BRC S2 E15 - Bourbon With Heart: Showcasing Kentucky's Rich Culture Through Bourbon-inspired Art

The below transcript is autogenerated.

00:00:06
Good afternoon, to whatever time it is, you are catching the program today. Today on the show, I have Morgan hancock, who has a bourbon with a heart, which we will talk about in a moment. But before we do, we're going to talk to her about her whiskey journey and how from a wee little lass born in Kentucky, she became, you know, this wonderful entrepreneur and doing things with bourbon with a heart. So welcome, Morgan. Hi.

00:00:27
Thank you. Hi. So my whiskey journey and you know what? It's hard to say whiskey. You're in Kentucky.

00:00:37
It's just that's a hard habit to get into. So is it okay if I say bourbon? You can say bourbon. Okay. It just comes a lot more naturally.

00:00:45
So my bourbon journey started by being born in Kentucky, because everyone that's born in Kentucky is part of the bourbon story. It's part of our culture, our economy. It's just who we are. But then addition to that, I have for a long time worked in media and advertising. And in Kentucky, your biggest clients are going to be bourbon brands.

00:01:12
One of your biggest clients will be bourbon brands. So I became well connected through that. And then my fiance and I have a fire protection company, and we handle the fire protection for most all of the distilleries in Kentucky. And so that was just another layer of networking with the bourbon industry. And I grew up as an only child, so I got bored easily, so had to kind of be extra creative.

00:01:40
And that led me to art. And I've always been an artsy type and creative type, and one day it just made sense to blend the two of bourbon and art. Fantastic. So tell me more about bourbon with heart. With a heart.

00:01:59
There goes my voice again. Morning voice. So go ahead and tell me a little bit more about bourbon with heart. And how did you start that and what is the purpose of it and what is the goal for it and all that good stuff. So bourbon with heart is, we used to say, kentucky's only art bourbon charity, but we've since discovered it's the only one in the world.

00:02:23
So we can now say the world's only, first and only art bourbon charity. And what that means is we do mainly art exhibits and art initiatives to raise funds, and we raise funds for not just the artists and to bring awareness to the arts of Kentucky and provide platforms and access for artists in Kentucky. But we also raise funds for other local nonprofits. And those aren't necessarily arts related nonprofits. Those are all across the board.

00:03:00
In 2023 alone, it's only august. Just turned August, we've raised over 80,000. Wow. And with no sign of that slowing down, and we've been able to give back to over a dozen other nonprofits and serve pushing over 100 Kentucky artists right now. We'll talk about our most recent exhibit soon, but from ages 18 to 102, we have 102 year old artist in our upcoming exhibit.

00:03:36
Wow. And is that 102 year old artist been an artist for like 90 years or was this a new once we hit 100, let's try something new. Why not? I mean, I'm all for that, but she's been an artist her whole life. Her name is Hazel and she was actually a pianist and painter and she now has Alzheimer's, but has not forgotten how to paint, how to play music or how to paint.

00:04:06
Oh, that's great. That's fantastic. Yeah. Okay, so tell me how the idea to do this started. And from the idea sparking and to when you actually started doing this, how long did that take and what did it take to get this whole thing going?

00:04:26
I have to think about how to answer that question because in a sense, it's taken years to lead up to it. But then in another sense, the second that this particular idea came in my mind, it was fast. So I would say it's taken a long time in terms of building up the contacts and the network and everything I would need to make this successful because that's not something you could just do overnight. However, the specific idea that launched bourbon with heart really was kind of an overnight thing. So I was walking down the street of downtown Louisville and saw a trash can and it was just gross and ugly.

00:05:17
And I was like, if we're going to have trash cans, why can't they at least be aesthetically pleasing? That's a valid question. And I thought this should be some type of art or at least painted because cities will have different initiatives. Like this. New York has like the painted apples, and I think one place, Cincinnati, or someone has these painted pigs all over.

00:05:44
And we actually have painted horses in Kentucky. It's called Galapalooza. Oh, that's they're, they're but they're huge fiberglass horses that are painted. And so I was know, what could we do with this trash can? And then I thought, well, maybe it could just be like a bourbon barrel.

