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Artifcts \ Articles \ CONVERSATION \ Four Branches Bourbon: Sip to Remember

CONVERSATION

Four Branches Bourbon: Sip to Remember

Artifcts

June 14, 2024

Reading time: 4 minutes

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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What's New at Artifcts

Trio of New Features | March 2025

Today we’re excited to share a trio of new Artifcts features with you.

Over the course of eight in-person conference appearances during 2024 and approximately 80 hours of interviews, we discovered opportunities to fine tune how you Artifct so we support you even more during and after you’ve created those Artifcts.

As always, we placed ease-of-use and privacy at the heart of each new feature.

More than that, we never lose sight of the humanity behind the stuff we collect. This isn’t about every pot, pan, curtain, lamp, couch, and fork. Sometimes stuff is just stuff. But we know stuff can enrich our lives as easily as it can also cause conflict and division. Let Artifcts support you along the way.

Now, let’s explore the latest from Artifcts!

Private Notes

We’ve come to realize that sometimes you want to share your Artifcts with others, but you want to include details you’d prefer to keep to yourself. So, what’s one to do?

Now at Artifcts you have an optional field titled, 'Private notes.' It’s exactly as it sounds. Whatever you type there will not be visible to others if you share the Artifct. The exception of course is if you give someone “Full Control” over your Artifct (versus the default “View” access or other “Edit” access).

This new field is on the “Full form” when you create or edit Artifcts, directly after the “Story or Description,” making it a natural extension of what you have to say about anything you Artifct.

private notes field on Artifcts

Customizable Reports

It was professionals in appraising and estate management who first approached us about downloading customized reports on Artifcts. Later, this request was seconded by professional home organizers and move managers. Finally, individuals, several of whom were working on their wills, asked for the same.

Now you can do just that, create custom reports, no matter your “why.” When you click 'Download,' you’ll be prompted to select the fields and related files you want to download, too, ensuring you can download only the information you need, when you need it.

As show below, we’ve simplified matters by choosing the Artifct title and description by default, offering a select all option, and reducing your download size by allowing you to exclude photos, videos, and documentation when you do not need them.

pop up window providing options for which Artists details you want to download

Artifcts Up Next Report

We consider this saving the best for last: the new Artifcts Up Next report.

The truth of the matter is that at the end of the day, digitizing the stories and financial value by creating Artifcts addresses one set of needs, but you still must deal with the physical stuff in the room, sorting it and often re-homing it, too.

When you Artifct, there’s just one optional field we show you on the 'Quick form' because we think it’s that important. It’s called 'In the future.' As the name suggests, we urge you to consider what’s next for everything you Artifct. Your options are:

- - Sell. You can even set a custom reminder and Artifcts will email you.
  - Bequeath. Adding details to whom is optional.
  - Donate. Here, too, adding details is optional.
  - Keep in the family. We hope your “Description or story” offers a compelling reason.
  - As you wish. Meaning, “I won’t haunt you. Don’t keep it in storage for the next 30 years on my account.”
  - It’s too late. Enjoy the memories. I already got rid of it. Do not go looking for it.

When you download the new Artifcts Up Next report, it will give you a checklist of all your Artifcts, sorted by the ‘In the Future’ category. You can then work through the list yourself, with family, or with an organizing, estate, or move management professional to get the ‘stuff’ where it needs to go next.

example report showing items to bequeath to loved ones

This is just a snapshot of a sample report, showing the Bequeathed section, guideline, and the type of Artifct information you'd find listed.

We have an open door!

Is there something you wish Artifcts could do or help you with? Is there a feature driving you a bit crazy or confusing you in any way? You can write us a Support@Artifcts.com. And be sure to catch up on past product updates, too!

_________________

Helpful resources as you get started and continue enjoying Artifcting:

Quick Start Guide

Inspiration Lists

FAQs & Videos on YouTube

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March 06, 2025

PRODUCT UPDATES

Storytelling Guide for Your Family Heirlooms

If you want to elevate an item to heirloom status, Webster’s dictionary says pass it down, generation after generation.

definition of heirloom

But solidifying an object’s place in your family history requires a little more tender loving care than that alone.

