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It's All About the Scalability with Spirits
This is our 26th episode of the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy. Making your whiskey business scalable and the craft cocktail recipe - The Strawberry Mint Julep. This podcast episode features Whiskey Maker - Doug Hall and Whiskey Drinker - Tripp Babbitt.
Show Notes[00:00:04] Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy
[00:00:26] Episode #26 - Making Your Whisk(e)y Business Scalable
[00:03:46] Streamline and Clear Bottlenecks as Your Volume Grows
[00:04:15] Can't Wing It - Whiskey Making Requires Discipline
[00:04:58] Scalability is a Disaster in the Whiskey Business
[00:06:03] The Variation in Wood is the Focus of Brain Brew
[00:06:16] Craft Cocktail Recipe - The Strawberry Mint Julep
[00:06:44] Step 1
[00:06:51] Step 2
[00:06:53] Step 3
[00:06:54] Step 4
[00:06:55] Step 5
Transcript
Tripp: [00:00:04] This is the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy podcast where we're going to take you behind the scenes on what it takes to build a whisk(e)y distillery business. The Eureka ranch team led by Doug Hall are creating a craft whisk(e)y company like has never been done before.
Tripp: [00:00:26] Ok well let's move to the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy Doug you went to Orlando. My you went to Disney World my favorite place in the world. I did when I read this section have a little bit of trouble understanding how the scalability of things relates the risk or maybe it doesn't. And you just like talking about scalability.
Doug: [00:00:47] Well so so the issue was as I was at the wine and spirits wholesale Association conference and they had a brand battle several entrepreneurs camera to pitch the product. And when I went through my notes from the event I was I was surprised that every single person was asked a variation of Do you have capacity can you scale. Interesting. It's been the same question I've got with Rainbow as I've met with potential customers is can you scale. Do you have volume. And and this constraint on capacity is one of the greatest various craft spirits success. And if we're not careful what happens is this. We spend so much time getting started. We don't take the time to put in place systems to reduce variation in our process. And so as a result when we start to scale the system quality just becomes a disaster. I mean it's typical if you're doing hundreds of cases and then thousands of cases and the tens of thousands of cases with every step change. What happens is is that you know when you're small you can do work arounds. Oh that's a little off here I'll just add here. This is a law. I just sit here. But as you get bigger and bigger you can't do that.
Doug: [00:02:01] I mean the system is just cranking and running and so on so that we're we're getting more scale to the thing. And so in order for you to get scalability you've got to reduce variance and end and all of that variance is the risk that you're not going to be able to scale. I mean it's just all connected. And so those small variances that don't matter when you small matter a lot when you're big. And so it's easier to build this discipline in when you're small than when you're large. I mean we went twenty eighteen 10 times what we're supposed to do 20 19 is 10 times what we originally supposed to do. That's right we're a thousand hundred times greater today than we were thought to be in 20 19 thankfully thankfully we worked on variants early on we didn't have to bring it in today. And so we've been able to scale still having to deal with challenges but we've been able to scale because we've reduced that variance. We're much tighter on our would we're tighter on our spirit. I mean our equipment runs that you know tenth of a P.S. I mean very tight tolerances on everything that we're doing so that we can scale.
Tripp: [00:03:19] You know this is true for almost every industry I can think of there's stress tests in software where you you've tested the software at working fine and then all of a sudden instead of you know 200 claims are coming through the system let's say in a health care environment now you've got a million claims coming through in a day and it just breaks the breaks the code basically.
Doug: [00:03:45] That's right.
Tripp: [00:03:46] And the same thing with equipment. You know I've seen it in contact centers where they have equipment set up and they've tested it. And then all of a sudden the real call and real volume starts to come and it just just explode. So you're so you have the same issues then in a distillery in that you have these in essence bottlenecks that have to be cleared out as you go and I guess your point here Doug is that you need to do it as as your moving forward. Is that kind of your message here.
Doug: [00:04:15] That's right. You got to get the mindset in at the start. You got it. Because it's very hard when people have been winging it. It's very hard to suddenly turn around and say OK now we need to put some discipline into the decisions that we're making and we need to reduce the variance as we're going along. It's very hard to add that later. And so you need to get that in at the start. You need to get that in at the start because otherwise you're just going to be frustrated. You're going to be frustrated with it.
Tripp: [00:04:45] So what you just. Just out of curiosity when you read these. Why why were they asking. They were asking about capacity at this conference and scale because it's such a big problem in the industry then.
Doug: [00:04:58] It's a total disaster. It's a it's a disaster. It's an absolute disaster everywhere. People can't. You can't scale. You can't get larger. And so it just because it causes massive problems. And when they do scale the quality goes all over the place or they just literally don't have capacity. They just don't have the capacity to do it.
Tripp: [00:05:21] This also brings up and I know we talked about this before but every time I see Joe gash his name I think of it which is you're you try these different words that you're you're putting in. And I always kind of blows my mind from a standpoint of wood and variation been so great and how you guys are able to control that.
Doug: [00:05:46] I mean that is our focus. I mean that that is literally our focus is to reduce that variation in that because the wood is where all the magic happens. And that's where all the magic happens.