00:06:02
They're kind of shaped the same and that would make sense for our city. And then I just thought, oh, it should be a painted bourbon barrel. And I thought about calling it barrel palooza, similar to our painted horses. And I was like literally walking into this event and as soon as I sit down, I like, google, have we done any painted bourbon barrels in Kentucky and Louisville? And I was super shocked.

00:06:29
I could not find anything of anyone doing it. And I thought, oh, that's crazy. I mean, this is Kentucky and we're not doing anything. We have a very rich and vibrant arts culture here. People don't really know us for that, but we do.

00:06:45
And so it was really shocked that we had never combined kind of our leading industry of bourbon with our arts culture, and something like this just has to happen. And it moved incredibly quick from there.

00:07:03
I kind of have this unreasonable phobia, like when I get a good idea that all of a sudden everyone's going to want to do the same idea even though they haven't the same thing, right? Which is like they haven't done it all this time, but now suddenly I feel like it's a race.

00:07:22
So I was just immediately thinking of vendi well backtrack. I found out pretty quickly we can't replace the trash cans for logistical reasons with how they have to empty them. But I thought, well, we got to do bourbon barrel art. Something we need painted bourbon barrels here. So I approached it's called frasier history museum.

00:07:45
It's actually the official starting point of the Kentucky bourbon trail. Oh, nice. And it's a museum, so it made perfect sense. If we're going to put bourbon painted bourbon barrels on display, we can do it here. So at this point, I approached them and I really had nothing.

00:08:03
I mean, I threw together like a middle school PowerPoint presentation. I had nothing to show for this. It was all an idea. And thankfully they granted me a meeting with the CEO, sat down and told them the idea, and they were like, we love it, let's go. We'll host it here and we want to open it in a few months.

00:08:27
And I'm like, I don't have a single barrel, I don't have a single artist, I don't have any funds. I don't know where I'm going to pay for this. Right? So I leave the meeting and I'm so excited because I'm like, we got an exhibit. Like, we're going to do this bourbon barrel art exhibit.

00:08:45
And then as soon as I get home, I'm like, oh, crap, now I really have to do this. And I will say, I don't know if I would recommend starting a business that way. But on the other hand, it was fantastic because I was forced to get this thing off the ground, whereas I could have maybe procrastinated or waited till more things were in line or that I had more things prepared, but I couldn't. So I just was forced to get this up and running. And we did it, and it was a huge success.

00:09:23
And now we're on our fifth exhibit. Oh, wow. And we just got a new partnership with the kentucky bourbon festival. And every day is just a new partnership, new opportunity, and it's been wild, but I hope that answers your question. Yeah.

00:09:44
So how many painted barrels have you had participate or been created during this process? So that was our first exhibit, and that was 20 painted bourbon barrels that were on display. We could have had a lot more. It was just a space issue. Barrels aren't very big.

00:10:08
They don't take up a lot of space. Oh. So that was another thing. I mentioned that I didn't have any barrels, and I was familiar with bourbon barrels, but not I can't say that I had hauled a lot of them physically up to this point. They're pretty heavy.

00:10:27
Yeah. And I'm in a time crunch when I first get the approval for this first exhibit. So I literally just go on facebook marketplace and found somebody selling 20 bourbon barrels and got them delivered. Did an artist call? Got the artist.

00:10:45
Well, we pick our artist, and the first one I go to I go to take the bourbon barrel. And I didn't think of this stuff either. They're on the second floor apartment building with no elevator, and this barrel is, like, 140 pounds. It's an awkward shape. And so I'm like, oh, no.

00:11:10
How am I going to get this? I mean, we were creating, like, pulley systems. We came up with anything and everything to get this done.

00:11:18
Now I feel like I could be in some type of contest or something for well, at the Kentucky bourbon festival, they do have a barrel hauling contest. Huge, like beefy men. And I'm like, I feel like I could compete at this point. You're like, you didn't bring your pulley. You should bring your pulley.

00:11:37
Yes. I may not have the brawn, but I had the brains to figure out how to get these like, I've created all kinds of systems for getting these in and out. I figured out how I can fit two in my little car. Two barrels. That's great.

