ben holiday bottledand bon bourbon, three quarter
ounce honey, cinnamon syrup,three quarter ounce of lemon
juice shaken up with some freshmint and then garnish with a
sprig of mint.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
So we want to talk today about building a brand.
So we talk a lot about drinkingthe brand, but we don't always
really talk about how to build abrand.
We also talk a lot about how tomake the product with Kyle and
all the science that goes behindthat, but we do a lot of what
we call like lunch and learns orwe call them brunch and I don't
(01:58):
know whatever it was.
We invited Rachel to come to ahospitality meeting recently and
I asked her to talk aboutlabels and to talk about what
goes into label production andthe legalities of it and the
design and all the things, andshe came with this very
impressive presentation and Iwas wow, I'm invited to come,
I'm going to show up.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, she did show up So embarrassing with a crappy
PowerPoint.
No, and it was not crappy atall.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
It was quite incredible.
So, yeah, with that being said,you know Kyle, you know Patrick
Brendan, of course, on the mic,but this is Rachel, rachel
Dignan, hello.
Rachel's our design manager andwe're lead designer up in the
marketing house and does a lotof good things, so and makes
really great PowerPoints.
So please don't let that bewhat.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I'm known for.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Yeah, you have a lot of other skills that we can
share.
But yeah, so we're excited totalk today to Rachel about how
the design process works.
But I'm just going to kind ofstart here, though, because I
feel like with Patrick, it'salways like well, this is what
we're going to work on.
You're kind of the leader ofthe ideas.
(03:08):
It comes from you, it comesfrom Mick, and you say we're
going to work on this, theleader of most of the ideas is
Mick.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And yes, we work a lot together, but we've got a
really good team of peopleRachel and Brendan and Gabby and
the whole group But you know,an idea is a weird thing.
So around here an idea could besomething physical at our
distillery as, far as a location, it could be a brand thought,
it could be a thought of, youknow, something that started as
(03:38):
a cocktail that turns intosomething you put in a bottle.
I mean, there's so manydifferent layers of what we do,
and to have a group of peoplethat can handle all those
different crazy thoughts andturn them into what they should
be is that's a huge skill.
It's a talent, to say the least.
So especially when you have like, because of the liquor side of
(03:59):
it.
There's tons of regulations onlabels alone, Like you have
things you have to do.
So it's very interesting Likewe've been doing this for a long
time but we keep challengingourselves and doing bigger,
better things, And right nowwe're hitting our stride and
some of the coolest brands I'veseen anywhere So and Rachel's a
(04:19):
huge piece of that- Andsometimes it's like a
full-fledged concept will comeacross my desk of like Hey,
here's like a name, a product,whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And then sometimes it is literally an envelope that
has been doodled on by peoplewho had maybe one too many cave
collection tastings.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
That was one time Rach That I then have to
translate and figure out whatthe heck that means Great
drawing And yeah, so I have anarchive of some very interesting
drawings between our sales teamand you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, ideas that we try to translate and turn into
like reality.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Yes, yeah, sometimes it is kind of like you have to
be a detective and kind of putall the pieces together, but
that's part of the fun of it.
I think that's like, really,what our company is good at is
not only the unique ideas thatpeople come up with certain
people in this room.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Honestly, if you're not kind of coming up with new
ideas and throwing more and morespaghetti at the wall to see
what sticks, then you're justsitting stale and everything is
very boring.
So you might as well just comeup with some of that, the
nudiest ideas for some of thecoolest things, and, you know,
one random thought or one jokeor one conversation leads into
something that could be the nextbig thing.
(05:32):
I mean, five farms is kind ofpart of that.
Yeah, johnny Hart came here,our guy we've known for years
from Ireland.
He sat down with Mick andwanted to get some business
going because he made some ofour other products in the past
and we weren't doing businesswith him at the time.
It was a let's do something andMick told him like okay, well,
(05:54):
give me an Irish cream made fromone cow, which is ridiculous,
but also it's awesome, becausethat led to what now is the
highest rate Irish cream inhistory, the best tasting cream
liquor ever, in my opinion.
Here we are.
That's how it happens.
It all just starts with thereare some things at the wall and
it sticks.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Five farms had a lot of things thrown out the wall.
I remember before it was evennamed, you brought this weird
ceramic jug and set it on mydesk and said Irish cream,
county Cork go, and I'm like noother details, nothing.
We didn't have anything yet,thanks So yeah, that was
definitely a throw things at thewall and see what stuck because
we went through so manydifferent versions.
I think if you dig through ourarchives, there's different
(06:37):
names, different bottles,different colors, before it ever
even approached what it lookslike now.
