When my wife asked Brian McKenzie, co-founder of Finger Lakes Distilling,“Why did you start the distillery?” His answer was simple, “Because I LOVE whiskey!”
To many his answer doesn’t make sense. There are a lot of things that people like – but that doesn’t cause them to leave a job in banking as Kevin did, put all his time, energy and money into helping change New York State distillery laws (he’s NY farm distillery #2) – and against all odds build his own supply chain, distillery and business.
As an entrepreneur for 50 years I got what Brian felt. He’s talking about a passion that you just can’t stop thinking about. A belief that you can create something that has never been done before.
Within “LOVE” is a quest to make the best in the world – something truly amazing. In Brian’s case, he has many great spirits. However, his Single Malt is quite simply the most amazing “American” version of the Scottish style that I’ve ever tasted. And Brian has more amazing spirits coming with unique grains.
At Brain Brew our LOVE comes to life three ways: 1) the JOY customers feel when they create their personal bourbon, 2) the PLEASURE consumers feel when they learn how to customize their cocktail and 3) the WOW in our fans eyes when they taste our bourbons and ryes.
To paraphrase the Apple commercial, “Here’s to the crazy ones…the ones who see things differently…… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
Cheers,
Doug
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