Tripp: [00:05:59] Is that where you get most of your variation from then when.
Doug: [00:06:03] It actually happens all the way through the process. But but the but the one that we are at. We sweat more than anything else is. I mean that's where the biggest value add happens is in the wood.
Tripp: [00:06:16] Ok. All right well let's go to your craft cocktail recipe. The Strawberry Mint Julep it kind of on a julep roll. This is our third julep recipe that we've had in Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy. We had the jalapeno and then we had gear basic in your face mint julep that you talked about last week. So what's the strawberry mint julep. Is this something you made up.
Doug: [00:06:40] Yeah just it's still a bit of fun. So a basic julep you know.
Doug: [00:06:44] Five leaves a mint. A teaspoon a simple serve. Three sliced strawberries muddle it really firmly.
Doug: [00:06:51] Add some ice crushed if you got it.
Doug: [00:06:53] Two ounces a noble oak.
Doug: [00:06:54] Stir and enjoy.
Doug: [00:06:55] Maybe with the strawberry is a garnish and it's just kind of a fun way to open it up tones down the mint a little bit strawberry and mint play well together very well together and so it's just a perfect summer kind of spring summer refresher at a little bit of spring champagne sparkling wine to it and it becomes even more magnificent.
Tripp: [00:07:19] Ok. So are you doing something with the sliced strawberries or are you just adding a mint. I'm modeling I'm muddling them. OK. I wasn't I wasn't sure because I knew you didn't have the muddle simple syrup but so when I saw that on there I want to make sure that that that was being muddled also comes like a another interesting drink to try and you've got your noble bourbon in there again. All right. Very good. Any final comments for a Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy.
Doug: [00:07:46] No it's just it's just folks when you get into this kind of stuff you've got to look at the variation. Look at the variation associated with things. I mean that's the whole key to this whole process and the more you get to understand that variation and make it your friend instead of your enemy sort of being a victim to it the more successful and the more fun you're gonna have.
Tripp: [00:08:09] Well that concludes this week's Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy. Thanks Jack. Thanks.
Tripp: [00:08:19] Brain Brew whisk(e)y is looking for pioneers like existing distillers or entrepreneurs interested in our custom whisk(e)y and craft cocktail experiences. These experiences provide consumers bartenders corporations nonprofits and celebrities the ability to craft whisk(e)y to their taste and preferences. Our system also enables the creation of limited edition prestige whisk(e)y is for weddings birthdays or other celebratory events. If you'd like to learn more go to brain Brew whisk(e)y dot com and share with us what you are interested in in the forum provided.
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By Tripp Babbitt and Doug HallThis is our 26th episode of the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy. Making your whiskey business scalable and the craft cocktail recipe - The Strawberry Mint Julep. This podcast episode features Whiskey Maker - Doug Hall and Whiskey Drinker - Tripp Babbitt.
Show Notes[00:00:04] Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy
[00:00:26] Episode #26 - Making Your Whisk(e)y Business Scalable
[00:03:46] Streamline and Clear Bottlenecks as Your Volume Grows
[00:04:15] Can't Wing It - Whiskey Making Requires Discipline
[00:04:58] Scalability is a Disaster in the Whiskey Business
[00:06:03] The Variation in Wood is the Focus of Brain Brew
[00:06:16] Craft Cocktail Recipe - The Strawberry Mint Julep
[00:06:44] Step 1
[00:06:51] Step 2
[00:06:53] Step 3
[00:06:54] Step 4
[00:06:55] Step 5
Transcript
Tripp: [00:00:04] This is the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy podcast where we're going to take you behind the scenes on what it takes to build a whisk(e)y distillery business. The Eureka ranch team led by Doug Hall are creating a craft whisk(e)y company like has never been done before.
Tripp: [00:00:26] Ok well let's move to the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy Doug you went to Orlando. My you went to Disney World my favorite place in the world. I did when I read this section have a little bit of trouble understanding how the scalability of things relates the risk or maybe it doesn't. And you just like talking about scalability.
Doug: [00:00:47] Well so so the issue was as I was at the wine and spirits wholesale Association conference and they had a brand battle several entrepreneurs camera to pitch the product. And when I went through my notes from the event I was I was surprised that every single person was asked a variation of Do you have capacity can you scale. Interesting. It's been the same question I've got with Rainbow as I've met with potential customers is can you scale. Do you have volume. And and this constraint on capacity is one of the greatest various craft spirits success. And if we're not careful what happens is this. We spend so much time getting started. We don't take the time to put in place systems to reduce variation in our process. And so as a result when we start to scale the system quality just becomes a disaster. I mean it's typical if you're doing hundreds of cases and then thousands of cases and the tens of thousands of cases with every step change. What happens is is that you know when you're small you can do work arounds. Oh that's a little off here I'll just add here. This is a law. I just sit here. But as you get bigger and bigger you can't do that.
