Traverse City Whiskey Co.

Frederickson is one of three founders, which also includes friends Jared Rapp and Moti Goldring. Frederickson described how the company got its start “over several whiskeys...” a concept most reading this can probably relate to. He went on to say “...one night we talked about [...] our passion, which was, and is, bourbon. And we were all kind of unhappy in our corporate jobs. I was a management consultant and they were both practicing attorneys, and we thought at the time we were onto something special. But really what we were looking for is a distraction to chase a passion.”

That conversation ultimately led to the formation of the company, along with a 20 bourbon barrel purchase from MGP, a large supplier of whiskey. While this may not seem like a lot, aged bourbon barrels can easily run $5,000 or more it also wasn’t a small undertaking. Moreover, this took place in 2011, which in terms of how much the demand for bourbon has grown since then it was a much different time. Highly sought after releases like Pappy Van Winkle were relatively easy to find by today’s standards, and craft distilling was just getting its start.

“We sold our first bottle to a store called Dockside Party Store. We sold our first bottle on July 7th of 2012, and by the end of 2012, the market had kind of told us that we were onto something and those 20 barrels didn't look so big anymore. So we bought 20 more and this fueled the introduction of our company in the market,” according to Frederickson.

Each MGP barrel purchase moved faster than the last. By the end of 2013 the three founders quit their full time jobs. They purchased the first building, which is now the stillhouse and began construction. They put a down payment on the equipment, which included a 400 gallon Kothe still manufactured in Germany.