What does it take to pivot from selling the hottest consumer tech of the early 2000s into leading, not one but two, distilleries? Today’s guest is Luis Gonzalez. We’ve known Luis on our first trip out to Old Elk and he forever made an impression on us. If you’ve ever heard Ryan say “sanity over vanity” this the guy that shared that wisdom. Luis has an interesting journey of starting in mall kiosks selling BlackBerry before making his way to executive status at OtterBox and got the call to help build Old Elk from the ground up. His next big move is now stepping into the Chief Commercial Officer role at Middle West Spirits in Columbus, Ohio after the acquisition of Old Elk. For nearly two years, Middle West has been quietly operating in custom contract distilling, aging, and bottling behind the scenes. We talk about how Luis manages massive inventory networks, maintain transparency with customers, and how to avoid the race-to-the-bottom price wars. Plus, we get into how Middle West is already distilling Old Elk’s custom mash bills and what the future holds for all their brands.
Show Notes:
- How a career-ending baseball injury led Luis from Baton Rouge to consumer tech sales at BlackBerry and OtterBox
- Building Old Elk from the ground up and mastering the long-term lead times required in whiskey forecasting
- Transitioning to Middle West Spirits as Chief Commercial Officer and managing commercial operations across multiple facilities
- The hidden power of contract distilling and how Middle West has quietly served the industry for nearly two years
- How Middle West manages inventory, warehouse operations, and custom mash bills while avoiding price wars
- What the transition of Old Elk mash bills to Ohio means for transparency, blending, and future releases