For every heirloom, we recommend you:

- - Preserve essential facts. What is it? How did you come to possess it? And closely related, where did it come from? Which side of the family?
  - Be specific. Why should anyone care about this object? The why is critical. Why does it matter to you and your family?
  - Create awareness that this object even exists. If you’ve tucked it away or added it to a shelf or cabinet, never pausing to share its origin or story, no one will be able to raise their hand to say, “Yes, I want this” when the time comes to pass it down. Instead, it will easily slide into the discard pile.
  - Provide and/or transfer relevance and context. When @Grandmom’s rolls recipe from the early 1900s was reborn and brought out for everyday enjoyment engraved in her mother’s handwriting on a cutting board, a whole new generation took interest in the recipe’s origin.

These points all build up to a key conclusion: You need a story for the heirloom.

Your story might be a poignant 5 words, “My father gave me this.” And knowing you, and that your father passed away when you were only 9 years old, your family understands a lot in those 5 words.

Or your story may be much longer and follow a beginning-middle-end story arc, pulling in the reader as you evoke in them the emotional or sentimental value and appreciation for the item that you feel.

Here are two very different examples of family heirlooms and their stories, one a traditional family heirloom, the other a modern heirloom, an object acquired now that the owner hopes will last for generations more.

The knitting needles with no story

Elizabeth is a passionate genealogist. Her globetrotting, history and life loving self has seen a lot and collected even more. While her home and the mementos within may be a living testament to her fascinating life, she is also a family keeper.

Artifcts' Definition of Family Keeper

Despite being a genealogist, she’s inherited heirlooms without necessarily giving much thought to their origins or their futures.

Case in a point: her beloved knitting needles. Elizabeth brought her knitting needles to an Arti Afternoon, an event with one of the founders of Artifcts during which participants share items show and tell style. Elizabeth volunteered to go first.

view of the ends of a pair of whale bone knitting needles

“I brought these, because I love them, but they don’t really have a story.”

Our co-founder Ellen nodded, encouragingly. “Objects don’t have to have deep stories to share them and Artifct them. It’s enough to let your family know you love them and what you want to do with them one day. But I have a question: What are those?”

You see, Ellen didn’t even know what the objects were that Elizabeth was holding.

With a startled laugh, Elizabeth replied, “Oh, they are knitting needles.”

“Knitting needles?” Ellen said with a questioning look.

“Yes. They’re made of whale bone.”

“Whale bone,” repeated Ellen, thinking to herself she was starting to sound like an echo.

“Yes, my Yankee grandmother lived in Connecticut and was an accomplished knitter. Hers was a whaling village. I’ve had family in that area since the early 1600s.” Elizabeth went on, “I love how the needles feel in my hands, so much nicer than plastic.”

With a smile, Ellen turned to the group, “Who here thinks these needles have no story?”

Smiles and laughs returned all around. These needles have a great story and are a sweet family heirloom and dose of national history all in one.

a woman using her cell phone to photograph a pair of knitting needles to Artifct

A 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool

From the Artifcts collection of our co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

You know the stools that students used to sit on back in the day - four fixed metal legs, a circular wooden top that spins? Picture them in a chemistry lab. Picture them in Yugoslavia, built from iron and native oak, handmade, and in the "brutalist style."

What style is that, you ask? You know brutalist style from many government buildings in the US, your travels through Eastern Europe and the former states of the USSR, and the movies. Think large cement minimalist buildings, the opposite of beautiful aesthetics. If you have a home with a lot of personality already, a splash of simplicity in the "brutalist" fashion may be just what you need. Or at least that’s how I think of it.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that's the case here. I think it’s more fun to sit on a stool with history than a modern, lighter weight, less durable replica or alternative. You get to feel connected to another time and culture. That's what the stool means to me, a collector who is curating my home to feel uniquely us.

an oak wood topped stool with medal frame, on wheels

And if you think it’s strange to fixate on the charm or design of a stool, blame my mom. She had this really cool antique stool in a corner that always had one type of draping plant or another perched on it. I wanted something like that, that felt homey and less ordinary, I guess.

And that makes this 1970s Yugoslavian creation a keeper. Will my daughter want it ever in her home, transforming it into a modern family heirloom? Maybe. For now, it’s a stool with a story that Mom picked out.

(By the way, the fact that the company reselling the stool has an icon that's a laughing grandma smoking a cigarette amuses as much as mystifies me. And that, friends, adds further charm to my 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool.)

