You know the famous names of today’s hottest American whiskies: Stagg, Weller, and Handy, for example.
But do you know who these men were before they joined the whiskey business and became industry icons? They were just like many Americans in the whiskey business today: former soldiers who came home from war and found a career making and selling Bourbon.
George T. Stagg? He was a fearless Civil War officer.
William LaRue Weller? He fought in the Mexican-American war.
Thomas Handy was a Confederate soldier who helped lay the foundation for the Sazerac company, from whom you get your coveted Blanton’s, Pappy, and Elmer T. Lee.
The late Dave Pickerall of Maker’s Mark and WhistlePig fame served eleven years in the U.S. Army after graduating from West Point.
My fellow San Francisco Spirits Competition judge and best-selling whiskey writer, Fred Minnick, is a veteran of the Iraq War. He’s actually the person from whom I got all this information, and his forward to the book Bullets and Bourbon lays out this spiritual connection to whiskey. I texted him last night about the subject, and he pointed me to an article where he spoke candidly about his service, saying: “Bourbon allowed me to keep my focus on what’s happening inside my mouth, instead of on a jet that is about to drop a bomb or something.”
There’s an undeniable link between Bourbon and the military, and that relationship forms the foundation of Bullets and Bourbon.
Coincidentally, it was that exact book by John C. Tramazzo that inspired two former Green Berets to start their own whiskey company. Having fought for their country and looking to create the next chapter of their lives, John Koko and Scott Neil decided to follow in the footsteps of their veteran counterparts and start their own Bourbon company.
But there’s more to the story than just the legacy of American soldiers and whiskey. Quite a lot more.
John and Scott were not only Green Berets, but Scott in particular was part of the original team of ninety soldiers sent into Afghanistan after 9/11 to fight the Taliban and Al Queda; the same mission that was recently turned into a film called 12 Strong with Chris Hemsworth. I caught up with Scott in the store this week as he was visiting from Florida, and he filled me in on more of the details.
“Right after 9/11, small teams of Green Berets were inserted behind the lines in Afghanistan to link up with Mujahideen fighters and create a resistance against the Taliban as well as Al Queda,” he explained; “This was an impossible mission against impossible odds, but yet everybody volunteered and was happy to so. In as little as ninety days, ninety Green Berets had expelled the Taliban, sending Osama Bin Laden into hiding.”
Mark Nutsch in Afghanistan
Scott and John’s Bourbon label is called Horse Soldiers because of the moniker by which these fighters would come to be known. To help with the brand, they enlisted the help of Mark Nutsch and Bob Pennington, who both fought with Scott in Afghanistan.
“Some of us came into the mountains and linked up with General Dostum and fighters who were on horseback,” he added; “Mark and Bob were the two commanders and they raised a Mujahideen cavalry of 3500 horsemen and 1000 infantry. They took an all-horse cavalry in against tanks, something that hadn’t been done since the first World War.”
Scott explained that because the Taliban had captured all the armor and equipment since the fall of the USSR, they had been able to overpower the smaller towns in the area. As a result, the Mujahideen had reverted to horseback in order to maneuver through the nearby mountains and valleys. As a result, the conflict against the Taliban was a clash of two completely different technological eras.
“We had all served doing various missions, but imagine getting the ultimate mission,” Scott continued; “The country had been attacked. We were not expected to survive. This was an impossible mission against impossible odds, but yet everybody volunteered and was happy to do so.”
After returning from battle, Scott pondered how the rest of his life might play out: “I left the military at the end of 2011, and I worked for a veterans non-profit for a while. I had talked to many successful people who had done well, and they had all invented something or had a family business. I admired their pursuit of the American dream, so I decided I needed to start a business, too.”
Stationed in Afghanistan
It was during that time that Scott and John took a trip to Yellowstone, where they spent time riding horses, climbing the Titons, and fly fishing. They discussed starting a business together, and as the trip was coming to an end, they happened to drive by a small craft distillery offering free tours and tastings.