00:11:52
Yeah. So we did the 20 for the first exhibit. Now, our other exhibits, they're not all just barrels. So for the second exhibit for derby, derby time is huge here in Kentucky, obviously. And so for our second exhibit, I had connected with the group I'm a military veteran.

00:12:14
I'd connected with a group of military vets cruise custom. They make all kinds of products out of bourbon barrels, and they had found that woodworking really helped their PTSD, and their preferred wood is bourbon barrel wood. And so I had connected with them, and they wanted to collaborate on something. And so derby presented a great opportunity. We wanted to think of some creative exhibit we could do that brought them in and incorporated bourbon barrels.

00:12:45
And so we made 50 bourbon barrel bow ties. So these were actually bow ties made out of bourbon barrels. And so these military veterans cruise customs, carved them out of bourbon barrel, and then they went on to local artists who then hand painted them and decorated them. And that was on display all through derby. Sorry.

00:13:10
Hold on. Somebody's at the door. Oh, ups food. Okay, hold on a second. Let me tell him.

00:13:15
That's nice. Hi. Can you just dump it over? Can you just pop it over the fence? Yep.

00:13:23
Thank you.

00:13:26
Okay, don't let me forget that's my dog's food refrigeration food. I need to go back and get okay, sorry. Go ahead. Oh, you're fine. So the second exhibit was bourbon barrel bow ties.

00:13:39
Fantastic. Did they paint them and everything, too, or they just carved them? Yes. So they were all 50 were different, and that was on display all through Kentucky Derby. And that raised funds.

00:13:53
Each one of these raises funds for other nonprofits, as I had mentioned earlier. And then we have something here also called Derby Diversity Week.

00:14:07
So we partnered with Derby Diversity Week, and we have a big block party downtown called Bourbon Brims and Bow Ties. And so we got some of our artists on stage for all the musical performances, and they did live painting with the theme of Bourbon Brims Bow Ties. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Now, our most current exhibit is 50 Bourbon Barrel Heads, hand painted by artists over the age 50.

00:14:42
Oh, cute. And it's called Seasoned Spirits, and it's kind of a play on bourbon. Gets better with age, and so do we. So we're celebrating the more seasoned artist. We've replaced the word old with seasoned.

00:14:56
That's good. That's good. So this was in what year did you say you started? Last year. Wow.

00:15:03
So all of this has been in one year. Fantastic. Yeah, it's crazy. I feel like we've done more than people would be happy to do in a decade. And like I said, no sign of stopping at all.

00:15:21
That's fantastic. $80,000 in your first year, and the. Year is not even yeah, that's this year. Yeah, August. And then how much did you do last year before the last quarter, I guess, of the year?

00:15:34
The last quarter of thing around 30. So that was before we knew how fast we were going to grow, and we weren't as keeping track of everything. And we go, oh, crap, we got to get our bookkeepers. We weren't expecting to grow like that. Wow.

00:15:52
Yeah. That's crazy. So have you had all the exhibits at the museum, or have you had them at various different places? Like at the Derby, did you have it actually at Churchill Downs? We have them all different places.

00:16:07
The derby was it's called the Gault House? It's the official hotel of the Kentucky Derby. It's just an iconic hotel in Louisville, and it's got all kinds of bourbon bars. And if you ever come to of, it's a big attraction. So we had it there, and it's always sold out for Derby.

00:16:31
Well, Derby is like a two month thing, so it's where everybody else it's. A two minute thing on TV. Right? Well, so you say you turn a two minute race into a two month party, sort of like how they do Mardi Gras. We do that for Derby.

00:16:47
That's great. But yeah. So we're actually talking with Kentucky Derby Museum and a few other places at this point. Now, everyone wants to host an exhibit. Because we bring any of the distilleries said, hey, yeah, do it here.

00:17:04
Well, you can do it here where they have their tours and stuff. Yes. The issue with that is we don't want to exclude other distilleries. Right. So far, we've wanted to keep it open to all the distilleries to be able to participate.

00:17:21
We're totally open to some idea at a distillery, but it just hasn't made sense to exclude all the others at this point. Maybe you take it on the trail and then you do like, a couple of days at this one, a couple of days at this one, and then I don't know, that might be kind of fun. That's a great idea because we had thought about doing an exhibit that had a passport similar to the Bourbon Trail. And to see all the art pieces, you would have to visit X amount of places. And from a business standpoint, because we can have all the good ideas in the world, but they've got to make money somehow.