Ready to tell the stories of your heirlooms?

Quote from Jeff Greenwald

If you need some prompts to get started telling the stories of your heirlooms, we always recommend what author Jeff Greenwald taught us: Start with something true.

In the story of the knitting needles, simply answering “What is it?” was enough to unravel a story that the owner had never recognized was there all along. And now, with the story known and Artifcted, it’s exponentially more likely those needles will stay in the family.

When creating an Artifct, click the lightbulb icon in the story/description field to get other prompts and our downloadable worksheet.

Here are some other tried and true heirloom storytelling prompts from genealogist and author Deborah Holman:

- - The first time I saw this object, I felt ________.
  - This object reminds me of ________.
  - If this object could talk, it would say ________.
  - This heirloom is important because ________.

And we have a special bonus for you. Deborah has shared with the Arti Community her Heirloom Storytelling Worksheet. Download it free now.

Happy Artifcting!

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March 05, 2025

GENEALOGY & FAMILY HISTORY

108 Objects to Declutter from Your Home

If you want to simplify your life and maybe enjoy some of the reported benefits of a minimalist lifestyle without adopting a minimalist lifestyle, you may be asking yourself (or Google): “Where do I start?”

Inspired by an article from the LA Times published in March 2024 in which professional organizer Regina Lark claimed that the average US household has 300,000 items, we thought the easiest place for some to start is there – with the excess, the unused, the damaged, the forgotten, the just-in-case from 20 years ago. We think this approach is valid even if in all likelihood your home, like ours, has far fewer than 300,000 items inside.

The relevant point is finding simplicity in less. From the clutter and chaos, you can gain clarity as to what 'stuff' matters to you, a theme near and dear to us here at Artifcts. You can reduce time-consuming decisions you make every day, too. If you have 5 pairs of pants to choose from, how hard can it be for you or your kids to get dressed in the morning? And just maybe you’ll also stop yourself from spending money on things you already own but can’t find, like items number 78 and 83 in our list below.

We invite you to take a stroll around your home with this wildly varied home decluttering list to see where you find opportunities to simplify by reducing the volume of stuff that’s claimed a place in those drawers, closets, and shelves. Here and there we’ve added some commentary where we simply couldn’t resist. Like anything, decluttering takes practice, like building up a muscle. Enjoy, and good luck!

If you’re looking for a Decluttering or a Collections Checklist from Artifcts—or any of our dozens of additional checklists—to inspire you as you also seek to capture the stories, CLICK THE IMAGE. Our checklists are free to download with a free Artifcts.com account.

108 Objects to Declutter from Your Home

Why 108 objects? Author Jeff Greenwald, in his book 108 Beloved Objects: Letting Go of Stuff, Keeping Our Stories, explains, “The number is deeply significant in Eastern spiritual practice, and beyond… the number of prayer beads on a malla (a Buddhist rosary), the number of yoga postures in a full cycle,” and so on. Because of the deep global resonance of this number and the efforts here at Artifcts to help change our relationships with our ‘stuff’ and each other, we think 108 is the perfect number for our decluttering list.

Enjoy some story telling from Jeff Greenwald, who shared with us some of his 108 beloved objects.

We’re breaking away from a room-by-room approach with our list. In doing so, we hope to unleash creative and unexpected freeform association of items that might help you declutter items that did not make the list or have been very much “out of sight, out of mind.”

Ready? Here we go!

1. Lightbulbs – You don’t even have a socket for that one anymore!

2. Boxes, the cardboard variety; and no, it doesn’t matter if it’s a “really nice box”

3. Bins, the plastic kind this time

4. Rugs

5. Fidget gadgets

6. Suitcases – If your kid isn't even a teen yet, and you think they are packing up for college in those, reconsider how else you could use the space.

7. Picture frames

8. User manuals

9. Candles

a collection of candles

Candles are wickedly easy to accumulate because they are easy to gift and even available in end caps at grocery stores!