“We thought it would be fun to stop and have a few drinks, but we came away with a fascination about how whiskey is made and how it comes to market. So we spent the next three weeks visiting distilleries on the way back to Tampa. We called some of our other friends who we had served with and we decided to go to Scotland.”
The two had contacts with other soldiers who had served in the British Royal Marines at Wolfburn distillery and they spent time working at their facility in Thurso, Scotland.
“When we got home, we had another military friend with connections to people in Ireland at Teeling and Kilbeggan, so we went and visited them,” Scott added; “We learned different ideas, fundamentals, operations, funding and finance, etc. Not only just the making of the whisky, but the business side as well.”
When the two finally visited Kentucky, they knew that Bourbon was going to be the business. “We were referred to Ryan Lang at Middle West Spirits from another soldier via our network of veterans, but we visited a number of Bourbon distilleries before that. There was a kinship between former soldiers that helped open the door to these businesses in a way that likely wouldn’t have happened if we were a rival or a new distillery.”
Today, Horse Solder Bourbon is made in Columbus, Ohio from two different recipes decided on by the team: a high-rye Bourbon mash bill of 68% corn, 27% rye, and 5% barley, alongside a wheated Bourbon recipe of 70% corn, 20% wheat, and 10% barley. “We liked the higher rye recipes,” Scott explained; “but half of us also loved wheated Bourbons—the whole fantasy of Pappy. Many of us also grew up drinking Maker’s Mark. We couldn’t decide which to choose, so we just decided to do both.”
While the whiskey is currently made in Ohio, Horse Soldiers is in the middle of building its own Kentucky distillery. “We bought 200 acres in Somerset, Kentucky; about an hour south of Lexington,” Scott outlined; “No one here has any fantasy about the work this is going to take and how much this costs, we’re here because we love this and we want to start a real business.”
Having walked the Bourbon aisle together at Mission, chatting about the endless array of new American whiskies that continues to expand, Scott once again ensured me that he’s ready for the competition. “Just like we had to fight 50,000 Taliban, I feel like we have to 50,000 other brands. And we don’t have billions of dollars at our disposal. All we have is our grit and determination.”
Since tomorrow is Veterans Day, now seems like the right time to tell you a bit more about the Horse Soldier Bourbons:
Horse Soldier Straight Bourbon $44.99 - Roughly three and a half years old, bottled at 95 proof, and made from the high-rye recipe, this is a classic profile of charred oak vanilla and herbaceous spice with earthy finish that is bolstered by the richness from the oak.
Horse Soldier Small Batch Bourbon $59.99 - Made from the wheated recipe and bottled at 95 proof, the small batch is marriage of eight to ten barrels, roughly five years of age. In the vein of Weller and Maker’s Mark, it has all the creamy sweetness and baking spice goodness one would expect given the mash bill.
Horse Soldier Barrel Strength Bourbon $69.99 - The exact proof varies by batch, but this full-throttle wheated Bourbon brings huge waves of vanilla, cinnamon, clove, and pepper as it lights up the palate and sends the taste buds into overdrive.
Besides the opportunity to try a new Bourbon portfolio (one actually made to their specifications, not simply sourced from Indiana), there are other perks to buying a bottle of Horse Soldier Bourbon. “Our bottles were built for charities,” Scott explained, “and part of the proceeds go to help various causes. We’ve raised more than $15,000 for the America’s Response Monument. Each year we focus on one cause, so this year it’s Project Healing Waters, and I just did another event at the distillery for a Veteran’s Day bicycle ride. We’re signing bottles, doing free tours, whatever we can do to give back.”
As to the future, Scott is hoping he can be just as successful as American soldiers of the past like George T. Stagg.
“This is our legacy and our long term investment for our families,” he said before we parted; “Our kids work here, our wives are involved. We grew from three initial friends, to ten, to twenty, to fifty. The majority of us have military backgrounds, but we have some industry people here as well. We just want to make great whiskey.”
-David Driscoll