Jeff McCabe explaining how Hard Truth’ s Bourbon mash is processed in the distillery’ s fermenter.
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Breaking into the ultra-competitive beer industry meant Quaff ON! had to do everything perfectly.“ You have to have a great beer that people want, but you also have to have a great story and packaging that looks great and is eyecatching,” McCabe said.
The team also had to convince distributors that they were“ going to be worth the effort” to be granted shelf space and bar taps, he said.
Through those early years in the“ beer wars,” McCabe said the founders reaffirmed with each other,“ We can do this.” Any budding business has to cultivate what he calls lighthouses:“ For us, it was a bar or restaurant that really liked one of our beers and would put us on tap or put us on their menu. They become the light that keeps you moving forward.” Kroger was one of those beacons that granted the fledgling company shelf space and remains a“ great partner” today.
As Quaff ON! solidified to its customers and distributors that they’ d never be let down and the product would“ always be right,” he said the barriers to entry started to disappear.
While Big Woods entered the craft brewing industry mid-game, the company would become a forerunner in craft distilling. This time, there would be no more playing catch-up with facility capacity. Big Woods purchased a really big woods: 325 acres east of downtown Nashville that they had annexed into the city limits.
Around that same time, a man named Bryan Smith, who had been hired to wash kegs, asked the founders to let him show them what he could do with a test distillery at the pizza shop. Smith’ s wizardry yielded a cinnamon vodka that is a top-selling vodka in the world and a toasted coconut rum available on Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Smith, Hard Truth’ s master distiller and
18 Our Brown County • Jan./ Feb. 2025