| Phil Steger is the founder and CEO of Minneapolis-based Brother Justus Whiskey Co. Before opening the distillery, he earned a law degree from the University of St. Thomas. Phil also has experience running humanitarian aid and preserving centuries-old manuscripts belonging to monasteries in conflict zones. Eventually, he channeled his loves and learnings into one big work: whiskey.
Phil was recently elected to ACSA’s Board of Directors. He answered a few questions for this newsletter and also joined us for an episode of The Craft Spirits Podcast, where he discussed his road to distilling and more.
ACSA: What motivated you to run for a board seat and/or what are your top priorities for your term?
Phil Steger: It’s really a huge honor. I ran because a couple of people that I really admire, trust and owe a lot of gratitude toward nominated me: Sailor Guevara and [ACSA past president] Gina Holman. I really believe that if people that you love, trust and admire—and who have done great things and opened up pathways for others—ask you to do something, you say yes and then you do your best.
And I’m so excited about it. After our first board meeting it was incredible to see how many brilliant, tough—and kind—but tough-minded and smart and creative distillers there are in this country that are members of ACSA. It’s an education every time I’m on the phone with them or in the room with them.
What I want to bring to the board is that sense that the ACSA is there to make it easy. It’s there to make a very difficult road a little bit easier. To flatten the learning curve as much as possible and to pool our resources, ingenuity, intelligence and efforts so that we can bring down some of the insane barriers to entry and barriers to success that have been built up in our regulatory and commercial environment, so that it’s easier—not easy, it’ll never be easy—but easier for really smart, hardworking, motivated, creative small independent distillers to be able to make a living.
Who are some people or other distilleries that inspire you?
[ACSA past president] Becky Harris is one at Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. Her whiskeys are incredible. She’s constantly optimistic, constantly cheerful, but never in a Pollyannaish way, never in a naive way. She’s super savvy. She has big vision but it’s always attached to reality.
Jordan Cotton of Cotton & Reed in Washington, D.C., is a guy that I’ve really come to know and like a lot. He’s making rum and rum is about as far away from whiskey as you can get. I would always say, I know what I can do with barley because it’s this incredibly complex carbohydrate with polysaccharides and enzymes and proteins. I wouldn’t know what to do with just sugarcane. That’s simple sugar. What can you do with it? Well Jordan just blows my mind showing what he can do with it. The complexity, the depth, the spectrum of flavors that are there.
I’m thinking about Tom Mooney and Kelly Woodcock at Westward Whiskey in Portland, Oregon, single malt distillers like us who are doing such fine, exquisite craftsmanship in terms of what they’re doing with malt and oak.
That’s the great thing about ACSA, and in particular being on the board and being on one of the committees, is actually getting to know and learn from the people that are out there.
What’s the most important thing you’d want people to know about your distillery?
This is whiskey with years of intention into making it as delicious as possible. To be something that through the flavors alone will transport you and make you feel present. If you’re by yourself, present in the moment but still connected to a bigger world. If you’re with your friends, if you’re with someone else, then that just magnifies the emotions of that moment.
What’s currently going on and coming up at Brother Justus that you’re excited to share?
We just released the Founder’s Release 2; I selected this one, specifically, to make a 124-proof Old Fashioned. I love an Old Fashioned, but I love the big flavors of a high-proof whiskey even more. So for this limited-edition release, I selected casks of our American Single Malt that hit those Old Fashioned notes, but from the whiskey itself—no sugar or flavor added. Early votes say we succeeded! The Founder’s Reserve series is special to me, personally, because I get to write my own story with whiskey—flavors that represent me. Last year, with Founder’s Release 1, I created a beautiful, full-proofed representation of our incredible Minnesota ingredients (and that one earned Double Gold this year at San Francisco!). While these both are limited releases, anyone can still purchase both online.
With fall coming, we’re also readying our launch of this year’s Single Barrel Select expressions for our retail partners. The retail whiskey experts get to choose their own cask-strength, limited-edition [offerings] to sell exclusively at their stores. Customers should see those special editions available in select Minnesota and Illinois stores this fall.
Any advice or words of wisdom for your peers in the distilling community?
I’m going to pass on the advice that I got that I’ve really lived by since I got it. It was from a friend, Sarah Schrantz, who’s a small restaurateur here in St. Paul-Minneapolis—someone who has had significant health challenges her whole life and still keeps going and keeps creating, keeps building. I met with her very early on in the process to talk about how I’m going to do this. She said, “Phil, the entrepreneurs who make it aren’t always the smartest ones, they’re not always the ones with the best idea. A lot of people are smart and the same people are smart in some ways and dumb in other ways and everybody has good ideas and bad ideas. So that’s not it. The key is being able to maintain huge amounts of stress for long periods of time without it destroying who you are or your relationships with the people most important to you. Prioritize those things, and you’re going to make it.” |
