288 - How to Scale a Brand on Sourced Whiskey with McCauley Williams, CEO of Big River Distilling

Bourbon Pursuit

Hobbies, Food, Arts, Leisure

4.9 • 866 Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Building a brand on sourced whiskey is difficult. When you’re not the one distilling the product, it’s hard to be price competitive. At the same time, you're at the mercy of the market on barrel availability so it's hard to determine the continuation of a product. In this episode, we're joined by McCauley Williams, CEO of Big River Distilling, who is behind brands like Blue Note Bourbon and Riverset Rye. We talk about how to run a large scale business that relies on sourcing and how you protect the brands flavor integrity for the future. Show Notes: This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about empty bottles. What game show would you want to be a contestant on? How did you get into this business? What was the first step to start a spirits business? How did you raise capital to make this happen? Tell us about your brands. Did you have a proof of concept? How do you select a distillation partner? Talk about the competitiveness of the sourced market. Tell us about the pricing of sourced whiskey. How do you differentiate your products? Why 93 proof? How do you get a brand to market? Any states you've seen success in that you didn't expect? Which is a better ROI, liquor stores or bars/restaurants? Do you experience any frustrations with acquiring packaging materials? Any other frustrations with the business? Support this Podcast on Patreon

Transcript

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0:00.0	In order to take those leaps to faith, you have to have that just inherent every night, every morning optimism, somehow to matter what happens, there were fires you're going to put out today. It's going to work out.
0:09.3	Yeah, I thought I was like a crazy idea man. Then I met McCauley and I was like, man, he has got ideas for days.
0:32.2	Welcome back, everybody. It's episode 287 of Bourbon Pursuit, the podcast featuring news, reviews, and interviews with people making the bourbon whiskey industry happen.
0:38.1	I'm one of your host, Kenny Coleman. Before we start today's podcast, talking about how to build a big source brand,
0:43.9	here's your weekly bourbon news update. The U.S. is continuing to slap new tariffs on spirits and retaliation for a deal that's completely unrelated to alcohol. Certain coniacs, grape brandies,
0:50.1	and wine from France and Germany will now see a 25% duty rate increase starting on January 12th.
0:56.8	This is in response to the European Union's 25% tariff that was introduced back in November
1:01.5	of 2020 on rum, vodka, brandy, and vermouth from the U.S.
1:05.7	And that increase actually came immediately after another 25% tariff on single-mult scotch and single-malt
1:11.8	Irish whiskey and liqueurs from the European Union. And that was kicked off around October
1:16.4	of 2019. Now, these tariffs have a real effect. Scotch exports declined year-to-year by
1:22.1	34% between October of 2019 and when the U.S. introduced that 25% tariff. So why are we doing this?
1:30.8	This all dates back to 2004 and has nothing to do at all with alcohol. It's part of a tit-for-tat
1:37.8	dispute approved by the World Trade Organization that began as a part of a penalty against the
1:42.9	European Union for subsidies of the aircraft
1:45.7	company Airbus. And apparently actions by Airbus this past summer will hopefully have ended
1:51.7	this dispute. But this impacts us, even in Bourbon, so we need this resolved. So pay attention
1:58.3	and look to hear more news about this in the future.
2:01.8	Now moving on to Bourbon Release News. Country music singer Lee Greenwood is preparing to launch
2:06.7	a whiskey this spring in partnership with Omaha Nebraska's Soldier Valley Spirits. Greenwood's
2:13.0	signature bourbon is going to be featuring the same liquid as Soldier Valley's 6 bourbon,
2:17.3	which will be phased out as this new release steps in. The 45% ABV six-year-old whiskey
	...

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