We recently connected with Sammy Jay Halpern and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sammy Jay thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Blue Run Spirits was built on the ideal of truly changing an industry that was built on old time standards and imagery. Our creative director Devon Mckinney took it upon himself to develop our brand with an understanding of current industry standards to flip it onto its head to develop something new and edgy to lead to evolution of change in the American whiskey space. Blue Run Spirits was created to not only display beautiful whiskeys but to prove change is eminent in any space including one that has been successful for years and years. One of my roles with the company is to portray that into real life into the markets we are represented. An example is, we align with creatives that are doing the same in their industry or space. Monthly we align with Matthew Chevallard of Blu Scarpa, a fashion brand built by an emerging icon in the fashion industry to showcase Blue Run Spirits and Blu Scarpa together. Both brands are activated in Mathew’s curated art space named “The Office” in Miami’s famous Design District. The purpose of an activation like this is for Blue Run to be showcased in a non traditional light, not showcased on a bar or in a lounge but aligned with a creative who is leading and taking charge in his own industry. This style of event is something I will execute in our other distribution markets, yes we will execute traditional tastings but this type of event is a big focus for our brand.

Sammy Jay , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As you get older you realize quicker and quicker that you hold your own destiny in your own hands. No you cannot be a famous musician if you have never played the guitar before but if you practice and practice you continue to give yourself better odds and more of an opportunity. I started as a college baseball player eager to play professionally, soon I found myself practicing that craft less and focusing more on my studies and wanting to start a different type of professional career. I was given the opportunity to begin as an intern at Southern Wine and Spirits, the largest liquor wine and spirits distributor in the United States and one of the largest in the world. I went from stacking $5.00 wine shelves at Publix’s at 4am to selling Don Julio tequila, Bulleit Bourbon and Dom Perignon to the coolest hotspots opening in the hottest new areas in South Florida. From there I was recruited by Moet Hennessy and was handed the keys to Miami nightlife as a 25 year old representing the most prestigious portfolio of champagne wine and spirits in the world, in one of the hottest cities in the world Miami Florida. While in this role my job was to develop and execute brand strategies and programing for brands like Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Belvedere and Hennessy. While everyone gets to see the execution of these strategies there is so much that goes on in the background, from distributor alignment to account level training and planning. I can honestly say I would not have been able to handle this role without the discipline I learned as a college baseball player at Barry University, 5am weight room, practice daily and game day preparation it all prepares you for real life way more than you realize. I would be out in nightclubs executing activations until 3/4am and then up at 9am working with distributors to ensure our brands are sold and represented properly. With all of the above experience I was given the chance to own and build my own brand, when the Blue Run founders recruited me to be apart of their team it was an honor and a huge opportunity that I never knew how badly I wanted. Not many people can say they have not only worked for the best brands in the world but not then get to say that I own my own, it is truly an honor. In my role as partner and global brand manager I take all of my previous 10 years of experience and apply them to building one of the most inspiring new brands the industry has to offer. Taking a huge step back writing this all out is a huge honor and I cannot thank everyone who has helped me get here enough, I could not have done this all alone you certainly know who you are and again I thank you.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

This is a great question because of who we are as a brand. When I was first approached with this opportunity with Blue Run I loved everything about it and even told the team this, but my first comment was how does the whiskey taste. The group was stunned and wasn’t sure how to answer me. My first comment was, yes we have a great story, yes we have a great package but how does the whiskey taste? Any brand can story tell, any brand can look proper on a shelf but how good is the product we are actually selling? What I didn’t know at the time is the heritage and experience Jim Rutledge brought to the table, with over 30 years of experience making whiskey after I tasted our first batch I knew for a fact we had something very very special with this brand. Our whiskey and the quality of product we are putting into market builds our reputation, everything after that falls into place with the team we have.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

This is my favorite story to tell about this project. My father calls me who has been in the wine and spirits industry for 40+ years and says to me “your cousin is crazy”, I respond to him saying I have no idea what you are talking about. Turns out my cousin had called my father and told him about this new opportunity of his to make his own whiskey company. My father told my cousin he was CRAZY and to save his money and time and to move on. At this time I was still working for Moet Hennessy and had actually begun my own side project building my own and first music festival. That project taught me that you can always chase a dream and sometimes you can succeed bye chasing. My cousin calls me and tells me about this project he’s got to possibly build this whiskey brand with this group of unsung hero’s. My immediate response was “why not” chase a dream with your extra time, do whats necessary to keep your current job but with your free time chase. From there we began to work together and I became his consultant on this project where no one on their team had any previous experience in the spirits industry. Today we are one of the fastest growing brands in the world and I am one of the few sons in the world that has proven his own father wrong.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bluerunspirits.com
• Instagram: @bluerunspirits – business / @sammyjayhalpern – personal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-jay-halpern-437a0380/

Image Credits
Alex Taimanao – BR Head Photographer