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Tales of Leadership
Tales of Leadership is a veteran-owned podcast designed to equip leaders with the knowledge required to inspire others through transformational leadership. If you want to grow your influence and become a purposeful leader, you have found your tribe. Become the leader your team deserves!
Tales of Leadership
#105 Ryan Thompson - Founder of 10th Mountain Whiskey
Ryan is a serial entrepreneur and life long learner that enjoys the pursuit of business while being a positive influence in his community and using his business platforms to help support causes he’s passionate about. He started 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit Company 10 years ago and is in the trenches running the daily operations with the goal of becoming a national, household brand. He has also owned a restaurant for the past 22 years and has owned a motel for 8 years…both of which are still in operation. He is passionate about using his business acumen to help support fellow entrepreneurs and is always keeping his eyes open for the next opportunity.
Connect with Ryan Thompson:
-Website: https://10thwhiskey.com/
-LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whiskeyryan/
-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/10thmtnwhiskey
-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/10thmtnwhiskey
-TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@10thmtnwhiskey
-X: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2F10thmtnwhiskey
🫡 My Why: I’ve seen the cost of poor leadership — how it can destroy morale, break trust, and in the worst cases, lead to lives lost, including through suicide. That’s why I’ve committed my life to helping others lead with purpose. Through Tales of Leadership, I share real stories and actionable insights on how to overcome adversity and become the kind of leader people remember for the right reasons.
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- Joshua K. McMillion
So I didn't serve in the military, but I've always been a proud patriot and I've always been a big supporter of the military.
Speaker 2:I come from a military family and I've always had a lot of friends in the military.
Speaker 1:I had a desire to build businesses and to try to give back to the US and give back to America by providing jobs. That's always been kind of the role I've seen myself take. But when an opportunity came and I was watching what the craft distillery movement was doing I homebrewrew quite a bit and had been in the restaurant business for a number of years at that point and I was watching what the craft distillery movement was doing and I was like, well, someone in this town is going to make whiskey sooner or later. I had been here for a number of years at that point and understood the influence that the original 10th Mountain soldiers had on our area. They trained just a few miles south here at Camp Hale in the 1940s. I was like, well, without these guys I certainly wouldn't be here living a free life in America and skiing a great mountain. And I'm like, well, hell, let's start a distillery and use it as a platform to support different military nonprofits and let's name it an honor to the 10th Mountain.
Speaker 2:You're listening to the Tells a Leadership podcast. This podcast is for leaders at any phase on their leadership journey to become a more purposeful and accountable leader what I like to call a pal. Join me on our journey together towards transformational leadership.
Speaker 3:All right team. Welcome back to the Tells the Leadership podcast. I am your host, josh McMillian, and I'm on a mission. It's twofold One to become the best leader that I possibly can for myself, for my family and for this country, and then number two in toxic leadership, and I plan to do that by promoting transformational stories and skills, ultimately to build a better leader, what I call a POW, a purposeful, accountable leader and on today's episode we're going to be going through Ryan Thompson's story. He is a phenomenal leader.
Speaker 3:Ryan is a serial entrepreneur and a lifelong learner that enjoys the pursuit of businesses and building a positive climate and a platform and a culture. He started the 10th Mountain Whiskey and Spirit Company in 2013. And it's been running successfully since then. And I love this episode because we have so many different types of similarities between my background and what Ryan has done, because I've served in the 10th, I've commanded in the 10th two different companies and this has been, honestly, one of my favorite podcast episodes that I had a chance to film.
Speaker 3:I'll also point you to McMillianLeadershipCoachingcom If you're listening to this podcast episode. There is a blog and you can just read the key points and distill down Ryan's leadership wisdom in one simple page and you can go there anytime it's 100% free and check out the other resources, because I want to arm you with the most knowledge possible, to be the best leader possible and always stay to the very end, and I'll provide you the three key takeaways that I've had from this episode. Let's bring on Ryan. Ryan, welcome to the Tales of Leadership podcast, brother, how are you doing, man?
Speaker 1:Hey, I'm doing great bud. Thanks for having me, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, being a service member commanding the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, I've seen your company pop up like all the time on social media. So I was like you know what? I'm going to reach out on Instagram and just see if I can actually find the person who created it. And you reached out, humbled to have you on the show and I'm really looking forward to kind of digging into your story.
Speaker 1:Well, it's always great to connect with 10th Mountain soldiers, so I get a lot of great opportunities to do so. I always love chatting with soldiers that have either been at Drum or down in Louisiana or even out here in Colorado Springs when they were here. So, man, happy to be here with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, dude, I was stationed at 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain, so I did all my time at fort fort lewis I can't remember the new name now, or it's not lewis, fort polk, I can't think of.
Speaker 1:The army's changed the names yeah, they've changed a lot of names out there, so we just got a. A lot of people still refer to it as uh fort polk and uh as um, as brag and and everything else, right, so yeah, it's.
Speaker 3:For me it's always going to be Fort Polk, because I spent four years of my life there, so it's never going to change.
Speaker 1:Totally right, that's great man.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So let's start off just real quick with a quick background of who you are. If anyone's listening to this, who is Ryan?
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, right, absolutely Well. You covered the uh. What a lot of people know me for is being the founder CEO of 10th mountain whiskey and spirit company, a philanthropic craft distillery here in Colorado, in the Vail area, uh, where there's a lot of 10th mountain history, uh, but uh, before then, uh, born and raised in Texas. Uh, went to school in Dallas and moved up here to Colorado to play in the mountains. But a lifelong entrepreneur started a restaurant 22 years ago which is still around today, so I have my thumb on that. It's the Westside Cafe in Vail. It's currently owned an employee housing complex as well. We refer to that. We reference it as a motel, but it's a month-to-month housing. I have bought and sold a couple of other businesses in the last 20 years or so, but my passion certainly lies with growing the distillery and using it as a platform to support different military nonprofits that are out there.
Speaker 3:That's really incredible and we'll get into that of how you create a career from just being an entrepreneur. I've been institutionalized. If you think of it like I've been in the military, that's the only job I've ever had for the past, going on 16, 17 years now, and it gives me so much anxiety to think about one day I'm going to have to leave the military and find like an actual civilian job. But now flip that on its head. You've always just done whatever you wanted to do of a restaurant, so you still have that restaurant actively right now that you opened yeah, yeah, sure dude, 22 years and going now.