Yeah, like you would neverrelate the two products if you
look at the beginning and endAnd even that, that jug.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I remember that jug specifically.
It was mainly the top.
Everyone liked the top, theidea of that closure, something
like our 360 line of vodka,where it's it's reusable, it's
recyclable, there's all thesethings versus just a plastic cap
or something else Like.
There's something about thatkind of element that made it
seem authentic and real and oldstyle.
(07:09):
That that's what.
That wasn't Obviously evolvedinto what it is, but that's fun.
You have to start somewhere,guys, my favorite thing is
watching Rachel's reaction,depending on the amount of info
she gets It's.
I mean, if you piss Rachel off,things go south in a hurry, but
it's fun.
If you can get that reaction,then just run Like I just run.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, I don't look back.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
You do tend to drop a bomb and then run away, and I'm
kind of left like all right howdo I explain this to the rest
of the team And we'll all startworking on things.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And it's interesting to see everybody's
interpretation of it because I'mlike, oh, that's not what I
thought he meant, But that'sclearly what either Gabby or
Brendan thought he meant.
So that's why we work as a team.
So much is just different ideasspiral and create more.
And a lot of times when we'reworking on something, Brendan
has the unfortunate seat in themarketing building where I can
see his screens.
So he'll be working on somethingand I'm like you need to move
(07:59):
it to the left or change thatcolor.
And I'm sure he hates it, butthat's just part of the process
I'm.
it's what we do.
I mean bounce ideas off of eachother.
We're always editing and likenot stealing each other's ideas,
but you see something you'relike, oh well, i want to do it
this way.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, the collaborative part is what makes
it so special.
Everyone kind of knows Beat offeach other, move things around
until it starts to feel like thereal deal, think it's perfect,
give it a mix.
He's like fuck that It's allwrong, we start over And then it
ends up being even better.
But that is the point.
We all have like the differentlevels in this thing, and that's
(08:38):
why we're turning out some ofthe coolest packages and
products that anyone's ever seenin this business.
So it's all for a reason.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, when I was talking to the hospitality team.
We were kind of talking aboutbourbon specifically, because I
was like there's too many brandsto cover them all.
So I dove all the way back to Istarted in 2015.
So bourbon, getting started,all of that.
So I went through and pulledjust a few of each of the stages
of bourbon that we thought wasgoing to be real.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
So we had labels at two year, we had labels at three
year, we had a label marked ata year and a half that we were
going to call holiday halfwayThen we had four year a five
year, finally a six year, andwithin each of those there were
probably like 50 to 100 versions.
(09:27):
So it's it was a very longprocess to ever get to the label
we have now.
And even the label we have now,i remember leaving on a Tuesday
and we're like, all right,short up, We're going to send it
to TTV on Thursday.
And I came back Thursday andBrun is like you don't believe
what happened yesterday,re-counting the story of riding
(09:47):
a bike up and down the hillshowing proofs, and then that
Thursday evolved into me runningup and down the stairs showing
proofs to you guys in the garageand tweaking little bits here
and there And that's honestly myfavorite part of like building
a brand is that final editing.
It's chaos and it's stressful,But something that we had put
(10:08):
three or four bottles down andnobody would know the difference
.
But you have to point them outand they're like, oh okay, that
does matter And stuff like that.
That was always like myfavorite part, But it was coming
back that.
Thursday Brendan looked like hehad been through something.
I did not realize that it wasmy turn that day, and that was a
blast.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
You were there for a while That was my first
experience watching that.
It was a lot of fun andstressful.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
What's going on?
I was doing all the work.
What are you guys doing Like?
oh, really, Watch this.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
This is where it gets really bad day to wear new
boots.
Like my feet hurt so bad, thenyou could have seen Brendan
pedaling on that bike.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I mean we've got golf carts.
He could have been drivinginstead.
He's coming down sweaty from.
The ride down is great, Thepedaling up I wouldn't want to
pedal up that.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I mean, i'm old and lazy, tretcherous.
Yeah, it's not a mountain bike,it was like a BMX single gear,
monster energy.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, it was amazing, but it also has become like a
an ongoing joke of typically ifRachel's not in the office.
So most of our design teamworks for tense, which is so
cool.
My first year here was for tenseI thought was the greatest scam
of all time.
So fact we brought that back.
I like it was great.
(11:21):
But anytime Rachel's not here,major shifts happen on whatever
she was a part of that.
Typically she thinks we're likeoh, we're almost done, and like
a bomb goes off and she gets itall the next morning And it's
very fun to watch that happen.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Makes me happy.
