This member spotlight highlights the journey of Old Hillside Bourbon Company, a bourbon brand rooted in storytelling and community. This conversation ranges from origin and philosophy, challenges and growth, to involvement with the ACSA. Visit Old Hillside Bourbon Company
Kristiane Weeks-Rogers (ACSA): Please tell me a little bit about the brand and yourself.
Emmanuel Waters (Old Hillside): I don’t have a background in spirits, none of me and my co-founders do. Honestly, I thought it’d be kind of a project to pass time. During the pandemic, I got a call from my cousin who I actually never met (we didn’t grow up together, rather, we met later in life here in California). He said, “Hey man, me and my other two guys are going to start a bourbon company.” I just laughed out loud. I was like, “Okay, what do you need me for? I’m not a bourbon drinker.”
He said, “Hey man, let’s just jump on a call. I think this is going to be something that you’re going to want to get into. You’re giving me your business skill set.” I said, “Okay.” I hopped on the call and my two other co-founders, Jesse and Brian (we’re all from North Carolina).
Jesse was telling me the story of how he wanted to honor African-American heroes that had built the sport of the Kentucky Derby. I had never heard that history, and I’m a history guru. I did not know that African-Americans literally built the Kentucky Derby and for literally 15-20 plus years we were dominating the sport for decades, I had no idea. But so much so that the term, “Bet on black,” that we learned from Vegas, didn’t stem from Vegas. It stemmed from betting on the black jockeys (because they were making so much money). At the very first Kentucky Derby, 13 of the first 15 riders were black men. From 1875 to 1903, those men literally won every single race, and built the entire sport.
He said, “Hey, I wanted to do something to honor them.” I thought, “This is a really cool history.” And again, I just never was a bourbon drinker. We got together after and he said, “Okay, that was a cool concept.” Between that, and then our name: Hillside High School is one of the oldest African-American high schools in the United States before desegregation. We are from a town in Durham. If you know anything about American history, obviously it’s a place where, at times, we know we weren’t allowed to integrate with whites. There are five famous black wall streets across America. Durham was one of them. Most people only think about Tulsa, because unfortunately that’s the one that had the most destruction, that got literally bombed. But there were five others across America. Durham was one of them. We come from a spirit of entrepreneurship. We wanted to celebrate that. That was really the inspiration for the brand.
It was also a time in America where the world was really on fire. There were a lot of racial things going on during that time with George Floyd, etc., that was really the pillar to start the brand. We launched in our hometown in November of 2021. I’ll never forget it. No one had ever tried a bottle. We broke a state record. We sold 50 cases in 46 minutes. It was literally insane. I had never seen anything like that. I could not believe people were coming here to try bourbon that I had never even tasted, right? I was like, “What the heck is going on?” I mean, the line was wrapped around the building.
I said, “Wow, this is something bigger than bourbon. This is the community.” This is the mayor, the senators, third grade teachers, everybody there was there to celebrate and honor us. It was literally insane. That was the inspiration for me. I got home that day, my oldest daughter was six months at the time. I told my wife, “I’m not going to be in corporate America much longer,” and at that point I had obviously my dream job. I was a director, the youngest one, at Stanford history. That was the perfect life, right?
Now this is going on year six of business. It’s been really exciting. We love to storytell. Every one of our bottles will tell a various story about a pillar in time… I say black history, but it’s not just black history, it’s American history because everybody that we put on our bottles was an American. Whether it’s veterans or the first females in horse racing or the first males, every one of our bottles will do that.
I’m really blessed that we get to tell these stories and the coolest thing about it is I get to meet some of the ancestors and the descendants of the people that we honor and all of them are so grateful. I’m just a vessel telling stories via our bourbon. That’s kind of our thing now.
Kristiane: That is such a lovely way to describe it though; as being a vessel, even the liquid itself. To think of reasons to continue the fight because, to your point, it is a hard fight right now. To have that as the motivation to keep going is really very special. What can really keep you going? And for your brand, it’s the ancestors. It’s those moments in time. It’s the people who follow that lineage and continue to exist and to keep these stories alive in American history.
Emmanuel: We came out with a bottle and called it Trifecta. It honors the very first women of horse racing in America. Eliza Carpenter was born a slave. She was sold twice before the age of eight. She became a stable owner and jockey. Then she opened the door for Silvia Bishop, the first horse trainer. Sylvia Bishop then trained Cheryl White.
Trifecta, it’s our very first blend that we ever did. It’s the trifecta of three women on top of three bourbons blended together. Fast forward, it took us about 19 months to find the descendants. It took a long time to find descendants and we finally found them. We brought these families out to Los Angeles. We had a big party in honor of them one night. These families had actually known each other in the 50s and 60s. This West Virginia, Ohio, because of the racing circles, the community was really small. These African-American women, the families had never met, although they had known about each other. They met for the first time that night at our party.
I get goosebumps thinking about it again when Miss Laverne Bishop, who is Sylvia Bish’s only daughter, when she got up and talked about and said, “My mother never received her flowers on earth, but tonight you guys gave them to him.” When I tell you there wasn’t a dry eye in the building, it was a moment that you can’t put into words, like it was really that special. We had no money for the party, all of our sponsors pulled out, because this was in the time where DEI were going away.