Doug: [00:02:01] I mean the system is just cranking and running and so on so that we're we're getting more scale to the thing. And so in order for you to get scalability you've got to reduce variance and end and all of that variance is the risk that you're not going to be able to scale. I mean it's just all connected. And so those small variances that don't matter when you small matter a lot when you're big. And so it's easier to build this discipline in when you're small than when you're large. I mean we went twenty eighteen 10 times what we're supposed to do 20 19 is 10 times what we originally supposed to do. That's right we're a thousand hundred times greater today than we were thought to be in 20 19 thankfully thankfully we worked on variants early on we didn't have to bring it in today. And so we've been able to scale still having to deal with challenges but we've been able to scale because we've reduced that variance. We're much tighter on our would we're tighter on our spirit. I mean our equipment runs that you know tenth of a P.S. I mean very tight tolerances on everything that we're doing so that we can scale.
Tripp: [00:03:19] You know this is true for almost every industry I can think of there's stress tests in software where you you've tested the software at working fine and then all of a sudden instead of you know 200 claims are coming through the system let's say in a health care environment now you've got a million claims coming through in a day and it just breaks the breaks the code basically.
Doug: [00:03:45] That's right.
Tripp: [00:03:46] And the same thing with equipment. You know I've seen it in contact centers where they have equipment set up and they've tested it. And then all of a sudden the real call and real volume starts to come and it just just explode. So you're so you have the same issues then in a distillery in that you have these in essence bottlenecks that have to be cleared out as you go and I guess your point here Doug is that you need to do it as as your moving forward. Is that kind of your message here.
Doug: [00:04:15] That's right. You got to get the mindset in at the start. You got it. Because it's very hard when people have been winging it. It's very hard to suddenly turn around and say OK now we need to put some discipline into the decisions that we're making and we need to reduce the variance as we're going along. It's very hard to add that later. And so you need to get that in at the start. You need to get that in at the start because otherwise you're just going to be frustrated. You're going to be frustrated with it.
Tripp: [00:04:45] So what you just. Just out of curiosity when you read these. Why why were they asking. They were asking about capacity at this conference and scale because it's such a big problem in the industry then.
Doug: [00:04:58] It's a total disaster. It's a it's a disaster. It's an absolute disaster everywhere. People can't. You can't scale. You can't get larger. And so it just because it causes massive problems. And when they do scale the quality goes all over the place or they just literally don't have capacity. They just don't have the capacity to do it.
Tripp: [00:05:21] This also brings up and I know we talked about this before but every time I see Joe gash his name I think of it which is you're you try these different words that you're you're putting in. And I always kind of blows my mind from a standpoint of wood and variation been so great and how you guys are able to control that.
Doug: [00:05:46] I mean that is our focus. I mean that that is literally our focus is to reduce that variation in that because the wood is where all the magic happens. And that's where all the magic happens.
Tripp: [00:05:59] Is that where you get most of your variation from then when.
Doug: [00:06:03] It actually happens all the way through the process. But but the but the one that we are at. We sweat more than anything else is. I mean that's where the biggest value add happens is in the wood.
Tripp: [00:06:16] Ok. All right well let's go to your craft cocktail recipe. The Strawberry Mint Julep it kind of on a julep roll. This is our third julep recipe that we've had in Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy. We had the jalapeno and then we had gear basic in your face mint julep that you talked about last week. So what's the strawberry mint julep. Is this something you made up.
Doug: [00:06:40] Yeah just it's still a bit of fun. So a basic julep you know.
Doug: [00:06:44] Five leaves a mint. A teaspoon a simple serve. Three sliced strawberries muddle it really firmly.
Doug: [00:06:51] Add some ice crushed if you got it.
Doug: [00:06:53] Two ounces a noble oak.
Doug: [00:06:54] Stir and enjoy.
Doug: [00:06:55] Maybe with the strawberry is a garnish and it's just kind of a fun way to open it up tones down the mint a little bit strawberry and mint play well together very well together and so it's just a perfect summer kind of spring summer refresher at a little bit of spring champagne sparkling wine to it and it becomes even more magnificent.
Tripp: [00:07:19] Ok. So are you doing something with the sliced strawberries or are you just adding a mint. I'm modeling I'm muddling them. OK. I wasn't I wasn't sure because I knew you didn't have the muddle simple syrup but so when I saw that on there I want to make sure that that that was being muddled also comes like a another interesting drink to try and you've got your noble bourbon in there again. All right. Very good. Any final comments for a Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy.
Doug: [00:07:46] No it's just it's just folks when you get into this kind of stuff you've got to look at the variation. Look at the variation associated with things. I mean that's the whole key to this whole process and the more you get to understand that variation and make it your friend instead of your enemy sort of being a victim to it the more successful and the more fun you're gonna have.
Tripp: [00:08:09] Well that concludes this week's Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy. Thanks Jack. Thanks.
Tripp: [00:08:19] Brain Brew whisk(e)y is looking for pioneers like existing distillers or entrepreneurs interested in our custom whisk(e)y and craft cocktail experiences. These experiences provide consumers bartenders corporations nonprofits and celebrities the ability to craft whisk(e)y to their taste and preferences. Our system also enables the creation of limited edition prestige whisk(e)y is for weddings birthdays or other celebratory events. If you'd like to learn more go to brain Brew whisk(e)y dot com and share with us what you are interested in in the forum provided.