More Than a Bottle vol 1

I’ve been in the wine/beer/spirits industry for most of my adult life; from my very first gig as a co-op/intern at Anheuser-Busch, to starting an Experiential Marketing company fresh out of undergrad working with brand powerhouse clients such as Martell Cognac, Crown Royal, Seagram’s Gin and others. From ‘coming of age’ spending more than a decade at Diageo where I literally entered as a single man, with no kids and left married with 3 (kids that is), to my current and most invigorating role as a spirits entrepreneur building a legacy through Blackleaf Organic Vodka…you can say I’ve grown up around the bottle. 

That said, I wanted to capture some of my lessons learned, the ups and the downs, the bitter and the sweet, the wins and the losses and share them the best way that I know how…through a bottle. What better place to start than with this bottle of Seagram’s VO. Why this bottle you ask? This particular bottle evokes so many memories…some great and inspiring, some painful, but all uniquely polarizing. 

The date was August 13, 2015 (which is also my wedding anniversary as irony would strike) – and on this date the bottle of Seagram’s VO pictured was the very last bottle of spirits to ever be produced in the historic “Relay” bottling site in my hometown of Baltimore.  A site that produced millions of cases of product through the years from the likes of Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Godiva Liqueur and countless others was down to its final production run. Ironically that product was Seagram’s which has a history all of its own tied into the walls of that site – something I’ll discuss in more detail in a future post. I was privileged to wear many diverse hats during my time at Diageo, but none as challenging as the role I found myself in at this juncture…I was the site’s Plant Manager, in charge of leading the closure of the site.

In the alcohol business, many are attracted to the glitz and glamour marketed and advertised; the inclusive and sometime exclusive lifestyles portrayed to bring a brand to life. However, the people putting in the hours on the bottle lines, in the quality labs, in the warehouses, blending liquid, machining parts to keep the operations going to advance the product to a brand are seldom thought of in that story. Those are who I represented at the time. I knew how intricately important they were (are) to making a brand, a brand. But more than that, THEY were more than a part of a brand…they were fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, providers, community leaders, PTA heads, basketball coaches, caretakers and so on. I counted ~100 or so of these great people as my employees and that number would drop down to the low teens shortly after that last bottle was produced. 

So again, why is this bottle so precious to me? Isn’t it a symbol of loss, of months anguish and doom? Not at all, it is a symbol of tremendous pride. Unbeknownst to me at the time, as the very last bottle came across the line it was taken off and each of the team members signed the bottle and brought it to me to sign and keep. They were proud of what they accomplished, even in the face of drastic change (some of them had been there for 30+ years). It was more than a job; their craftsmanship, dedication, tenacity, skill and will was in that bottle. They took pride in contributing to what they did, literally down to the drop. 

Personally, that moment was bittersweet but game changing. I learned a lot about myself and a commitment on my style and approach was cemented in this moment and has been forever molded into my purpose. What did I take away?

1. PEOPLE (not brands) are your greatest asset – treat them as such [those companies that think otherwise are wrong]
2. You’ll be surprised of what you can do when faced with major adversity if you remember #1
3. A successful brand starts with a great product; great products stand on the shoulders of great people. You can’t just influence your way into greatness [are you seeing the theme]
4. Strong emotional-leadership can make or break a business [I was fortunate to have strong leadership and advocacy at the time that enabled me to show up as my authentic self]
5. Change is temporary; what you learn and takeaway from it is forever [90% of what you do is mindset]
6. Learning without action is dead [I will embed these learnings into my company]

‘Relay’ would go on to become the home of the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore paving the way for some exciting innovations in that space. I’m proud to say that the dedication of my team likely factored in that even being a possibility (who knows, that site could have become an Amazon fulfillment center – IJS). I’m even prouder to have been able to work with such a great group of folks and get excited when I do hear from the ones that are able to check-in from time to time. Too many to name but do know I think about you often. This photo is forever, More Than a Bottle.