Speaker 3:So that's a huge achievement itself and I know this from just a standpoint of how hard it is to maintain like a running and functional restaurant and I had robert irvine on and just hearing his story and getting a chance to talk to him and actually like connecting really offline and how cutthroat you know the culture is within that type of niche. But being able to maintain a functional restaurant, like just having the right people because it's a service-based industry and then changing your food to make sure that it's always relevant and on the forefront. So I want to start there. How have you been successful for so long?
Speaker 1:I think a big key part of the pump, but a big key ingredient for us at the restaurant is that we hire hospitality and then can teach the rest. But as long as we hear and we during the interview process that certainly in the front of the house that if they have a hospitality bone, if they care about other people, if they want to make people happy and enjoy doing that, then the rest we can teach and everything else will fall in place. But a really big key ingredient for us is making sure that box is checked, that hospitality box. Of course they got to be nice and personable and all that other stuff too, right, but that's a key component.
Speaker 1:Back of the house you have to still be a team player. A lot of the back of the house and the kitchens operate separate from the front of the house and that's always a challenge to make both sides of the house of a restaurant work together. So we make sure that our back of the house team as well are very team oriented, can get along with even the front of the house and still want to please the guests. Although they don't get FaceTime with them necessarily, they still are passionate and are proud of what they're putting on a plate because they know they're going to go make or break potentially could go make or break someone's day, and so everyone's part of the team, this hospitality team.
Speaker 3:And so that's certainly something that we look for when we bring on new employees is that you have your front team who's basically dealing with people and you want to hire to make sure that their strength is focused on service and adding value to people and making sure that they feel at home or like part of the family. But in the back end it's really task driven, like, hey, these dishes need to be done at this time, and the linkage there, the connective tissue, is that they have to work together as a team.
Speaker 1:I've never thought of it like that. It's incredibly important and I think that certainly not only us, but any restaurant that has had any type of longevity that has a good reputation out there, I think probably emphasizes that key aspect of the overall business making sure the front of the house and the back of the house work well together. So certainly if I was going into another restaurant or if I was and I don't have any plans to do so at this point, well, you never know that would be something, a key aspect, I would look for.
Speaker 3:You got a B&B, a bourbon and barbecue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, oddly that you say that concept. We've actually chatted about that a little bit.
Speaker 3:That's one of the concepts that might entice me to get do another restaurant, but we'll see. Yeah, if I ever get a chance to go to Colorado which is a high possibility with my current job, I'll go there. It'll be awesome to really just the start of your story. What I love doing on this podcast is really just digging into your background and your leadership journey, because we all have unique ones and I think that is the true wisdom or the experience that we can share with other people who, when they find this episode, and with you, I. Where did your leadership journey start? I guess really tailored on wanting to be an entrepreneur. What drove you down that path?
Speaker 1:The entrepreneurship part has always been inside me, I think, and a lot of people ask is it learned? Is it in your DNA? Both my parents were entrepreneurs. My dad had a long career as an attorney, but it was his own firm that he had started, and then he dabbled in a couple other businesses. My mom had done a number of different things in different industries herself and they never forced it on myself or my brother or sister, but all three of us inherently. I don't know if it was in our DNA to begin with it must have been but we all three are entrepreneurs and have branched out on and done our own things in different industries. But the leadership aspect I think back to.
Speaker 1:I played soccer all the way through college and then coached up here for 20 years at a local high school and I remember back in the day I was probably 11 years old or something and 12 years old and I was like, hey, we need a goalkeeper to step into the game, right, can? Like no one else was raising their hand. I'm like, screw it, I'll do it, guys might as well, whatever. And I ended up being good at it and that became my position in soccer, competitively, for a number of years thereafter. But so I always think back to that question of I don't know why it was in me, but no one else wanted to do it. I'm like I'll put it on my shoulders and I'll figure this out.
Speaker 3:And so I think the entrepreneurship has always been in me, but I think that leadership aspect probably kicked into high gear around that time when I was 11 or 12 years old so what were some of the bigger challenges when you started really like digging into this, of where it wasn't necessarily a game anymore but it was like real life, like I have to learn to be successful at this, because I have to have a salary and take care of not just myself but other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, right. Yeah, you know that there certainly comes with a lot of responsibility on your shoulders when you employ others. It's their livelihood, it's their family, it's that you're responsible for as well, and so I certainly take that into consideration. I started the restaurant when I was 25 years old, with two other business partners as well, and all three of us are still partners at the restaurant together a number of years later.
Speaker 1:That's incredible yeah thanks, and that partnership works because we're three legs to a stool and if two of us get in an argument or disagreement, there's a third that'll take one side or the other and balance it out pretty darn quickly, and so that might happen once a year these days. But we all seem to get along pretty well doing our own responsibilities and managing our own lives and stuff. But back to the original question and that part I never I recognize the responsibility and having employees and having their livelihood depend on the businesses that I'm starting. But it's always been in me like well, I've got this, that's fine, that's fine with me. I don't question myself.
Speaker 1:I don't know where that confidence necessarily comes from, probably from being in business since I was, since I can remember when I was seven, eight years old I started selling stuff to my friends and local students I went to school with. But it's always been in me just to try to figure something out and try to sell something and add value to whatever I've got going on. Like as a kid it was candy at the elementary school, right, or where it was baseball cards, or it was a lemonade stand, or then in high school or junior high school I was riding my bike and going to pick out golf balls from the local golf course, lake and ponds and polish them up and sell them to the golfers that afternoon In high school I was holding different volleyball tournaments and whatnot and just organizing different events, and so it's always been in me. So at 25, when I quote started I guess you could say a real business. I recognized the responsibility but it never really bugged me. I was like we'll figure this out. I got this so I love that.
