We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jay, Tuan, and Christian a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jay, Tuan, and Christian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
The three of us met while serving together in the FBI so coming up with the name G-Man, aka Government Man seemed like the perfect fit for our bourbon.
The name has historical context. On September 26, 1933, Bureau of Investigation agents and Tennessee police officers arrested gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly. He was a wanted fugitive for good reason. Two months earlier Kelly had kidnapped oil magnate Charles Urschel and held him for $200,000 in ransom. After Urschel was released, the Bureau coordinated a multi-state investigation, drawing investigative information from its own field offices as well as from other police sources, as it identified and then tracked the notorious gangster across the country.
On September 26, “Machine Gun” Kelly was found hiding in a decrepit Memphis residence. Some early press reports said that a tired, perhaps hung-over Kelly stumbled out of his bed mumbling something like “I was expecting you.” Another version of the event held that Kelly emerged from his room, hands-up, crying “Don’t shoot G-Men, don’t shoot.” Either way, Kelly was arrested without violence.
The rest is history. The more colorful version sparked the popular imagination and “G-Men” became synonymous with the special agents of the FBI.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Friendships and camaraderie go hand in hand with service in the bureau. After one particular evening sipping bourbon, reminiscing, and telling stories, we decided to bring to life a unique brand that not only recognized our legacy, but that also characterized a key era for bourbon, America’s native spirit.
How did you build your audience on social media?
We took a very different approach than most spirits businesses. New brands typically raise capital and spend much of it on marketing to raise awareness. We’re self-funded so we didn’t have a marketing budget. So we took a grassroots approach and documented our journey through social media. As the only bourbon owned by G-Men, we focus our posts on telling the story of bourbon and the prohibition era through the lens of legendary agents and the gangsters they tracked. We try to stand out by highlighting the literal history that our brand and our story represents. Our online followers and customers are our priority, and their reviews of our bourbon and sharing have helped immensely in spreading the word. It’s a great example of the leverage of social media. It’s leveled the playing field so to speak. Previously, you’d need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on radio, print, and television ads.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
As mentioned, the three of us met working together in the bureau. Each of us bring a different perspective and skill sets to the whole operation though. So it’s much more than just friendships.
Christian, a CPA prior to joining the bureau, handles our accounting and inventory controls. Jay, who is also a Colonel in the Army Reserves, leads our relationships with the distillery, our bottler, and distributors. And Tuan oversees sales and partnerships.
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Image Credits
None. All taken by G-Man Bourbon