238 - The Story of LeNell's and Red Hook Rye

Bourbon Pursuit

Hobbies, Food, Arts, Leisure

4.9 • 866 Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2020

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Red Hook Rye... that bottling might be what made LeNell a household name among bourbon unicorn chasers, but LeNell has a story to tell when it comes to the spirits industry. Her story is filled with fortunate encounters that propelled her name and eventually put her little shop in Brooklyn on the map. Like any endeavor, her story has highs and lows. LeNell shares what owning a store in Red Hook was like back in the day and how she has gone back to her roots in Alabama. We also touch on secondary pricing of her famous private label. Now, before you go any further, this podcast does contain some explicit language so don't say we didn't warn you. You get to hear the real LeNell Camacho Santa Ana. Show Notes: Jim Beam Article: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-beams-are-americas-first-family-of-bourbon This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about the Super Bowl. When was your first taste of whiskey? Do you care about Alabama football? Where did you get the idea of LeNell's? What were your early days like? Did your store ever experience any crime? How did you get into the liquor business? Why did you focus on bourbon? Talk about Straight Bourbon. How did Red Hook Rye happen? Tell us about the process of selecting Red Hook. Do you have any Red Hook left? What are your thoughts on the secondary pricing? What hurdles did you face opening up a store in Alabama? Why was this store so important to you? Do you feel like it is better now as a women in whiskey than in the past? Tell us about the success of your store. Are you helping other businesses open in your neighborhood? What is your newest project?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, hold on, Kenny. We have to, anytime I talk to someone from Alabama, I've got to find out, are you an Auburn fan or a Tide fan?
0:08.9	Neither. I don't give a shit.
0:24.1	This is episode 238 of Bourbon Pursuit.
0:28.1	I'm one of your host, Kenny, and it's time for a bit of Bourbon News.
0:33.0	Lou Bryson, an acclaimed bourbon journalist and author, wrote a captivating story called America's First Family of Bourbon, The Beams.
0:36.2	I'm going to give you a little bit of context
0:38.0	about the article and hope that you go read the rest of it because it gives a historical
0:42.5	timeline of James Beauregard Beam, better known as Jim Beam, and distilling bourbon before
0:47.5	Prohibition, what he did after Prohibition ended, and how this family lineage just has ties
0:52.3	spreading all across the bourbon industry.
0:54.9	Now, during Prohibition, he tried other businesses, including a rock quarry and an orange
0:59.3	grove that ultimately failed, so he found investors in Illinois to fund a new distillery after
1:04.5	Prohibition ended. Along with his son and two nephews, they built a distillery in 120 days
1:09.9	and opened on March 25, 1935.
1:14.0	Jim was 70 years old at the time.
1:16.4	And before Prohibition, the Bean family brand had been Old Tub Bourbon Whiskey.
1:21.8	To Jim's dismay, he learned that the rights of the name had been sold during Prohibition.
1:27.2	Despite this setback, he was
1:28.5	undeterred, and that's when the whiskey officially became Jim Beam Bourbon. The story then dives
1:34.1	into this mid-1700s with Johannes Jacob Beam, and then from there the family lineage starts
1:39.5	really spreading, and talks about how they helped create early- times distillery, Toddy's liquor,
1:45.3	Heaven Hill, and their ties into Stitsleweller, Maker's Mark, Frankfurt Distillery,
	...

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