Speaker 3:It's like an internal confidence and I don't know about you but like I'm a man of faith and I don't shy away from it. But everyone has their own belief systems, but it always kind of goes back to what you just said, like Matthew 23, 11, the greatest amongst you will be your servant. So I think what that means is that those in my mind who actually go out and inspire and do great things at the center of it is being a servant, of adding value to other people and adding value to team members.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I think you nailed it. I think with that it's since day one of starting the restaurant. I've never considered myself a boss that oversees people. I'm always like I'm working for you, guys, how can I bring value to you and how can I help make your job easier? Today and I've carried that through my whole career over the last 25 years or whatever it's been so, I've always recognized that fact and have been honored that someone wants to come work for something I started, but in the end I don't see myself as a boss.
Speaker 1:It's the opposite.
Speaker 3:They're my boss and they can tell me what they need, brother. I love that, and it correlates within the military too, is that? One thing that makes the military great, specifically like the US versus other nations and I've kind of had the ability to see that now is that we have the ability to delegate power and push it down to the lowest level and we call it mission command and all that essentially means is that we give our teams the tools and authority and the power and the bandwidth to actually run with higher level tasks and we're there to support them, to facilitate them, and it's a paradigm shift and I love that. That that's still true within your career field of being a successful whiskey man you have to excuse me, because I'm drinking bourbon now. Yeah, that's all right. Successful a whiskey man?
Speaker 3:uh, you have to excuse me, because I'm drinking bourbon now that hardly another thing that I kind of heard within that too, like that internal confidence is. I call it a burning desire. But where did that mindset come from that? Hey, I'm not going to fail, I'm just going to keep moving forward.
Speaker 1:Because I've always been independent. I've always wanted to do my own thing. I was raised with good morals and a right path, and so I trust myself to do the right thing and I'm not.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go out and and and screw up, or, you know, if I, if I get in a fender bender, I'm going to leave a note on the person's car right as a as a small example, but and so I I trust myself to do the right thing, and, and I don't know where that, if that's that where that confidence comes from, but it and, and sometimes it's a false confidence, but sometimes that's what you need as well, isn't it so?
Speaker 3:Has there been anyone? I know you said your mom and your dad were entrepreneurs, but there were any role models that you had, maybe outside of them, that really like inspired you at a younger age.
Speaker 1:Well, I've.
Speaker 1:I've always had mentors out there and I always look up to people if if it's.
Speaker 1:If it's not with a personal relationship, it's through somebody's podcast Not just saying that, since we're on one now here, but I certainly listen to a number of different podcasts and watch what others are doing. Through having the distillery in the namesake 10th Mountain. I've met and become some friends with some of the soldiers through that and admired and looked up to how they operate and what they're doing, and both while they were in and a couple that have come to mind certainly, while a couple of them retired recently after long successful careers and so growing up, and no one certainly in particular comes to mind besides both my mom and dad. I certainly had a great relationship with them and they steered me correctly and led correctly and I give credit to both of them. But no one in particular I don't think comes to mind in my adult life that necessarily guide me or look up to, besides some business folks that maybe my path will come across on occasion, or certainly some soldiers that have had long successful careers in the military.
Speaker 1:But I'm always looking out and seeing what other people are doing and watching what's going on.
Speaker 3:So you naturally you're from Texas. You went to Vail Colorado, which I don't blame you If I had more money when I retire one day. That's on one of my lists. My wife and I have identified areas that we want to go live and retire, and that is definitely one of them, because it is just a stunning place. What inspired you, when did that passion come from, to create Tenth Mountain Whiskies and Spirits?
Speaker 1:So I didn't serve in the military, but I've always been a proud patriot and I've always been a big supporter of the military. I come from a military family. My my dad was both Army and Navy. My granddad was Army, my brother-in-law was a ranger and now he's he's a Texas Ranger as well.
Speaker 3:now that's funny.
Speaker 1:So and I've always had a lot of friends in the military and I've always had a lot of friends in the military I had a desire to build businesses and to try to get back to the US and get back to America by providing jobs. That's always been kind of the role I've seen myself take. But when an opportunity came and I was watching what the craft distillery movement was doing I homebrew quite a bit and had been in the restaurant business for a number of years at that point and distillation is the next step after making beer and I was watching what the craft distillery movement was doing and I was like well, someone in this town is going to make whiskey sooner or later. I had been here for a number of years at that point and understood the influence that the 10th Mountain the original 10th Mountain soldiers had on our area. They trained just a few miles south here at Camp Ale in the 1940s and they our area.
Speaker 1:They trained just a few miles south here at camp ale in the 1940s and they in essence started the modern day ski industry. As we know, they started over 62 different ski resorts across the country, had a big influence in and the gear that we all use today, uh, and some of the media that, uh, we read and climbing, and, hell, nike was founded by a 10th mountain vet, uh, so phil knight's business partner is bill bowerman, and so I I was like, well, without these guys I certainly wouldn't be here living a free life in America and skiing a great mountain. And I'm like, well, hell, let's start a distillery and use it as a platform to support different military nonprofits and let's name it an honor to the 10th Mountain. And so I started looking into it and I started looking at how to trademark things. And we're not 10th Mountain Army Division whiskey, you can't do that, and I recognized that quickly.
Speaker 1:But our Silhouette Soldier was not trademarked at the time. Obviously it is now. But with 10th Mountain Whiskey and Spirit Company and our soldier and our location, it's pretty obvious where we're going with our namesake. And so the inspiration was just that. It sounded like a cool business to get into, to make whiskey in the Rocky Mountains and support different military nonprofits, and so that was the goal we set out to do early on. And here we are, about to celebrate our 10th year anniversary.
Speaker 3:So there's so many things there that I definitely want to unpack and so it's a little bit one. You said you never served in the military, but there's so many different and now I see this with some of my best friends who've transitioned and what they're doing. A lot of industry that this nation has is led by and ran by veterans that continue to go do great things, but also patriots that have never worn a uniform, and I don't separate the two. In my mind it's easy to do what I did to wear a uniform and I don't separate the two. In my mind it's easy to do what I did to wear a uniform jump out of planes, go to war, those types of things is that infantrymen seek with and destroy the enemy by fire maneuver and if you're a sound person you're like that sounds crazy.