Thursdays are always a realgamble on what I'm walking into.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
It's Monday, Part 2 for you, I mean pretty much.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It is Monday Round 2.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
She's so calm though all the time.
I mean, my hair can be on fireand I'm like I don't know what
to do.
She's like one thing at a time.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Make a list, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You're right, yeah, she's the voice of reason.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
No, it always gets done Right, always, yeah.
So let me ask you this Wheneveryou started, was Bourbon being
talked about Like?
were there already design labeldesigns in the process?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, nothing, okay.
So when I started, it was we'remaking Bourbon.
I'm like all right, cool, whatelse?
Like we're making Bourbon?
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Or trying to figure this out.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The Welcome Center was torn apart, was getting put
back together to start doingtours, and stills were.
They were still.
I don't think Kyle had evencome on just yet.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
No.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So still very experimental, getting everything
rolling, how do we do this,that sort of stuff?
And then, for like the firstcouple of years I was here, the
running joke was every yearsomething was going to be due on
April 1.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
The first year tourism is going to start April
1.
Did not start April 1.
And then the next year,something else It did start
April 1.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
You're right, it started April 1.
I don't know if we can callthat a real experience.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
It's got much better since But every year for about
three or four years.
It would come up on mid-MarchAnd Patrick would be like all
right, we're going to do thisthing, let's do April 1.
And I'm like are you shitting?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
me Like please stop with April 2.
Say April 2 for the love of God.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
I mean even whenever we did the rehab of McCormick on
Maine downtown April 1.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Bourbon cutting Bourbon launching.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
That's our day.
That's our day.
That's our day.
Yeah, I curse April 1.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, kind of grown to like it.
We're planning the next April 1.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Right now Just don't know what it is, yet We're
starting the process, the factthat you're planning it now is a
relief, because usually youdon't plan it till March 1.
It's an unplanned plan.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
March 1 is when the actual plan takes.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Just know what's coming, right, yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I mean, is it intentional with April Fool's
Day?
Like I'm not in the loop onthis, no, it just.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It was completely accidental, like somebody had
just said, april 1.
We're going to do tours, andthen every year after that it
became a joke.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
But then, like we really did a thing yeah, on
April 1.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
So it's fun.
It's a lot of fun.
It's our day.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, with building brands, some things happen
quickly.
So I'm rewinding my brain to360 Vodka And I was back at the
ad agency for the company atthat time, out in Los Angeles,
and the idea came through oflet's create the world's first
eco-friendly vodka, right?
So that seed is planted And innine months we had distribution
(14:19):
of a finished brand on the bestvodka's ever made in every
single way 50 states in ninemonths.
It was crazy.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
That's fast.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
So some things can happen at that level, Other
things, like we're talking aboutbourbon.
we've been working on this fornine years straight.
And not since we've startedstilling, because obviously now
we have some bourbon that'sseven years plus old.
There was a year and a half twoyears of preparing the location
, restoring it back to itshistorical set, of redoing a
(14:51):
still making everything aroundhere so that someone comes up
here for a tour Awesome, i meanreally a night and day shift in
the entire company is kind ofphilosophy in where we were as
far as who we are locally andwhat we mean to the community.
Because we're out in the hillsof Western Beautiful Like
historic location.
(15:11):
Lewis and Clark charted ouroriginal spring, all these cool
things, but we were reallyhidden.
No one knew about us.
People still don't know enoughabout us in Kansas City alone.
It's 15 minutes down the rip,so it's a process that takes
that many years.
It's almost harder because youhave time to tweak and rethink
(15:32):
and rethink again and go again,and we did that.
That's the longest process I'veever been a part of, especially
with the whole team.
But to develop what startedwith Ben Holiday and now Holiday
Soft Red, out of all that time,knowing that it all paid off,
is pretty cool.
And you throw this guy's juiceand the bottle on top of it.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
It's not a magical thing, right I?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
remember the.
So you brought up the HolidayHalfway or Halfway Home,
whatever it was, and I remembergetting those labels and
thinking man, why did anyonewaste their time on this?
I don't want to put Berman in,i want to wait.
What's the rush?
And obviously I still wouldhave if that was the decision.
(16:15):
But I'm glad we didn't becauseI was not sure what I was going
to put in there There's a wholegraveyard of projects that never
made it out of marketing.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
So, many things I've worked on that never ended up
coming to be, or there's justdifferent ideas that went by the
wayside.
So that's just a common thingwith design is that very small
portion of what you actuallywork on ever makes it out into
the world, and sometimes we havea very long time.
Like Berman, it took years andyears and years.
(16:45):
Other times we have productsthat got out in months.
