Edwin Wright was smoking a brisket when he was inspired to get that smoky flavor into some whiskey. The result was a surprising marriage of cherry wood smoke and small-batch whiskey that people couldn’t get enough of. Wright’s been a chef for nearly 20 years but the success of his whiskey is looming large in his future. Whiskey Wright is about to expand and All American Whiskey is honored to have caught Wright in that critical moment when a very small distillery gains momentum and grows. Wright is excited about the future, but also very tuned into the history preceding his success. “Being one of the few African American distillers–it’s something I don’t think about all the time,” said Wright. “but I do look back. When I do tastings and people talk about how their grandfathers were distillers and doing moonshine, it is something I’m cognizant of, that I’m trying to fulfill that legacy of people who didn’t have the opportunity to have a real distillery. It’s important to me to remember all the people who didn’t get recognition.”
What whiskey first made you say fuck yeah?
It was Scotch. Chivas Regal and Johnny Walker. I started drinking that before anything else. Then I ventured into the bourbons.
If you weren’t making whiskey, you’d probably be . . .
I’d probably be a pilot. I’ve always enjoyed flying. That’s what I originally wanted to do, but culinary school turned out to be the better option. I love the adventure and open feeling of freedom. I love being in the air.
What’s a fucked up way you drink whiskey you probably wouldn’t tell anyone if you weren’t filling out this questionnaire?
Sometimes I put it on ice. Back in the day, before I knew anything,I’d mix it with coke or sprite.
What song will get you onto the floor no matter what?
“Back that Ass Up,” by Juvenile.
Give a quote from a movie you obsess over:
“I feel the need, the need for speed” or “I am serious—and don’t call me surely.”
Besides making whiskey, what do you do right?
I cook. I’m a chef. Any barbeque, Ribs. Butt. Brisket. Hands down.
Sum up the essence of great whiskey with a single word.
Smoky.
Whiskey with an e or whiskey without an e?
With
What moment during your process strikes you as perfect?
When I’m distilling, I know it’s perfect when I can smell it after the fermentation and when I get that good smell. It smells like beer, but it’s not sour. It’s got that great smell right before you filter and start the distilling process.
List three whiskies you love that aren’t yours.
Name a whiskey you think our readers have never heard of.
The one that surprises people is ours. People say “Really? You have a distillery down in Waynesboro?”
What was your most embarrassing mistake making whiskey?
I was trying to be creative and do some filtering and I got these rocks that were originally for an aquarium. Then I got some other rocks from the ocean and I filtered the whiskey through there and you could taste the salt in the whiskey. We were trying to figure out where it came from and realized “Oh, right”
What’s a moment in your life that made you realize life is goddam beautiful?
There’s a moment when I was in the distillery one day. I was thinking about all the work we put in to get it started. Seeing our product out in the market after all tough times we had to go through . . . standing there and seeing it thrive. It was like wow, we got something going.