Speaker 3:But what you're doing, I think, is just equally as important, and I talk about success versus significance. I think what you're doing is really chasing significance and that legacy, and so much so that you and I share a commonality we're both recipients of the Order of the St Maurice and I have never heard I honestly have never heard of a civilian winning that award. So kudos to you. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks, you've done your research, bud Nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I usually don't bring that up, but I was recognized with that honor about four years ago I guess now, and it was due to all the support that we give back to military nonprofits. So that was certainly unexpected. I had no idea that was coming. One of the guys on our team was kind of behind the scenes with just answering some questions from the colonel that gave me that honor at that point, and so he knew it was coming, because this guy, tom, that works with us, he would ask me about my past and what's going on. I'm like Tom, what the hell are you doing? You know all this stuff about me, know all this stuff about me. He's like I'm just double checking, man, I'm just double checking. And then, like two weeks later, the colonel gives me that award. And then Tom was like yeah, dude, that's why I was checking on you and making sure I had my facts straight. So yeah, that happened. That was a pretty special recognition to get, for sure.
Speaker 3:And for anyone who's kind of listening, each branch of the army like aviation, they all basically have orders that you have to be nominated to. So what's significant about this is that members who are already recipients of the Order of St Maurice have to basically weigh or judge the contributions that you made essentially, ryan, to the infantry corps. So the Order of St Maurice, I think this was mine when I was a captain. I got it after my first rifle company command. To that point there was a huge achievement that I was able to get and I remember the day still had tears in my eyes because that was my second company command, leaving 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain, to go off and get my master's degree. And to me it's a legacy. Standpoint is that, yeah, I'm part of a brotherhood of many other people who've went before me and done great things, but at the end of the day, it's carrying on that torch and legacy and I love how it's bridged outside of. Not necessarily just those who wear the uniform are an infantryman. It is people who are continuing to bring that kind of impact to the larger community.
Speaker 3:The second thing that I share with you is the Pano Commando. So two things you're going to love this, and this was when I was a company commander. That's why I knew I had to have you on my podcast. So this was my yeah that I had when General Pyatt the old 10th Mountain. So he came up there and this was when the army and the Navy was doing the big rivalry game. I think this was like 2018. Yeah, 2016.
Speaker 3:And I had no idea what the Pando Commando was until he started showing it and I was like I love this so much so that I want to go take it to my tattoo artist and I want to get a tattoo of it on my arm.
Speaker 3:And the story behind that is so cool and you hit the nail on the head is that a bunch of steely eyed killers back during World War II had to learn how to ski so they could go fight Nazis in the Alps and then after World War II they basically came back, founded modern day ski industry that we know now, and in Bell Colorado, which is just super cool, and you're continuing that legacy with the 10th Mounted Infantry. I love that. I think that is awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks, and it's a lot of fun for us. We have a taste room right at the base of Vail Ski Mountain, so a pretty popular pedestrian village, and we'll get 10th Mountain soldiers walking by and look up and be like wait, 10th Mountain whiskey, come on out. And they'll walk in and a lot of times they don't know the history of the 10th Mountain here in the area and so they'll sit down and have a glass of whiskey and we'll swap stories and then we have a chance to educate not only soldiers and veterans but also just everyday civilians that come through as well about the importance and the history of 10th Mountain, not only here in Onvale Mountain but with the ski industry and then countrywide as well. So it's a fun again. It's a fun platform to be able to allow us to get in front of people for 30 minutes at a time, an hour at a time, whatever it is, and educate them on the historic military division.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I think a key output with that is if you can get people convinced to get the tattoo. That would be awesome.
Speaker 1:We have, we've got. I know of two of two people that have our logo tattooed on them. One is a extremely passionate Tenth Mountain soldier who now works with us in California and he's a tattoo artist and he did it himself on his own thigh. And then there's another guy here, whose granddad was in the 10th, that ended up taking our logo and getting it tattooed on him as well. So there's at least two of them out there, I know. If there's any more, please let us know.
Speaker 3:So well, I have one other my first sergeant when I was a company commander. We went and got. This may sound a little weird, but at the same time we had a bro date and we got the same tattoos. Like, hey, if I'm going to do it, you're going to do it. So we were all in.
Speaker 1:Nice Right, that tomato is super cool man, I love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, going through this kind of Tunkman model, if you will like, storming, norming, forming this concept of 10th Mountain Whiskies, this concept of the 10th Mountain Whiskies. How did you go through the brand structure in a competitive market and figure out how you were going to set the business model? Because I'm always curious on that.
Speaker 1:Like the branding itself, or like, and how did we find some white space in a whiskey market or a spirits market?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so white space within the spirits market. And then also, too, where did you start with some of the spirits Like, which drinks did you focus on? Because I know that whiskey, for example, like takes two years to actually distill before you can sell it. So kind of thinking through from like a business standpoint, how did you work through that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're close a little bit there. You can make an unaged whiskey in about four to six days or so, roughly depending on how long you ferment the actual fermentation. So we actually we ferment for six days, we cook for a day, ferment for six and then distill basically for a day, and then you have a new make whiskey. It's unaged, it's clear as water, but if you have the right base recipe, the base mash bill, it can technically is a whiskey. And then we age it in our American oak barrels. And that is when you're referring to that two-year process. For it to be a bourbon it has to age for some amount of time. It could be one minute or it could be a hundred years. Certainly there's a sweet spot in there somewhere, but a lot of people think that in order to make a bourbon or a rye whiskey it has to be at least a minimum of two years. That's not necessarily the case, but it does need to be aged for some amount of time. And so when we first got going, we made a new make whiskey, which is our Colorado Clear Mountain Moonshine. We make a potato vodka, we make a cordial as well. So although we hang our hat on our whiskey expressions. We do make a couple other spirits as well, and then our bourbon and our rye and our single malt are our age whiskeys at this point. When we first started 10 years ago, it was a young whiskey. We were aging in smaller barrels, which are not as economical necessarily, but there's more oak to the whiskey ratio and so that helps mature the whiskey a little bit quicker, although you get some more, some different notes coming through when you age it in smaller barrels. We're proud of it. At that time it was a six month product but we were proud of and ready to go, and so that certainly helped get us out of the gate a little quicker. Now, at this point, we have all of our age spirits are two years and older. There's three and four year in there too. If you come to our taste rooms then you're likely to have a four or six year as well. But just to answer that question about getting going, there's certainly different ways to get started in the business with unaged spirits, with younger age spirits, if you will, aged in smaller casks, et cetera. So the white space in the market it's certainly we.