Moments like that, I was like, “Guys, this is what we’re here for.” Moments like that that really keep me going, right? When bills are stacking up, when everybody’s telling you that nobody wants whiskey, and if you’re not with Southern Glazer, they’re not going to buy your product. This is bigger than bourbon for me and for our brand, and you keep that in the forefront. Hopefully we continue to keep it growing for as long as we can and say, “I’m still open” to a big boy coming to give me a big check to be acquired.
Kristiane: Just to emphasize your point, it should always be about community and bringing people together. Speaking of a community that you are now officially a part of: the American Craft Spirits Association community. What drew you to the ACSA?
Emmanuel: First of all, craft is so important. I think sometimes we get so lost in the big boys—and by the big boys, I mean those millions of cases, by all means I would love to do that one day.— But craft is literally the heart of the industry, it’s such an important piece. I joined because I really love hearing about the little guy. I want to know what’s going on in the industry. Like when the big boys get a cold, we get pneumonia, in industry trends, right? It’s important for us to stay in a community together and really network and build friendships.
Why not join the organization that’s putting us together and really be the heartbeat? You guys are really the heartbeat, or the pulse, of what’s going on in the industry. My reason for joining is: we’re the pulse of the industry. Whether they want to admit it or not, nobody’s going to admit it, but the industry goes as craft goes. That’s what I believe. I won’t say anything different.
I think of how important it is too, when you’re distilling, or really just the spirit of excellence that goes into craft spirits; I think somewhere down the line, the industry has gotten lost and everybody’s just buying juice and slapping crap on the label, throwing crap in a bottle. But these distillers and the companies that you meet within the ACSA, I was just amazed at the stories and the long lineage of history that people put into this work. I thought, “This is what craft is really about. It’s not just sourcing juice and then slapping everything for the sake of a dollar.”
People really spend their time. I met a couple distillers and the process that they go through to try it and taste it and move it around and spin it and spin the barrel.To support an organization like that, every craft distiller in the ACSA literally puts blood, sweat, and tears into their product, for me to be part of an organization that does that means everything.
I’m literally just a fly on the wall. Keep in mind, I don’t just join any organization. This is the first one that I’ve joined. I don’t like to waste my money, nor do I like to waste my time. There’s too many of them out there. But what I found is that everybody in ACSA are all fighting the same fight and we have like-mindedness. We’re all trying to get a goal to not just survive but advance the industry. To support it means everything.
Kristiane: You touched on advancing the industry. What innovations, what products are most exciting right now? What are you doing in that world?
Emmanuel: Trifecta was a blend, and then last year we came out with our Harlem Hell Fighters, which was an ode to the very first African-American unit to fight in World War I. What was really cool was they were on the front lines for 191 days in France. We took our bourbon, we aged it for the exact amount they were on the line and we finished it in French wine casks.
Later this year, we are working on honoring the invisible generals. They were the first father and son duo in the air force unit. The son opened the door for the Red Tails. He was the first black pilot in the military and his father was the first general officer in the military. We’re going to be working on some blends and then we’re going to finish it in casks we’ve never done before. I’ve never been much of a finish guy. I’m more of a blend appreciator, but after we tried the one in the wine barrel, I thought, “This is really cool.” We’re taking the story and we’re finishing the product based on the amount of years that they served in the military. So, some really cool finishes and some really cool stories–and I love storytelling.
It’s a lot, but that’s what we’re working on. At the end of the day, it’s not always about money. Of course, we want to make money, by all means. But if you ever have to Google or research any of the stories that we’re telling, then we would have done our job as a brand. I want people to walk away touching our bottles and looking on the back and thinking, “I never knew this and I have to go back and Google this or tell somebody else.” That’s really what I want people to walk away from when they touch our brand. Of course, we have great juices, double gold award winning, but if you can do that in addition to, “This is an amazing story. I have to tell somebody about it,” then we would have done our job. And highlighting unsung heroes. That’s what I want people to take away when they mention our brand, Old Hillside. That’s the goal.
Kristiane: On a final note, what is a goal that you think we could all have as an ACSA community to overcome the challenges that we’re going through right now?
Emmanuel: I know I say this literally, but we have to really open up the lines of communication more. I know everyone is busy. I know it’s cliche to physically see a network, but there’s so much information (I truly believe) where there’s two or three gathered, right? It’s a famous Bible verse, but it’s legit. I think we need to open the lines of communication a lot more and really be sharing what we’re seeing. Whether it’s across state lines, across counties, there’s laws that are being passed that I’m not knowing about. I think us conversing more and sharing more information could be very, very helpful. There’s going to be some brands like ourselves that do not necessarily have a distillery, but we’re selling products and there could be laws that have been passed. I would like to know what’s being passed, what’s going on off premise, on premise. The more that we’re sharing, the better off we’ll be in passing on information. That could be everybody’s goal. That should be! Let’s help two or three more brands. How can we help them? That should be the goal.
Kristiane: Keeping those lines of communication open is more important now than ever for us all to stay together strong and power through, and come out on top of this better than ever through association efforts and beyond.
Emmanuel: One of my favorite movies is Planet of the Apes. And I love the remake that they did, but it’s a quote. He just says, “Apes together strong.”
The same thing in Craft. Just take out the apes and put Craft together strong. We are stronger together. I’m truly of the concept of team. Together everyone accomplishes more. That’s been my mantra forever. I think we all need to come together. We’re not even in competition, even in the bourbon industry, the whiskey industry, it’s an $8 billion dollar industry. There is enough space for everybody. If one craft brand is winning, we’re all winning.
