How Two Sneaker Moguls Are Bringing Drop Culture to the Whiskey World
If you've ever longed for a pair of hyped Jordans or pretty much anything from Supreme, you know the drill by now. But let's run through it, just in case. First, you hear about an upcoming, limited-edition release. Maybe it’s a leak, maybe a tease directly from the brand, but either way, your interest is piqued. Then, you wait. The anticipation builds until, finally, there it is: the drop. Folks flood in, vying for a shot. They’ve been waiting and anticipating, too, after all. The entire model—buy now, because it's not going to be here for long—is designed to get you excited. If you’re lucky, you get your hands on it.
Thing is, the “it” in this situation is usually a sneaker, or some piece of streetwear. Maybe it’s a toy, or a print, or a bag. But it’s not whiskey. For that, you stick to the liquor store. Sure, you might get a heads up from a friendly merchant that a much-loved bottle will be back to on shelves, or an email from a distillery letting you know that a special version of their juice is coming out. But a full-blown drop? A limited-time-only release with just a handful (or fewer) points of distribution, scarce enough that you might miss it, even if you want it? That's a sneaker thing. A fashion thing.
Well, now it's a whiskey thing, too. And, perhaps not entirely surprisingly, that’s thanks to a couple of guys from the sneaker and fashion worlds: Jon Buscemi, who, among other things, launched his own luxury shoe brand Buscemi, and James Bond, the man behind legendary sneaker store Undefeated. The two came together with a few other partners and launched Wolves whiskey earlier this year, and they've already established an MO: left-of-center whiskey, sold only online through the Wolves site and the brand's sole retail partner, Flaviar, that isn't meant to sit in a warehouse or on a store shelf.
The brand’s First Run—a spicy, hoppy blend of three whiskies, one distilled from stout, one from pilsner, plus a rye—was a hit, selling out entirely. And now, Wolves is back for round two with a Winter Run, which keeps the core of the First Run and adds nine-year-old single malt to the mix for some extra richness and complexity (all the better for the colder months).
“I’m a little bit older in the game, and I remember drops 18 or 19 years ago, in the early 2000s, when drops weren’t a thing,” Buscemi says. “Now, they’re such a thing: the collaborations, the hyper-strike availability, et cetera. I just think it’s cool that we live in that world, and that world has worked for us in other categories like sneakers and fashion. So to be able to run that offense in the whiskey world, and for it to work, is really refreshing.”
Winter Run just went live, and it’s already moving units. That’s significant, not just because it shows that a drop works for whiskey, but because there are only 1,338 bottles available in total. The size of the batches—the First Run yield was only 898 bottles—is another reason Buscemi and Bond opted for the drop model.
“It’s not so much by design,” Buscemi explains. “It was more that we only could make 1,338 bottles. There’s a reality to it. And using that reality to our advantage is kind of the key. I think it works for people, and it really is something special. Even if this world didn’t exist, we’d still have to drop it this way anyways. It just happens to fit into what we do.”
In all likelihood, Winter Run won’t be around for long. If you ask me, you should seriously consider investing in a bottle or two. It’s a genuinely interesting whiskey, with a little funkiness, a little bite, and a nice long finish. It really does drink easy on a colder day, although I wouldn’t say no to it come summer, either. But if you don’t decide to go for it right now—crazy, but okay—there’s already something new on the horizon.
Jeremy Joseph, who co-founded Buscemi and now serves as CEO of Wolves, let Esquire in on a little secret. “We have a plan for a third release. I don’t want to get too deep into it yet,” he says, before letting slip that it’ll be dropping in “a foreign country in Asia,” one that “American consumers love to import whiskey from, among other products. And we’re going to be doing it in collaboration with a very well-known streetwear brand in that country.” Here’s the good news if you don’t feel like a 14-hour flight: There will also be a few bottles available through the Wolves site for folks from the States.
Like I said, you know the drill. First, you hear about that next release. Then, you just have to wait for the drop.
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