Speaker 1:We pulled on the history of the 10th Mountain in our area which we covered briefly. We recognize that it was one of the most historic military divisions and one of the most deployed divisions. Now, over the last 30 years and we're starting it was the last 20 years, right, and very familiar and supportive military nonprofits anyways, before we even got going. But we saw a great opportunity here and I was surprised that the Silhouette Soldier wasn't trademarked. So I looked into that and got educated on trademark research and all that and then ended up designing the, the soldier that you see on most of our main logo and, uh, we design our bottles.
Speaker 1:We worked with, we had an idea. We worked with a local graph design company. We would take a couple different labels and we went to the liquor stores, put them up on the shelf and then stood back 10 feet. We're like, hey, does that, does that stand out well enough on the liquor shelf? Uh, we like this aspect, I like that aspect, the colors. The color's a little darker, a little light, whatever. Go back to the drawing board. We probably did five or six different iterations of that and that's how we kind of found that white space wiggle ourself into a white space maybe and then certainly are proud to use it as a platform to support the military, so that's how it all came together.
Speaker 3:Team. Let's take a quick break from this episode and I want to share an additional leadership resource with you, and that is one-on-one leadership coaching through McMillian Leadership Coaching. So what do I do? I help leaders discover their purpose, create a long-term growth plan and take inspired action. I believe everything rises and falls on leadership and, regardless of where you are in life, one fact is true you are a leader of others, you are a leader of your family and, most importantly, you are a leader of yourself. To lead others well, that starts by leading yourself well. If you wanna learn more, you can go to mcmillianleadershipcoachingcom and schedule a free call today. Back to the episode, and I think that's important. That's one of the reasons I kind of wanted you to kind of walk through that, because 2013 is when you created this company and then 2021, you won the Craft Distillery Award, which it doesn't happen overnight, I think time to build specifically with like whiskeys, because it's not something I think that you can just make and then own a large market share, especially as niched as it is.
Speaker 1:So when you won that award the 2021 Craft Distillery Award, which one was that- it was through a company called Rackhouse Whiskey Club and they work with a number of whiskey distilleries around the country and had a. They're coming back now. They've kind of laid quiet the last couple of months or maybe last year or so, but it was through them and they had worked with a number of distilleries and then ended up gathering together I forget how many distilleries at the time that they narrowed it down to, but they had a background in working with different whiskey distilleries across the country, telling their stories and then sharing their whiskeys with their audience, and so it was through them that we had won that award and it's just. It was a great recognition, a great recognition for our entire team. Again, I might direct people, but we have 16 full-time employees that work with us now and a couple of part-timers as well and a couple of brand ambassadors out there. So I can maybe take a small part of that credit, but the majority of the credit goes to the whole team.
Speaker 1:So it was through them, but the whole company feels like a startup. It feels like day one was yesterday. Although we're 10, 11 years into it, man, I still wake up with a fire under my belly, ready to go and get after it. And we were working on it for about a year before we had said it and said a peep about it to anybody outside of a few small confidants in our circle. And so, yeah, we incorporated in 2013 to get through the licensing process on a federal, incorporated in 2013 to get through the licensing process on a federal state, a local level, and get all the equipment, et cetera. At that point it took about a year roughly, maybe even a couple, maybe 15 months, and so we don't say we are our anniversary September 5th of 2014. So that's why our 10 years coming up now. But we were working on it for a solid year, year and a half before any anybody knew what was going on with it.
Speaker 3:So I love, I love that man, so it's not cheap. I'm assuming, to create an actual distillery. I'm, I'm venturing. It's a couple million dollars, three, $4 million, just to even start.
Speaker 1:When you first started did you have the capital to kind of cover that cost? Or did you have to get creative? Hell, no, did not. I always say we begged, borrowed and stole as much money as we could put together and then we asked the government for more money after that. So I had a small chunk from a previous business. I had sold just a very small chunk in the whole scheme of things Started. Then I got a local business loan from a local bank. That got us off the ground a little bit At least. It enabled us to get distilling, get some equipment not the size of the equipment that we're currently using, but got us out of the gate, developed the brand, got a tasting room in Vail Village before we even had a tasting room at the distillery, because that was a more important, much more highly trafficked area than where our distillery is. We thought that was important. We had some cash flow coming in A couple years down the line, once we had some cash flow, we leveraged that into a bigger SBA loan which helped us get some bigger equipment and increase our production. And so I had a small condo in town. I had a small condo for nine years.
Speaker 1:I ended up moving in 2007, five years later starting the distillery, six years later starting the distillery, I ended up either I was going to have to sell off equity to raise some more capital for the distillery business or sell a condo. And I chose to sell a condo and hold onto the equity. And so a lot of people were like you're dumb. And I'm like I'm only dumb if this thing doesn't go the direction I want it to go. So time will tell. But and I've, I've my, the house I live in is leveraged with the SBA loans. So yeah, I mean I I mean mean we're all, I'm all in on this. It's my whole life and but yeah, it does cost quite a bit to get going. There's different ways to do it.
Speaker 1:Happy to speak offline to anybody that's interested in doing it, or any other business and I've got experience with the SBA and going through that process now, which can be challenging and time consuming and frustrating. In the end, it's great because they allowed us to retain all of our equity and so different ways to raise capital, different depending on what your business model is and what you're going after. But I ended up I was in went to Moonshine University in 2013, which is like a week long course and teach you the business of distillation and running a distillery and all the legal stuff and all the marketing and certainly all the operating, the actual still and fermentation and whatnot. And at that point they were saying that it would cost. It costs about $2 million to start a distillery. That was close, yeah, exactly right. And I was like, ah, they don't know what they're talking about. That's. No, we can do it for cheaper.
Speaker 1:They were pretty much exactly right and I was like, ah, they don't know what they're talking about, that's now, we can do it for cheaper. Uh, they were pretty much exactly right. And I just talked to him actually about uh, two weeks ago and, uh, we were laughing about that conversation and uh, now and now, obviously that's amount has increased quite a bit just given the economy whatever. But yeah, it's, it's. There's some, there's some pretty high barriers to entry again in the business, which I enjoy a good challenge and certainly the business is challenging on all kinds of levels and that's just one of them. Just the barriers to entry is can be quite difficult.
