M
TOGETHER FOR
ost people want to do good deeds. And most people (or at least most readers of this magazine) want to enjoy some delicious whiskey. Might it be possible to do both at the very same time? The answer, as of October 2021, is yes. After the protest movements of 2020 sparked an online discussion in a private distillers’ Facebook group called the Good Guys Distillers, a group of producers banded together to launch Good Deeds Spirits, a collaborative label that will generate revenue for charitable organizations. The first release, Good Deeds Whiskey, is an American blended malt containing malt whiskeys from ten different distilleries: Few Spirits, Santa Fe Spirits, Bently Heritage Estate Distillery, Thornton Distilling, Sonoma Distilling Co., State Line Distillery, Balcones Distillery, Rogue Spirits, Headframe Spirits, and Triple Eight Distillery. One hundred percent of proceeds from Good Deeds Whiskey will be donated to the Spirits Training Entrepreneurship Program for Underrepresented Professionals (STEPUP) Foundation, a new initiative from the American Craft Spirits Association that offers paid internships in the spirits industry for people from underrepresented groups. With 1,000 bottles released, each selling for $75, the project will generate a $75,000 contribution to the Foundation. We sat down with two of the project’s masterminds, Johnny Jeffery, general manager and master distiller at Bently Heritage Estate Distillery in Minden, Nevada; and John McKee, owner, founder, and chief technology officer of Headframe Spirits in Butte, Montana, to learn more about how Good Deeds Whiskey came about, why professional vulnerability can be a good thing, and what kinds of good deeds to look forward to in the months and years to come.
W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M
good Written by Margarett Waterbury Photography by Amanda Joy Christensen
61