I’ve always said that if you’re going to make it as a small brand in the huge world of whiskey, you've gotta have a hook. Mike Durrick, Dwayne Price and Leo Rodriguez are a trio of friends who loved to drink whiskey together, and one night they wondered why they couldn’t create their own brand. The answer was ... well, there wasn’t a reason not to at least try, and Flight Whiskey was born.
Durrick is a logistics executive, Rodriguez works in IT, and Price is an air traffic controller — all pretty helpful vocations for getting into the whiskey biz when you think about it. Playing on Price’s connection to aviation and the concept of enjoying a flight of whiskeys, the three friends came up with the name for their fledgling company and spent the next year developing their business, in spite of the pandemic raging around them.
They worked to make contacts with brokers and at distilleries to source whiskey in barrels for their new line of products. After sampling numerous options, they settled on an Indiana whiskey that is novel in that it is made from a recipe of 95 percent wheat and 5 percent malted barley, completely eschewing the normal predominant grains of American whiskeys — corn and rye. Once they'd decided on the base recipe, they invited friends, family and industry experts for a grand tasting of their barrel options at Red Phone Booth in downtown Nashville.
“We invited everyone to taste and rate the samples,” recalls Durrick, “and pretty much everybody agreed on the same one. That made it a pretty easy choice for us.” The result was a whiskey they call Flight 1903, named after the year the Wright brothers first slipped the surly bonds of earth in Kitty Hawk, N.C. The 4-year-old wheat whiskey is bottled at an impressive 115 proof, though Durrick promises it doesn’t drink that hot. “The wheat gives it a sweetness on the front end,” he explains. “Although the 115 proof does provide some heat on the back end, it goes away quickly for a balanced finish.”
The group selected a four-barrel lot, which they are bottling as single-barrel releases, but they are also interested in offering custom barrel picks through their local distributor, Ajax. Lavergne Beverage Depot was the first to jump on that opportunity with a release that is only available through the store. Named Flight 118 and bottled at barrel proof (118, natch) this proprietary product offers different nuances from Flight’s flagship brand. The hope is for other retailers to engage Flight for individual barrel picks that will be exclusively available at those outlets, a proposition that is more difficult from mega-distilleries.
Thanks to their smaller scale, the Flight crew has been able to engage in one-to-one selling opportunities at tasting events in spirits stores around the region. It’s a family affair when Flight comes to a store, with some of the owners’ wives joining in to educate and entertain potential buyers as they sample the product, which retails for around $50 a bottle.
“We’re finding success with retailers and in bars and restaurants, with 27 placements around Nashville," says Durrick. "People are beginning to specifically look for our brand. We do interactive, high-energy tastings, and we’ve been able to sell out several liquor stores’ entire inventory during some of our tastings.”
They’re leaving their future Flight plan open, sampling other “wheaters” and investigating a potential rye whiskey extension. Durrick explains: “Right now we’re concentrating on what we’re hearing from the market, what customers are asking for and trying to get ahead of the next trend. What can we do with regard to special finishes for the whiskey?” They are also leaning on their combined talents to grow the brand’s social media presence and plan for future growth by sourcing scarce supplies of custom bottles and corks during the increasingly different supply chain environment.”
No matter what the future brings, you can bet that this trio of friends will celebrate their successes and commiserate over any business difficulties the same way they always have — over a nice glass of bourbon, together.
To find out where Flight Whiskey will be holding their next tastings, follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