Speaker 3:So as you've kind of went through this process, how has your leadership necessarily evolved, like running a successful and when I say leadership I guess your leadership philosophy running a successful restaurant. Being an entrepreneur for a very long time, some of those common traits at least for me, just hearing you that burning desire has always been there, that humble confidence has always been there. But has your leadership style matured over the years?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it definitely has. And I was thinking about this earlier today. I didn't know what questions we were going to chat about here on the conversation. But one thing I was and this just happened earlier today I had a conversation with one of my guys and he was having a migraine and wasn't in the best of moods. And I'm like dude, we don't need to have this conversation right now. Go lie down and relax. We can chat tomorrow. Man, this is nothing pressing. And then I had another. Then I got on right on another phone call with another one of my guys.
Speaker 1:I was just starting his day at the tasting room. He's in a great mood and he wanted to chat about X, y and Z. He had no idea that I had just gotten off the phone with one of our other guys. That was kind of frustrated and not feeling well, and so I think it's just you have to go into each conversation knowing that who you're talking to next, they don't necessarily care that you just got off maybe a passionate phone call or a heated phone call with somebody else. They're living their life and in order for that guy to have a good day on his shift at the tasting room, man, it's up to me to be like dude, how are you doing today? What's going on? Everything good in your world. Let's chat a little business. Can I get you anything today? I know everything's great, and he didn't know the previous conversations I had that day.
Speaker 1:And so I think it's important to always, and I think about that when I walk into the restaurant. If I'm having a bad day over here, the minute I walk into that restaurant those employees are going to look at me and say you know, hi, ryan, good afternoon, good morning, whatever it is, and it's not fair for me to bring in any kind of negative attitude from the previous hour, two hours or whatever. And so I'm I'm very conscious of that. I do well with it 97% of the time, and so there's still.
Speaker 1:There's certainly room to improve, but I'm pretty, pretty aware of that fact. And when I'm walking into the tasting room and certainly if there's guests there a lot of times I want to say hi and chat a little bit and they don't care, they're from hell half the time in Vail village and chat a little bit, and they don't care, they're from hell half the time in Vail Village, they're on vacation and enjoying themselves out at the time of their life and so they don't care. I'm dealing with XYZ amount of stresses and what's going on. So certainly have to check whatever kind of if there's any negative feelings going on before I, before I have a conversation with one of the employees or walk into the tasting room and possibly get pulled into a conversation that I wasn't expecting. So that's certainly one way that I am always trying to be aware of.
Speaker 3:Did that resonate with me? Because I think that's one of the weaknesses that I had, especially when I started off actually leading the sons and daughters of this nation. I would always get to a point of where I had a negative attitude if something didn't necessarily go the right way, because I was fighting the plan versus fighting the environment, if that makes sense. And as I've matured over the years, I've really reflected on some of the hardships that I've had to go through and lead through and I've learned that it's really not that bad the current situation that we find ourselves in. You have to really go back and reflect on what were some of the worst experiences in your life and what you're going through right now.
Speaker 3:How does that compare? And I always use my I have like a strength statement that I use in my life when I get to those kind of down times and it's every day is a gift. I'm not going to waste mine because that re-centers me and it's every day is a gift. I'm not going to waste mine because that recenters me and it helps me show up authentically. And I love how you lead that same way with really just being authentic and being positive, because a negative attitude is a cancer and if you share that, that culture within your organization will just erode and it will crumble.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and, and especially with our tasting rooms that are that are public facing man, if I, if someone's in there is having a good day and I go in there with a negative attitude, then all of a sudden they're like, well shit, ryan's having a bad day, I can have a bad day. And then that equates to some of our guests coming in that are again, they're on vacation half the time and they're just having fun, and so, and if they're, they see the guy behind the counter having a bad day, then they're probably not going to sit around and hang out with us, right? And so I think it all all equates to back to your good leadership, right? And and this too shall pass- I love that man.
Speaker 3:You said it a couple of times of giving back. Could you walk me through some of the ways or nonprofits that you've supported, specifically because I know they're better than nonprofits. Give them a shout out deal that helps service members transition from the military into manufacturer engineering, because that's a weakness I think that our country needs to build upon, and what better way of doing it? And Bill, the founder of this. He started it because his brother transitioned out of the Marine Corps and ended up committing suicide, so he had this burning desire to create a nonprofit. So that's always been close to my heart and I love how you said that you you give back to those types of communities and support them. Could you walk me through that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, absolutely. Before I touch on that, and we, before we get to off of the previous topic, it's something that I share with our whole team is, and at this point we have about half veterans and half civilians on our team, a couple of mountain vets in particular as well. We have a Marine on board, we have an Air Force guy on board and. But I was and we've certainly met thousands of soldiers and a lot of combat vets. At this point too, and and I tell my whole team, I'm like, hey, if we're having a bad day, it doesn't equate to some of the bad days that some of our friends have had overseas in combat. I mean some of them. We we've heard all the stories, uh, and recognize and, and so I'm like, if we're having a bad day, guys just check yourself and think back to x, y I mean I can start naming names here and a lot of guys you probably recognize but, um, that we've become friends with. But they just check yourself right and you know your day's not as bad as probably what you think, what you're feeling right now, and just recognize that the soldiers that are out there, a lot of them, have had a hell of a lot worse days than we're ever going to have, so make sure you keep that in the back of your mind.
Speaker 1:So some of the nonprofits that we like to support, I always like to start with ones here in our backyard. The Vail Veteran Program takes wounded vets from around the country, reintroduces them to an active outdoor lifestyle, give them whatever kind of physical challenges they have sustained in the war. They do a lot of training mentally as well, do a lot of work with their significant others and caregivers and their families. So the Vail Veterans Program we love to support. One, it's in our backyard, it's certainly easy for us to support them. But two they are their game changer. In the wintertime it's skiing and snowboarding, in the summertime it's hiking, it's mountain biking, it's fly fishing, it's golfing, and so they bring in about 20 vets at a time for their programs and do a handful of different programs throughout the year. And they also recognize the impact that a soldier's injury has on their immediate family and their circle, and so they bring in their families as well and try to help and support them too, which I think is very honorable of them to do so and recognize that One of our guys, our director of distribution is a retired Marine combat injured.