I remember designing for WickedPickle.
All of us were working ondifferent labels, trying to get
the right vibe, bouncing thingsaround.
That went so quickly, it wasjust chaotic.
And then you have other brands,like Tequila Rose to, where it
went through a rebranding rightbefore I started.
(17:06):
But even changing over back toglass bottles took a few years
before everybody startedrecognizing it and getting used
to it.
And then even then we switchedto thermochromatic labels.
That took a couple of years toget rolled out and switched over
.
So our timelines are veryinconsistent.
Sometimes you're moving reallyquick, sometimes you're just
(17:27):
waiting to see if a tweak thatyou made two years ago is going
to pay off.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, no, it's endless different opportunities
of where it's all at and how itcould all be.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Sorry, don't mind me, i'm just over here.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
I wanted my drink.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
You're reaching over my drink And this is the first
time I've ever moved my micduring a podcast.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
It just feels weird, like I'm not, you look weird
doing it.
Yeah, it's so weird.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
No, i feel You try to grab yours next.
I will, but we'll make a gameout of it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Just kind of back and forth.
No, but all these differentthings as you go through it, the
different timelines, differentpriorities, different levels but
it is very interesting thatit's never the same way Every
time we work on something.
it's different.
It's a different intensity,different speed, different
priority level.
It's fun, like right now, we'redoing a whole lot of things to
(18:15):
kind of get in and make thingseven better on some of our
products, kind of historicalproducts of how can we tweak
things that we're good and makethem great.
I mean, there's so manydifferent ways you could look at
things, and that could bepackaging, that could be
environmental benefits ofpackaging itself or the product,
it could be sugar levels.
I mean all these differentthings you have to look at from
(18:36):
Kyle's side, managing the laband kind of that piece of the
product, of the meticulousnature of how you can create
something, 100,000 differentways and you have to find the
right way and then what you putit in, but it really is a neat
process.
It's.
my favorite thing to do is kindof the reworking, honestly.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Well, we've talked about the liquid and the
packaging and labels a lot, ButI mean, building a brand is so
much more than that, because itcomes into the copywriting and
PR.
What is the voice of this brand, What's the story of it?
How are we going to talk aboutit?
Who do we think is going toconnect with it?
And then the photography teamhas to take bottle shots, hero
(19:19):
images, lifestyle images andwork with social media And that
sort of stuff.
So it really there's a veryall-encompassing piece that
obviously you have to have apackage, but you have to craft
this entire experience thatsomebody's going to have and
treat it as the brand is anexperience And the product is
like what they decide they wantto take home with it.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
What is a hero image?
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So a hero image.
I have no idea what that is.
It's mainly a picture of meLike cool Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I definitely set you up for that and that was way too
easy.
Sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
So a hero image would be like a single shot where
you're trying to kind of givethe overall vibe of the brand
but you're still showing off thebottle.
So sometimes when you dolifestyle images, it's cocktails
, people holding the bottle.
The bottle might be atdifferent angles, moodier
(20:12):
lighting, but with a hero imageeverything is still very
properly lit.
It's what gets used inadvertisements a lot, or, like
our banners, that sort of stuff.
So it's really just how can wemake this the prettiest, the
bottle the prettiest, without itbeing isolated on like a white
background?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, it's like the image that you can use in
multiple applications of like,present, the brand, whatever
that is, anytime we go on theroad and we have to set up the
all the giant backdrops.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
That's a hero image.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Pretty much.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
OK, cool.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Anything that you would like put on a canvas or as
art would be considered like alifestyle image, but if it's
being used more in anadvertisement sense, then it
leans towards a hero image.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
We do have a hero image of Kyle Well.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
I mean flat.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Kyle.
We've talked about flat Kyleand that's your hero image.
Your wife loved flat Kyle.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So Patrick likes to talk about flat Kyle a lot.
But have we mentioned thatthere's been?
multiple flat Patrick's,because that's how this all got
started.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
None of those were hero images.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Years ago the design team, as a way to entertain
ourselves, made a flat Patrickthat we left in the office and
would decorate and dress up andall kinds of stuff.
So flat Patrick happened longbefore flat Kyle.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I walked in to our area and I found like and I know
Stephanie was a part of it too,so, stephanie, she's terrible
There was like 4,000 pictures ofmy face everywhere, like I
don't know what was going on,but I didn't love me as much as
I do, i'd have been like superpissed, but I didn't know it was
fun.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
I think I remember walking in at one point and
Flatpatrick was holding awhopper like a cheeseburger.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I mean why not?
Speaker 5 (21:54):
I mean, he's done a lot of things.