10. Cookbooks

11. Party decorations

12. Pens and markers – Do they work? How many 100s do you need?

13. Remotes from gadgets you no longer own

14. Pots for plants

15. Decorative pillows – Well, maybe keep the pillow, rehome the case?

16. Baseball hats

17. Pads of paper / notebooks

18. Cleaning supplies and tools

19. Retired and retirement-ready linens

20. Bottle openers

21. Koozies

22. T-shirts and sweatshirts

23. Chapsticks

24. Coasters

25. Glassware

26. Scrunchies – If you know, you know.

27. Old sports equipment

28. Ice packs

29. Rubber bands – Beyond the fun aesthetics of a rubber band ball, how many do you need? And you know they will become brittle and break.

30. Shorts (or other clothing) long out of style, stained, or otherwise in disrepair

31. Belts

32. Coins – Cash it in!

33. Musical instrument lesson books

34. Fine silver, you never use

35. Fine china, you also never use

36. Pottery

37. Bookmarks

38. Greeting cards

39. Business cards, too

40. Rechargeable batteries, because they stopped holding a charge

41. Regular batteries in sizes you haven't used in decades

42. Foam rollers and massage devices

43. Coffee making apparatus, including pods that are long-since stale

44. Coffee mugs

45. Hygiene products (spares and expired, from consumables like cosmetics to tools like toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and combs)

46. Socks

mismatched socks laying on a white bed sheet

A friend of Artifcts kindly shared this picture. Can you relate to her dilemma?

47. Keys

48. Craft supplies, the should’ve, would’ve, could’ve never started, unfinished or dried up

49. Handbags

50. Fishing tackle

51. Nail polish

52. Aprons

53. Magazines and pages torn from them

54. Dog toys

55. Pet beds

56. Lamps

57. Baby blankets

58. Spare buttons and thread

59. Kitchen appliances you never use and utensils, too – What’s jamming that drawer?

60. Spices, so old they may not poison you but they certainly won’t add the flavor you’re expecting

61. Travel-sized everything

62. School report cards – Scan and Artifct them first!

63. Awards, professional and childhood

64. Games and/or pieces left from them

65. Take-out containers and utensils

66. Blankets

67. Stuffed animals

CLICK THE IMAGE to read about why you should declutter stuffed animals with care, according to research.

68. Boxes of tea – Added to this list, with love, on request of both of the husbands of the cofounders of Artifcts.

69. Holiday stuff, the one off, the past it's prime, the "when did we celebrate that?"

70. Kid artwork

71. Magnets

72. Unmatched socks

73. Décor

74. VHS and cassette tapes – Say it with us: digitize, digitize, digitize.

75. Miscellaneous workshop scraps (wood, metal, wire, etc.)

76. Miscellaneous home repair and renovation materials (tiles, bricks, etc.)

77. Books

78. Blenders – True story, our cofounder Heather found SIX of them at her dad’s house.

79. Record player

80. Reusable shopping bags

81. Plastic shopping bags

82. Costumes

83. Reusable water bottles

84. Windshield wipers, for the car you don’t even own anymore

85. Vases

collection of vases

Collections can take on a life of their own. What's in yours? One of these vases pictured is not like the others. Take your guess, and then click here for the answer on Artifcts.

86. Watches

87. Travel pillows

88. Gift bags

89. Costume jewelry

90. Placemats, tablecloths, and chargers

91. Extension cords - Who are you, Clark Griswald?

92. Eyeglasses

93. Old computers

94. Postcards

95. Cutting boards

96. Key chains

97. Dried (and dusty) flora

98. Membership cards

99. Cameras

100. Cords, cables, and chargers

CLICK THE IMAGE for more tech inspiration from our Tech Detox checklist.

101. Swag from your employer

102. Paint

103. Travel mementos from who-remembers-where

104. Sunglasses

105. Cake pans of all varieties

106. Shoes

107. Covid-era face masks

108. Ticket stubs, playbills, brochures – ephemera of life

Your reward for reading all 108 is this free download to take with you around the house. As always, if you’re having trouble letting go, "Artifct that!" to keep the memories. You can download our DIY checklist to jot down all the items you want to Artifct as you declutter, too.

And please remember to recycle, upcycle, rehome! Download Artifcts' Going Green guides to inspire and support you. Depending on where you live, you may have a reuse center where you can donate goods in addition to traditional charities.

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You may also enjoy these related ARTIcles by Artifcts in our decluttering & organizing theme:

Do You Know What You Own?

What to Do with All That Sport Stuff

Letting Go of Sentimental Items: Green Light, Yellow Light, Red Light

February 26, 2025

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