Speaker 1:He sits on the board of a company called Base Camp or nonprofit called Base Camp 40, just about two hours west of us. That's how he and I originally met, because we supported Base Camp 40, which is a hunting fishing organization and take veterans hunting and fishing around the world and so, yeah, absolutely Obviously, a lot of good hunting here and a lot of their programs are here in Colorado, but they've also they've gone to Africa and they've gone safaris and all over the US. So that's a fun organization and something that's obviously close to us because Brian sits on the board of that and works works directly with us as well. So that's a great shout out. Do a lot of work with the Colorado Veterans Project and the Colorado Veterans Project on a statewide level Holds different events throughout the year and then and raises money that way, and then we'll spread that money around those finances around a different military non-profits that they have vetted and they know are doing a good job and doing it the right way, and so that's kind of an umbrella organization here in the state but then through supporting them they're able to support a number of different organizations. Give a shout out and we don't just stay specifically to Army although obviously we're named in honor of an Army division but we work.
Speaker 1:So I'd like to give a shout out with the C4 Foundation out of San Diego. They work specifically with Navy SEALs. They have a 560 acre ranch just to the east of San Diego for a retreat for the SEALs Again, to bring their families together, let the SEALs decompress after deployment, and then also have a number of programs that work on the mental aspect of things too. So Ultimate Sacrifice Foundation up in the northeast certainly the 10th Foundation, the 10th Descendants Program, is near and dear to our hearts, and so, man, I'm certainly leaving out a lot that we've worked with. Heroes and Horses up in Montana takes veterans and wild Mustangs and in essence break each other over a 42-day period. And I've had some friends go through that program on both the instructor side and the participant side, and both said it's game-changers for them, which is a pretty cool deal. Let's see the Medal of.
Speaker 1:Honor Library, although out in Arlington they did a big remodel last year and we did a barrel pick with them and raised 10 grand to help support their efforts to remodel the Medal of Honor Library at the Army Navy Country Club. The Shepherds Men Foundation out of Atlanta, georgia, ptsd TBI organization. Also the SHARE Initiative they work hand in hand there out of Atlanta and we've done I think it's three barrel picks with the Shepherds Men so far and just a great organization. Some 10th Mountain Vets have gone through that program. So the Hogan Foundation out of Nebraska, which is more of a cowboy type organization, but he had lost his son in the war as well and so it was a father that started that, a Marine that started that. So just a couple of names off the top of my head. I'm sure we'll get off this call and be pissed at myself for not naming a couple of others.
Speaker 3:You're a mommy of a buddy of mine, david Varnum. He supports nonprofits and I had him on the show and he just started spouting off all these companies that he helped support. To me that's inspiring. People like you that just want to give back, and not from a selfish but a selfless position, and you said just a couple. That was about five minutes of going through organizations. That's awesome, man. I wish I had more time to give back. I just don't with the current job that I have and I know I will one day. But people like you, that's inspiring man.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks, I appreciate that, and that's a big reason we want to grow as well. The bigger we grow, the more we can support these organizations, and there's so many organizations that and they're all doing some amazing things, right, man, I wish we had a million bucks for every organization out there that is supporting our vets, because I think a lot of people recognize the vets don't get the amount of support that they should once they retire out of the military, and so there's a lot of organizations that recognize this need and are filling this niche, and, man, I wish we had a million bucks for each one of them. That would fill my heart a little bit more so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and one of the reasons this is so important to me because I always go back to this simple math equation. This is a SWAG. You've probably been around enough military people that you've heard that acronym before SWAG. So during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, in total 6,000 to 8,000 casualties in that conflict. But if you take that same time period and you just look at the number of soldiers that committed suicide just take the variable of 22, which is probably not accurate because those are the ones that were actually identified and there's always more that's over 160,000 people. That is insane to me, that 1% of this population who chooses to serve that. The number is so high.
Speaker 3:I think active military forces is between four to 500,000 soldiers at any given time.
Speaker 3:I mean it's public, it's unclassified, that's absolutely mind blowing to me. Is that people and I think what it is is that when people transition out of the military, they lose that sense of purpose and passion that they have because you're around people who are amazing, individuals who get up, who want to be part of a team, who are there for you when you need to be I call them like accountability trees or, you know, a ranger buddy and when you go into the civilian world you kind of miss that feeling, but you also are on your own for the first time. And that's why these nonprofit organizations are so critical, because even if you can save one life, that's one life that you've saved and that one individual may be inspired to go make a difference. Like Bill with Unturning Steel. He's an army veteran, active military, but unfortunately his brother made that transition and he committed suicide. But now he's on the mission and the number of lives he'll impact, that's what we need. We need that Moore's principle of other people like you making that impact.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and thank you, and it's certainly important to myself as well, and being in a unique position with the distillery and with the tasting room, the base of the resort, we have a tasting room in at our distillery as well. Our distillery is 30 minutes west of Vail proper, but just Memorial Day is right around the corner and we'll do a missing man table Memorial Day and a lot of civilians will walk in be like what's, what's going on with that table? Why do you have that there? And we have the sign out that explains all the symbolism that's going on there. And then then a lot of people get choked up and like wow, okay, and it hits them in a different way. Certainly the civilians do. They don't recognize, they may have never paused and stopped and thought about it, but then they walk in and see what's going on there, especially on such a significant day, and it really makes them think twice and kind of reconsider the life, the free life that they're living.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it really makes them think twice and kind of reconsider the life, the free life that they're living. So yeah, memorial Day is always a somber day for me because you know we've all lost people. I've been in military long enough now but I always remember. One of my first experiences is a really a leader. I was getting ready to take over my platoon in Afghanistan and I met my platoon at one of my soldiers' memorials in Afghanistan. That moment just sticks with me because I always say that I used to be selfish before that time and then just a light switch changed inside of me. Is that service and the freedoms that we have? As arrogant as some Americans are about that, it's not free, it really isn't. There are so many men and women actively right now, great patriots, that are sacrificing time away from their families, putting themselves in harm's way, and it never stops, because there's always wolves and there's always sheep, unfortunately, because that's human nature.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, exactly. And so we'll get a lot of civilians that come through the tasting rooms and we'll sit down and maybe haven't even heard of the 10th Mountain or what's going on, and start looking around and start seeing some of the military memorabilia that we have in our tasting rooms on display and then really start thinking about what's going on and you can see when it clicks for them that this is, this is important, and I should probably think about this a little bit more than I do, actually, uh, with what's going on with our military. So it's uh, we're in a fortunate position to be able to share the importance of that aspect.