He's been to a lot of coolplaces.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
We're getting a whole collection, like I mean,
between Flatpatrick Flatkyle.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Jonado We did introduce Jonado a few weeks ago
.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, it's a whole crew going on in the marketing
building.
It's a family.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
Yeah, it's fun, it's a good time.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So we do other things besides design labels, branding
ourselves Flat versions.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Life-size images.
But you mentioned you didmention copywriting and
storytelling, and that is a bigpiece too of what we do, right?
So the website that's always abig one, yes, where it's like oh
, we need to figure out, like,how we want people to think
about this brand, or wheneverthey're researching it, like
what do we want them to knowabout it?
(22:39):
and as short of a few sentencespossible, like how can we grab
them?
And so that's always hard tooto start thinking about.
Okay, like we can sit down andwrite forever, but what is that
first grab that's really goingto get people to stay.
I mean, your beautiful imagesdefinitely help, brendan, you're
a rock star at that.
And then, yeah, then we have totell the people about it.
(22:59):
So in comes Audrey on the socialmedia which we introduced
Audrey a few weeks ago too, butyeah, there's a lot of working
pieces to it And luckily I feelvery fortunate that our team is
in-house So it's very easy forus to communicate.
We have our ways of just likegetting in touch with each other
very quickly, so it's not likewe have to send off outside to
(23:20):
another company And nothingwrong with that, but I think it
just helps us to move thingsalong faster.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, well, you're obviously a huge piece of that,
with the storytelling and thecopywriting and us putting all
the things together to tell thestory.
One thing I will say that Ithink is super refreshing that
what we do here is we focus onthe word real.
A lot Like the things thatwe're making are real.
We're not just making randombrands that are from somewhere
(23:47):
that mean nothing.
Like the things that we'reproducing now mean something.
They're a part of us.
They're cutting no corners,like we're trying to do
everything and make everythingas real as possible.
Urban, for us, was we're notgoing to do it unless it's
perfect for how this locationoperates, what we did in the
past and what we can do into thefuture.
Five farms literally developedthe entire process from start to
(24:12):
finish, went and met thefarmers and their families.
To select those five farms iswild and it makes our jobs kind
of easy when it comes to thatthe storytelling, because
there's an actual story to tellComing from the other side
building brands, when, again,adding to the side of things
Rachel's been there too Youcould have a client that comes
(24:36):
to you with name your product.
That, basically, is just agiant pile of random thought
sourced by whatever they couldthink up and you need to make it
hit some crazy level of salesor whatever their target is.
But if there's nothing there, ifthere's no real substance,
those are the things that shouldprobably be doomed like they
(24:57):
shouldn't exist because it's ahalf-assed thought.
Our thoughts here, everythingwe do here and the team we have
is about that making it real,doing it right and that is a lot
of fun to play on that side ofit versus the other.
I mean like what's one of theweirdest things you worked on
from your old days before yougot here?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
So my agency that I worked for was a lot smaller,
targeted, mostly smallbusinesses, so everybody who
came in super passionate aboutwhat they did.
But sometimes they would bereally niche.
Like we had a lady who madecustom dog beds where you could
pick out the fabrics andembroider your dog's name and
all of these crazy things andshe was so passionate about it
(25:37):
but her ideas were like so offthe wall that sometimes you're
like okay, i don't even know howto begin to tackle this.
And then, like agency side,obviously you're working with
clients so you have to considertheir input and what their ideas
are and kind of figure out thenice way to tell them when you
don't think something's a goodidea.
So that is like a big part ofnavigating agency life.
(25:58):
And so I remember working onthings where you started out
really excited about them and bythe time you turned over the
project you were just likedrained.
You're like I don't want to seethis ever again.
I hope I forget that I everworked on it.
But being an in-house designer,you get to like take some
ownership in the brands andreally like develop your own
(26:18):
relationship with them.
And how does their stylingchange over the years, so that
even though there's been somelike weird off the wall stuff
here, i think it's not nearly ascomparable to agency life.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Agreed.
No, i mean, that's one of thethings that drew me to knowing
when there was an opportunity tocome and work for our company
Moving from the West Coast outhere.
to me it was a no-brainerbecause it's there's some of the
only brands I ever worked onthat it felt like oh yeah, this
I feel like I'm a part of thisin some way, because you work on
all these things and peoplecome and go and companies and
(26:51):
clients come and go, but it'spretty neat being a part of what
we're doing here now and andthen building the team from that
point has been fun.
And, kyle, you, i mean you'renow in the brand business, like
with Bourbon.
