Three Local Spirits Entrepreneurs Boldly Sail Into the Headwinds

by | Dec 10, 2020 | Blog

Taking a look at new brown-liquor peddlers Guidance Whiskey, Nashville Barrel Company and O.H. Ingram River Aged Whiskey

 

By. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN of the Nashville Scene
Published: DEC 10, 2020 5 AM
  
 Launching any new venture during a pandemic is risky. But releasing new artisan spirits can be particularly difficult, owing to the need to encourage sampling to create new fans. Yet even with consumers looking to get in and out of their favorite liquor store as quickly as possible, three local entrepreneurs are depending on their own ingenuity to establish new brands that are quickly taking off.

Guidance Whiskey

Tennessee State University grad Jason Ridgel got into the spirits business through the side door. “I was living in Los Angeles working in medical equipment sales,” he says. “I would put on these events for doctors, and I saw that half the budget was being spent on alcohol. I realized I couldn’t let that pass me by.”

Ridgel decided to jump into the business of booze, but not as a distiller. “There’s not a lot of profit in the alcohol business, and nobody would talk to me unless I had a crazy big budget,” he says. “I realized it was easier to contract distill, and cleaned out my savings to get started.”

With the huge Kentucky distillers unwilling to pay attention to him, Ridgel looked elsewhere — specifically to Iowa. “Whiskey is mostly corn, and Iowa is where all the corn is, plus they’ve got great water,” he says. He found a distiller willing to take a chance on his new venture, and went back and forth for about a year to come up with the 88 percent corn recipe that has become Guidance Whiskey. “I’m not a master taster or anything,” explains Ridgel, “but for me it’s all about drinkability. I got tired of lying and saying I liked something I didn’t like!”

Although Ridgel doesn’t distill his product, he made sure to be on premises when the first batch of 5,000 bottles was being produced. “I had to go to Iowa in December, and it changed me as a man!” Ridgel says. “I grew up in Alabama, so I couldn’t believe people were so happy and normal in 10 inches of snow.”

Ridgel is proud that Guidance is one of just two Black-owned spirits suppliers in the state, along with Uncle Nearest. His 80-proof whiskey is now distributed at retail in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, New York and Florida, and it’s also available online in 44 states.

Ridgel named the product to honor those who have offered him guidance throughout his life, and he aims to pay it forward by mentoring other Black-owned alcohol brands looking to enter the marketplace. “I’ve already helped launch five other minority brands, and I’m really proud that Guidance will be going into the new National Museum of African American Music when it opens,” he says. “Most of all, I’m looking forward to getting in front of more people as things open up. That’s my real joy!” Click Here for Full Article