Speaker 3:So Well, let's kind of go to where you want to go, like the future aspirations of Tenth Mountain Whiskey and Spirit Company. Where do you want to take this? I know you're trying to grow. What's the five to 10 year vision?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to be. A household name is where I'm going, and I want to grow it in order to again support these great organizations that are out there. The majority of them, most of the time, need a little bit more money to get to where they want to go. Most of the time, need a little bit more money to get to where they want to go, and so I see I would like to be a household name on the spirit shelf, want to grow the knowledge that civilians have about the 10th Mountain and the importance of supporting our military, much like we just talked about, and so I'm having a good time doing it. Again, it challenges me on all kinds of different levels, and so we're just going to see how big we can take this thing and see where it goes, and hopefully people enjoy drinking our spirits and then recognize the importance of supporting the military too.
Speaker 3:So towards the end of this episode, really, one more question that I want to ask you. I have now made it successfully through my entire old fashioned. I'm feeling good. What is your best advice that you could give someone who's just getting ready to start out on their leadership journey?
Speaker 1:You know, I would say follow your gut, but maybe not everybody's gut is the right feeling necessarily, but follow your passion, follow where your heart takes you and have patience doing it. It's most overnight success stories started years before, and so I think, being passionate about where you're going, but having the patience to get there and doesn't mean don't work hard. You can't just sit on your couch and play video games and be like I'm being patient. You still have to get up and work your ass off, but still have patience because you'll get there. But not every day is going to be sunshines and roses.
Speaker 1:Most, a lot of leadership and certainly a lot of entrepreneurship is taking the punches and then on occasion, you'll walk by a rose and you'll be able to stop and smell it. Like us, you know we do a lot of events and people see us out and enjoying a whiskey and chatting with different people. Like hell, that's all you guys do, right, and sit around and drink your whiskey. I'm like this is like maybe less than 5% of it, man, maybe like 1% of the time we're doing this. They don't see the behind the scenes. So just know that it's going to take a lot. Be patient with where you want to go.
Speaker 1:And again, if you're going to be a leader, try to recognize that. If you just went through a little heated moment or passionate moment that you're going to talk to somebody else and just check yourself and try for the next interaction to be a little bit better. And so I'm a lifelong learner. I'm always trying to learn. I've got a stack of books I'm still trying to get to. I still try to read every day and listen to podcasts and watch different documentaries and stuff. So I'm a lifelong learner. Anyways, that's always been in me and I think that's incredibly important if it's on the topic of leadership or entrepreneurship or marketing or whatever you're interested in, you're passionate about. So I think those are a couple of tidbits, certainly, that I try to stay conscious of.
Speaker 3:I love that brother. So the last question how can our listeners find you and how can they add value to your mission?
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, absolutely. So you can find us across all socials at 10th MTN Whiskey, that's 1-0-T-H-M-T-N, then whiskey with an E, and our website is 10thwhiskeycom. And follow us on socials, share what we're doing. A lot of people are like, hey, man, I don't drink, but I love what you guys have going on, which is great support. Anyways, we recognize the fact that our product is not for everybody, but hopefully what we stand for and what we support certainly resonates with most. And certainly if you probably have a friend that you're buying a gift for on occasion that enjoys a glass of whiskey, keep us in mind when that comes and certainly if you're ever in our area, stop by and say hello. We just enjoy people coming in and having a conversation. If they want to sit down with a cocktail, great, or buy a bottle, great. But stop in and say hello and show a little appreciation for our military and see what kind of conversations you can get into.
Speaker 3:Ryan, this has been an amazing experience. Thank you so much for taking time and being a guest on Tell's Leadership and just sharing your experience and your wisdom.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thank you for having me, man. It's been awesome, and I love what you guys have going on too, so appreciate you.
Speaker 3:Have a great night.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 3:All right, team. It's time for our after action review. Great episode. So what are the top three takeaways that I pulled from Ryan? Number one is just an internal confidence. He has been a lifelong entrepreneur and running and filming over a hundred episodes.
Speaker 3:Now I've learned that entrepreneurs really share one common thread and that is a burning desire. So let's kind of quickly define what that is. Burning desire is really when you refuse to fail and think of it from this standpoint. So I'm in the military, so I'm going to put a military spin on it. An air assault is a perfect definition, or jumping out of an airplane is a perfect definition of a burning desire, because there is literally no retreat. When the aircraft lifts off or you jump out of it, there is only one way that's forward. You cannot retreat. If you do retreat, that means death. Essentially, you have to be all in. You have to be able to go through at whatever obstacles that you're going to encounter and ultimately achieve the objective, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 3:Number two I pulled from is just a level of integrity. To be a successful business owner, specifically owning a restaurant and then being an entrepreneur within the Whiskey and the Spirits company, you make a lot of connections with other people, and I think one of the deepest level of connections that you can build is really through trust. And where does trust come from? To me, trust is all about integrity, and I define integrity a very simple way is don't lie, don't cheat and don't steal. It's a red line for me. Integrity is one of my core values that I possess, and I call it RID respect, integrity and discipline. Respect is really the bedrock. It's the foundation of who I am as an individual.
Speaker 3:And the final one is negative attitudes. Ryan kind of talks about this and he is such a positive guy I can just get that through the interactions that I had with him. But as a leader, you cannot have a negative attitude, because if you have a negative attitude, then that will go through the culture of your organization Team. If you've gotten any value from today's episode, do me a favor share this podcast with everyone, because everyone is a leader. Number two make sure you rate this podcast. Write a review If you can. You can find it on any major podcast platform that you can listen to podcast episodes and then go to mcmillianleadershipcoachingcom podcast episodes and then go to mcmillianleadershipcoachingcom. We have tons of additional leadership resources that are a hundred percent free to you and, as always, I'm your host, josh McMillian, saying every day is a gift. Don't waste yours. I'll see you next time.
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