That wasn't your world, butyou're an ambassador and a face
and you're a part of what we'redoing, so much fun.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
He loves it.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I love it, i mean because talking about like kind
of what you did before incomparison to and even leading
up to launch, like how much isyour life shifted?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah, i mean I.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
This bright light shining on your face.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
I'm getting a sunburn from all the lights in this
building right now.
But yeah, no, i being theengineer type, being the nerd
type, you are very much behindthe scenes and then it's
suddenly like, oh hey, you knowyou need to go talk about
everything and it's verydramatically different.
And yeah, that's It's beenobviously a challenge, just
(27:46):
because I am that introvert typeof person.
But I think it's even goingback to a point previously, like
it's a lot easier when it's areal thing, it's real bourbon
that I enjoy making, and sotalking about it isn't that
difficult.
But yeah, it's definitelydifferent and unique for me.
And the first month I think ofthat I was trying to get used to
(28:09):
it and we had all thoselaunches that we've talked about
before and and I think afterevery single different
presentation that I did ortasting that I did, patrick
would be like, hey, yeah, thatwas good, next time do this.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Say that Don't use that word.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
You need to change it up.
Words matter.
I was back when I thought hewas, you know, useful and knew
what he was talking about, andso I listened to him.
He's the worst.
Here we are.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
No, it is funny but and part of my enjoying this guy
turning into the clear assholehe has now become, which I love
for it.
But you know, in some of those,like those initial events, my
favorite things were we hadplenty of people that really
came up and some people are justdownright like cocky about how
much of a bourbon person theyare and what they know and what
(28:57):
they know about the process Andlisten.
There's plenty of people thatknow a lot of things.
It's fun, but a few times whena couple of those people might
have sat down with this guy andthen you can hear him very
calmly explain, like how reallife is and what is actually
happening versus some of theirthoughts.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I mean he's a lot of cliches and they just like it's
not based on science and itdrives me nuts.
But yeah, there was kind ofgoing back again to the change
and I guess my personality Idon't know That's not a good
thing.
But earlier this week we had abarrel pick and the guy that was
(29:34):
doing that he said he was uphere for one of those events And
he's like I think my favoritepart was just how awkward you
were during the tasting.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
It's like thanks.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Thanks man, thank you I appreciate that, but I
probably am still equally asawkward, but at least I'm a
little bit more comfortablebeing awkward in front of people
.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So you've popped out of your shell a lot.
Yeah, i think you've owed it.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Kyle.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
It's different when you're throwing in it all the
time.
It gets easier, you get moreused to what's going on And it
is especially at the beginning,like again building that brand
and been a holiday, that firstlaunch day, and you know six,
seven, eight years in the making, if you pull it all into
account.
And then you have everyonethat's going to taste it and
start to judge and talk and doall the things And thankfully
(30:18):
we're making some of the bestbourbon ever made in the history
of anything ever.
So that's been easier.
But you know you have toprepare yourself mentally for
those thoughts, thoseconversations how's this thing
gonna go?
who's gonna say what?
who's gonna write what?
I mean?
everything comes to play and soit goes.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Okay, the design team leading up to launch day was
like a little chaotic because wehave the package done and out
the door.
And then, like a month beforelaunch, we're like, oh god, we
need like banners and backdropsand developing all these things.
And then I was talking toBrendan earlier today.
One of my favorite memoriesfrom launch day actually stemmed
from that of we found out wehad sold out.
(31:00):
So I went upstairs, grabbed abanner that I had made that said
sold out, brought it down toMick and Patrick to put on to
the front to say that we weresold out.
And Mick kind of looked at mefor a second like I was crazy
for having made it ahead of time.
And he's like, did you reallymake a sold out banner?
and I was like, yeah, we did.
Like had no idea if we wouldneed it, but we hoped, and so
(31:22):
that was like really kind of acool part of the Ben launch.
And luckily, with software, i'dlike I think we were a little
more okay.
We've done this forprofessionals.
Yeah, and it was still evenwhen you got to launch day.
You're like, okay, yeah, thisis still different, didn't?
Speaker 4 (31:37):
know as much as we thought we did, but it was so
much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
In a very different way, i worked like pre-sell
pickup on software at launch andso seeing the people who came
back, who had met you beforethey were asking where Kyle was
that asking about what else wehad going on and we had just
done Rick House proof, sogetting to like send him inside
to check out that sort of stuff.
People like, once they've beenhere and meet the team and
(32:01):
experience holiday, i mean, justsomething clicks they're our
friends.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Yeah, just become part.
Part of it turns into fun.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Yeah it's like the brand becomes a full experience,
like that's what you want tohappen right you're not just
making something that's you knowthere's a label in a bottle,
there's liquid, but it'severything that's built around
it.
