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For those of you who don’t know, our co-founders, Heather & Ellen, started their careers at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). They both served as briefers and frequently worked hand in hand with members of four branches of the US military – Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
Today, to celebrate National Bourbon Day, we’re honored to highlight the hard work of fellow friend, CIA colleague, and Air Force veteran, Mike Trott, co-founder of Four Branches Bourbon.
Heather sat down with Mike for an in-depth conversation on all things bourbon, stories, and the importance of taking a moment and remembering those that have come before us and those who have served alongside us.
Below is an excerpt from their conversation.
Heather: Part of the lore of Four Branches Bourbon is that you built the company in honor of one of our fallen heroes. Could you tell us a bit more about that? How did Four Branches Bourbon come to be?
Mike: You’re absolutely right. Four Branches Bourbon started with a phone call. One of my good friends, Rick Franco, a Marine Corps veteran, called me one day and said he had been thinking that he wanted to create a special barrel of bourbon in honor of his fallen close friend and colleague Greg Wright.
Rick and Greg went way back. They went to Virginia Military Institute (VMI) together, served in the Marine Corps together, and several years later Rick recruited Greg to serve in the CIA alongside him. On Greg’s first deployment overseas, he was the hero. He sacrificed his own life to save those of his team. Rick had the honor of repatriating his remains, and from that day forward, had wanted to do something to honor him and his family. Greg (along with our other CIA colleagues) is recognized with a star on the white Alabama marble Memorial Wall at CIA Headquarters, and is listed in the Book of Honor sitting beneath the stars.
At the time we had no way of knowing how big Rick’s idea of a special barrel of bourbon would become.
We each carried with us stories of heroes. And my call with Rick got me thinking back to one of my assignments at the CIA: repatriating the remains of Mike Spann to his family and CIA colleagues. Mike was one of the first paramilitary officers sent into Afghanistan post-9/11. He was a true American hero and is known as the first American to die in combat after 9/11.
At that moment, I got what Rick wanted to do one-hundred percent and why he wanted to do it. We suddenly had a new mission -- let’s tell those stories and say those names so that no one ever forgets.
Co-Founders Mike Trott and Rick Franco bottling Four Branches Bourbon.
Heather: That’s an incredible founding story, Mike, one with heart and mission. So you and Rick now had two of the four branches. How did you find your other two co-founders?
Mike: Well, once we had this idea in our minds, we couldn’t let it go. We quickly reached out to a couple friends, Harold, a Navy veteran and RJ, an Army veteran, and found we all had similar stories. We found ourselves sitting around a fire and telling the stories, saying the names, and it just clicked. This is it. We all wanted to do something to tell the stories and help others remember.
Bourbon is itself a reflective spirit. You sip. You reminisce, it slows you down, makes you reflect on the past. And it doesn’t always have to be bad memories – it could be the birth of a child, a wedding, promotion, those special moments.
Heather: Not to interrupt the reflecting (and seeing that we aren’t sipping a glass of bourbon, yet…), but I hear you’ve got a great story about traditions, weddings, and bourbon?
Mike: Yeah, that’s a good one. There’s a southern old wives’ tale that says if you want good weather on your wedding day, you’re supposed to bury a bottle of bourbon in your backyard, and then dig it up on the wedding day. Well, our good friend Dr. Rob Darling (a Navy veteran) did just that with a bottle of Four Branches Bourbon earlier this year. He dug it up a month ago or so on the morning of his daughter’s wedding and they had a perfect day. Just perfect.
Tradition, heritage, all woven into the American fabric of who we are, what we are. Bourbon is an American product. Fun fact: all whiskeys are bourbons, but not all bourbons are whiskeys. Bourbon can only be manufactured in America.
Heather: Who knew! Bourbon, memories, and good weather! I want to talk some more about those special bottles of Four Branches Bourbon you make for charity. I’ve seen firsthand how the intelligence and military communities have come together around the brand, and how you all have done some really neat things with those bottles to raise money for good.
Mike: It started with us donating a bottle or two of Four Branches Bourbon to a handful of fundraisers for veterans and their families. We signed the bottles, and were thinking, sure, hopefully they can get at auction what the bottle is worth, maybe a hundred dollars or so.
We were blown away by what happened next. At one event I was on stage, telling our story, and the next thing I know our bottles are being auctioned off for $20,000, $30,000... It was incredible. To date we’ve been able to raise nearly $300,000 for charities focused on serving veterans and Gold Star children and their families. Just incredible.
You realize right then and there, it’s not about the bourbon. It’s about the story. The mission. The fact that we’re on to something bigger than any of us. The need to reflect, to remember those we’ve lost, but also those who’ve lived and are living because of their sacrifices.
It’s not about the bourbon. It’s about the story. The mission. The fact that we’re on to something bigger than any of us. - Mike, founder, Four Branches Bourbon
We’ve gotten really creative over the past year with the bottles we offer for charity. We’ve included pieces of uniforms from our fallen heroes, challenge coins from missions, Harold even gave up his Trident badge for one of the bottles.
Heather: It hasn’t always been easy though. Alcohol, drinking, it can be really tough on returning service members and their families. Tell us a bit about your founder’s journey and the conversations you’ve had around the tough ‘stuff’ in the spirits industry.
Mike: As founders, we took a step back when we lost a mutual friend due to alcohol in the veteran community. We took a couple of months off; realized we couldn’t take alcohol out of the world, but could we change the narrative. That’s a BIG part of our tagline: Drink honorably. Sip to remember.
We want people to stop drinking to forget, and instead sip to remember.
We’ve done probably 4,000 tastings across the country and I’d say 60% start to cry when we say stop drinking to forget. Start sipping to remember. It’s really powerful when you think about it.
And I know that may seem like a strange thing for a founder of a bourbon company to say, but if we sell less so be it. We’re not changing the message. It’s a part of our story, part of our mission.
Four Branches Bourbon is on a mission to "Sip to Remember."
Heather: One last question Mike. Because we are Artifcts, we have to ask, do you have a favorite artifact from Four Branches Bourbon?
Mike: I have to say, our Master Class with Bourbon Hall of Fame Master Distiller, Steve Nally, who guided us as we created our unique four gain Founders Blend. You can click here to view the Artifct and read a bit about the story.
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You can learn more about Four Branches Bourbon, Mike Trott, and his fellow founders on their website. And if you’re lucky enough to be in one of the 32 states they currently ship direct to, or live in KY, TN, FL, AZ, WDC, MD and VA, you can also pick up a bottle of this incredible bourbon with a story and join Mike, Rick, Harold, and RJ as they #SiptoRemember.
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Want to hear more of the story? You can watch an interview of Mike and Rick on Fox & Friends.
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The first four days of our 12 Days of Artifcts challenge. Objects with stories, your stories!
