Building Successful Spirits Brands With David Mandell of Kentucky Owl

Legends Behind the Craft

David Mandell is the President of Kentucky Owl, the Co-founder of The Bardstown Bourbon Company, and the creator of the first premium caffeinated vodka. He has spent the last two decades in the spirits industry and is known as an innovative and transformational leader.

Before entering the beverage space, David was an attorney at Blank Rome. He’s also the former Chief of Staff of the Federal Aviation Administration and was Counsel to the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

In this episode with David Mandell

Some entrepreneurs want to enter the beverage alcohol business because they think it’s a “cool” or “sexy” business. On the contrary, it is actually an extremely competitive and tough industry to be in. So how do you enter the spirits industry and launch a successful brand?

Building an emotional connection with your target market is essential. Creating an experience instead of simply offering your product is how you will stand out among thousands of existing brands. This experience will foster a connection that drives consumers to embrace your product, tell other people about it, and buy it again.

In today’s episode of Legends Behind the Craft, Drew Thomas Hendricks welcomes David Mandell, President of Kentucky Owl, to talk about building successful brands in the spirits industry. David shares how he was able to create unique experiences for consumers throughout the years and how these experiences resulted in strong emotional connections and brand loyalty.