The the time you share drinkingit with friends, like we're
doing now.
The the moments and thememories you have on those
launch days, our man Brandonalmost passing out behind the
(32:31):
bar of that launch day and thenhe was like about to pass out,
couldn't, didn't.
I mean, he's like fainting itwas like three of us were solid,
like we were ready to go solidterm but yeah, yeah, i was
(32:51):
something.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I'll give Brendan some credit he gets voluntold a
lot yeah and different peoplewould be like, hey, we should do
this.
And he's always the first oneto jump in and say like, alright
, i'll figure out how and hedoes I always tell him I was
like I'm sorry, my mouth getsyou into a lot of extra work,
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
I mean, they always feel very bad making fun of him
when he doesn't have a mic,that's honestly it makes me
super happy he's got theheadphones listening.
You just can't speak everythingwe say, he's looking right at
us.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
It's definitely judging us that's a very.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
It is quite good.
Speaker 5 (33:28):
Yeah, i know I have to move my mic.
Get my drink back to the goodsokay, i do want to ask one, or
bring up one thing too, aboutbuilding brands when it comes to
Kyle.
So we talked a lot about howKyle makes bourbon right, we all
know that you make a lot ofother things.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I, i work on things.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
Yes, so Kyle, with his science lab background,
works on a lot of differentflavor component excuse me,
flavor components.
Brendan, your smash is gettingto me for different products, so
it might be like, okay, i don'twant to give anything away, but
I know he's working on somecool stuff right now yes to
where it's like okay, we wantthis flavor profile.
(34:13):
Okay, maybe remove a littlesugar, like what Patrick said.
Or maybe we take this productand just swap out the spirit,
and there's different ways wherehe's always looking at the back
end of that.
Yeah, we know how to taste itand what we like and what tastes
good, but Kyle is looking at isit stable?
is it going to mix well withother vodka's?
can it be mixed with citrusright curdle, like there's so
(34:35):
many things yeah it, it is a lotof fun doing that.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I like creating or making things.
It's still kind of it's adifferent side of it right, that
it's it's flavor, but you'restill ultimately using very
structured methodology to createthings and that's that's fun
for me.
It's very weird, i get it, but,like, i enjoy doing that and
it's just every aspect of it.
You have to think about it,whether it's, you know, scalable
(35:00):
or shelf stable or what,everything that you talk about,
and so it's just, yeah, it's,it's all about creating things
and in the way that you know, icould never.
I could never do any sort oflabel or hero image or any of
that stuff, because that's nothow my brain works, but the, the
structured type of engineeringstyle.
(35:22):
That's that's where I'm at andI enjoy that, and so that's what
we do.
I haven't even talked about thebackground, but that's what we
do in here is the lab, the city,the library make things so I
have the lab, or else we don'thave any reason to design labels
.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I mean, if we're like Patrick said, if you're just
slapping labels on any oldproduct and it's not worth
drinking, somebody'll buy itonce because of the way it looks
.
You'll never buy it again likewe convince people to buy it not
knowing anything but yourliquid and what's in the bottle
is what convinces people tobecome brand fans and loyal and
that sort of stuff yeah, gottabe right.
Speaker 5 (35:58):
You know, do it the right way yeah, we'll have to
bring on some of Kyle's new newproducts here sometime.
One of these days could be fun.
I mean, i do love bourbon, butthere's some other fun stuff
happening it's the kind of thingI I also get judged.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
I usually don't take it to Mick right away, i take it
to Patrick and he immediatelyis like yeah, no, this is shit.
Like, so you know, we have toalways go through that, but it's
, you know, it is the tastedrives it, and then everything
else adds into it as well.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Yeah, it's fun yeah, i mean, there's the door.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Just he's tried so hard to close it quietly, but
it's just like the loudest yeah,quite close ever in the history
of doors, like when walked in.
I mean I thought we were safebecause Joe's out of town, but
the Joe NATO can hit at any timehe just influences others.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
But yes, back to Kyle .
We are always working on.
Again.
I go back to creating somethingfrom scratch is fun, but I
really really like takingsomething that might have
existed and making it better andif you have something, that's
what we're very careful withlaunching anything new, because
if you do if you cut a corner,or if you compromise and do
(37:20):
something maybe this way insteadof that way, and if maybe we
push a little harder, we couldhave gone that way.
All those tiny details can makeor break a brand being, you know
, from 10,000 cases a year to 3million, i mean you just never
know what that is.
So it's fun to be able to takeand tweak little things that
(37:42):
were way before all of our time.
