Q&A with O.K.I.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Chad Brizendine and Jake Warm, the new owners of the O.K.I. brand. Both are Cincinnati area businessmen. Chad is CEO of a consulting and branding agency called Nontraditional and Jake is CEO of his family construction business, JDL Warm Construction. Specific terms of the deal to purchase the O.K.I. brand name could not be discussed due to non-disclosure agreements associated with the transaction. They were, however, very transparent about everything else, which you’ll find to be a theme with Chad, Jake and the new O.K.I.
Q: How did you get into Bourbon as a drinker or a fan?
Chad: I am from Shelbyville, Kentucky so I am a Bourbon fan by blood and birthright. I took a school trip in the 2nd grade to tour Maker’s Mark and an interest in Bourbon has been there ever since. I really got into Bourbon during business school and primarily drank Woodford Reserve, mostly due to their close association with the Kentucky Derby. What I drink has, of course, broadened over the years. Jake and I like to say “Bourbon is baseball cards for adults with salaries”.
Jake: When I was in college, I drank for different reasons than I currently do. Initially I was into Scotch. As I learned more about the family business and our close association with the Seagram’s buildings (JDL Warm built warehouses for Seagram’s – now MGP), my interest in Bourbon took off. Early on I drank Woodford and Basil Hayden’s.
Q: What was your path into the business side of Bourbon?
Chad: My day job back then was with Proctor & Gamble. There, I was responsible for building brands and scaling them fast. If you can find a business with a low barrier of entry, then the best marketer wins. That was Bourbon. That’s what led us to start the George Remus brand. With George Remus we could source whiskey on the open market and build a brand. Plus, we had a story to tell. In 2013 when we started it, the story of George Remus the man, was largely unknown.
Jake: I was one of the first investors, and largest investor, in George Remus. I was also a board member. I was fascinated with the consumer product space and felt I provided a value-add from my business knowledge. To me, George Remus was truly a passion project.
Q: When did you get the itch to get back into the Bourbon business?
Jake: The moment we sold it! But, we really started talking about it for a year in earnest.
Q: Why buy a brand this time rather than starting your own label again?
Chad: The energy required to build from scratch was significant (with George Remus). The O.K.I. brand already has a cult following and we consider the brand to be an homage to the region we have lived in our entire lives.
Jake: The historical transparency of the O.K.I. brand was a philosophical fit for us.
Chad: When you looked at a bottle of Remus it clearly stated “Distilled in Lawrenceburg, IN”. With O.K.I. all the information (age, proof, etc.) will be on the front label of the bottle and “Distilled in…” will be prominent on the back. We will err on the side of transparency, but more than that, it is pride in the MGP Bourbon.
Chad (left) and Jake (right)
Q: What kind of whiskey can we expect from O.K.I. in 2020 and beyond?
Chad: We are staying true to the original O.K.I. for now (high rye mash bill from MGP). We will have our first release in the Fall of this year and it will all be single barrels. Private selections will follow. We do have some barrels that will be held back and aged longer. Those are stored at Jake’s grandfather’s warehouses at MGP. (I asked if they have put a sign on the warehouses yet that say “Jake’s grandfather’s warehouse”. Jake didn’t think MGP would be too excited about doing that yet).
Q: What differences can we expect between the new O.K.I. and the original?
Jake: For our launch and in the early days, we will only be using MGP as our source. We envision versions of O.K.I. being sourced from distilleries represented by all three letters (Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana). Although we don’t have a time table yet, we want to have our own distillate, too. Initially through contracting still time, but ultimately through our own distillery.
Q: Do you see any cause for concern for consumers over brand confusion between the new and original O.K.I.?
Chad: No. The age statement will be prominent on the label. Transparency like that is very important to us. The new label is quite different from the original, too.
Q: How will you measure the success of O.K.I.?
Jake: We want to give the Bourbon community something great. We want the excitement we are seeing now about the brand to continue.
Chad: Are we having fun and making money!
Chad and Jake definitely have the attention of the Bourbon community right now. It will certainly be interesting to watch how the O.K.I. brand evolves. It seems that the transparency that has always been a core philosophy around the O.K.I. name will continue under the new ownership. That is a good start to maintaining the excitement of the Bourbon community as we wait for something to drink again from an O.K.I. bottle in the Fall.