We've been around 167 years alittle bit of history
continuously operating, not likesome people out there that
might throw a number out thereand they just started three
years ago.
We just never know what it is.
There's lots of history peopleadapt to.
We've been doing it this wholetime.
So we naturally have productsthat are old before all of our
(38:04):
time and if you can take thoseand as, like you know, flavor
profiles and people's taste budsshift and everything kind of
changes over the years.
So a little tweak skill a longway.
I mean we've done it.
We've we've done that withbrands from the beginning to
Keyla Rose is one of our biggestbrands worldwide.
It's an amazing phenomenonright now in the UK,
(38:26):
unbelievable things happeningwith that brand.
But I mean even that formula.
It started in 93.
It's changed about sixdifferent times as things go
along and how you can kind ofnoodle and make things better.
So yeah it's not just theoutside or the package that you
update.
labels That's one thing, butlike what shifts do, and that's
all the part of the process youknow that's a good point.
Speaker 5 (38:47):
Yeah, and that's all done.
Here We could make some reallycool stuff guys.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
We've got all the pieces here.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Yeah, that's good.
Well, rachel, when we invitepeople to holiday happy hour, we
always ask what their favoritebourbon is or cocktail.
What's your favorite?
I need to know.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Cocktail is easy 1856 , old fashioned, with an
embarrassing amount of theLuxardo cherries because they're
the greatest.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
How much is an embarrassing amount?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Like I want the bartender to be a little
uncomfortable giving me that,yeah, he's like listen.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
there's $70 and cherries in the box.
They just like take one out ofthe jar, take another, another.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Keep them coming.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
So that's my favorite cocktail easily, but I'm with
Jordan, i'm team Ben.
I like that little bit of extraspice.
That's got going on Sure, and Ithink probably like October has
been my favorite October.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
October Ben was a magical month.
We've talked about thatmultiple times, but that to me,
i just our distributors fromIllinois were in yesterday And
we were talking about OctoberBen And what I have narrowed it
down to me as being is you couldhave a bourbon like some some
of the months that we'rereleasing now this May Rick
(40:02):
house of our soft red is insane.
That's phenomenal.
So some things will just hityou and you're like, oh my God,
october was like if you drink abourbon and it hits your palate
and it's just so, just velvetyand and damn near perfect on
(40:23):
just being an easy, drinking,amazing bourbon.
That is October.
Like it was soft, it had alittle bit of that rye bite from
the Ben recipe It was.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
It was almost like somewhere between a melding of
wheat and rye and the sense ofit.
Yeah, Had a closer finish tothe wheat but it had that rye
flavor.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
It was So yeah it was an interesting.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Yeah, but I'm, I'm with Jordan team Ben.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
I mean it's one.
It's right when I started.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
It was the first big launch.
I remember the whole process ofthe label.
So, yeah, yeah, I as much as Ithink soft red has great things
about it and I do enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
If.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
I'm picking a bottle and it'd be Ben, there you go.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Like it.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Sometimes you have to pick, just grab one and pour it
.
What I do to all have afavorite kid, you just don't
tell it to their face.
Oh yeah, for sure.
No, i mean, i also say I'msupposed to tell.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
If you want to, you know, let them know the ranking
order.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
That's what my I mean he's against each other right,
Straight up tell them which isher favorite and which is her
not Like.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
she knows how to work the system.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
So that's your goal, as long as I tell them why they
slipped in the ranking, yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
Like they can work on improving that.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yeah, it just be a little bit.
That sounds very engineering ofyou, yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I know you're four, but I'm not going to give you
these goldfish.
Your brother is going to getthem because you're not my
favorite today.
Speaker 5 (41:50):
I'm not going to say Good job, kyle, he's better than
you.
Yeah, it's good to be honestwith people.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Kyle, I like that.
Do you have a spreadsheetranking your children?
I mean, I should.
Or they don't see anyone MaybeGoogle, google?
Speaker 3 (42:02):
I heard that was a hot topic.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
All the hands for a reason to Glen Caron's two
bourbons.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
Oh that's true, that's true Love for both.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, side drinks.
Yeah, the reason you can't sidedrink with.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
No, there is absolutely no rule.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
That's the.
Speaker 5 (42:19):
Patrick classic.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Honestly, the next podcast I'm probably going to
side drink with another.
Just to prove the point.
Speaker 5 (42:25):
I think so.
Yeah, we'll do that.
Well, guys Look forward tobuilding more brands with you.
It's been fun.
Cheers to team Ben.
Cheers, that doesn't click,that doesn't click.
That's not as cool.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Never, ever have a broken parenthesis that ends
(43:06):
active events.
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