00:17:58
And so from a business standpoint, that also could be good because each stop would be a sponsor. I mean, you would have to kind of pay to be part of the trail. Right. And I will say I have filed and now own everything for the distillery of art

00:18:43
So what is your five year plan?

00:18:58
Because it sounds like your one year plan exploded, like, way bigger than you anticipated. Yeah. So some of the things we just launched a magazine that will launch on September 1 called Arts and Spirits magazine, which is currently kind of focused on stories of our artists and things going on in Kentucky. But the way that I've branded it certainly doesn't limit it to staying in Kentucky. Arts and Spirits magazine, to me, should be in the airports, right.

00:19:35
Upside Cigar Aficionados, and any of the kind of other higher end niche magazines like that. And so that will launch September 1. And we just released the COVID for that, and I'm excited about it. One of our artists from Season Spirits on his barrel ahead, he did the famous Michelangelo painting with The Creation of Adam. So they got candy, but they are toasting.

00:20:13
Nice. And believe it or not, no one had done that concept before. And I'm like, I'm always amazed at some of the things that seem so obvious that haven't been done before. And so we're calling it the First Toast. Oh, I like that.

00:20:27
Our first magazine. And so his art is the COVID of it. I don't know if you'll be able to link anything. But it's awesome cover. If you could send me photos of everything we've been talking about, I would love to put broll over this so that people can see since this is a video podcast yes.

00:20:45
And I mean, this is all it's art, so they need to see it. Right, exactly. Visual. So that's our first magazine cover. It's going to be a physical magazine.

00:20:56
It's not going to be one of these online magazines. Oh, I love that. Everyone's like, oh, I'm doing a magazine. You can get it at www. I'm like, no, I want a magazine.

00:21:04
I want to smell it. I want to feel it. I want to see it. Yes. So that's great.

00:21:07
Exactly. And that was another area we're working in. Advertising helped because I had been with the magazine for the past five years. So kind of having the writers, the designers, everyone in place to get that going, maybe quicker than if you were fully starting from scratch on all that. So arts and spirits magazine.

00:21:31
Hopefully you guys will one day see that around the will. So you're publishing it. Is it going to be in Kentucky only for the first publication, or can people subscribe to it? Well, the first publication will be in Kentucky only, and we will have an option where you can subscribe and it would be mailed to you. But this first one is just really Kentucky.

00:21:55
But as I said, when we're looking long term, we've branded it in such a way that it doesn't have to stay in Kentucky. So eventually we'll be all over. And then, as I was saying, the distillery of art. So as an actual brick and mortar location, hopefully on whiskey row downtown. Nice place.

00:22:18
Yes, and it would be a place for tourists and locals alike to come and shop all of our bourbon art. And we'd have different galleries, but I'd also foresee live music and. The whole experience. Yeah, because if you see our we want to venture beyond. We're not just doing the fine arts.

00:22:42
We've got bourbon and ballet coming up. Bourbon and Beethoven. And I don't know if you can see us, the theater. We have ideas for bourbon and Broadway. Oh, nice.

00:22:51
Right? So we should be in New York. Bourbon is becoming popular all over the world.

00:23:00
Do you guys do anything with rye? Because I know you got a lot of rye there in Kentucky, too. Or is it just 100% bourbon? Oh, no, I consider them in the same family. The American spirits.

00:23:13
Yes. Actually, I prefer my old fashions with rye. Okay. Yeah, no, rye is welcome to our family. And in fact, we've had some organizations come with our exhibits and work with us that are creating the mocktails.

00:23:33
Oh, nice. And the non alcoholic bourbon. Well, you know, Bartending is an art.

00:23:43
Wow, this is all very exciting stuff. So all of your proceeds go to all sorts of different charities. Like you don't have one specific. You share the wealth with everybody. Yeah, so we pick sometimes we'll have three or four beneficiaries, sometimes we'll have one.

00:24:07
And it's all across the see, we had everything from blanket Louisville, which is blankets for the homeless we have a pretty big homelessness problem in Louisville to a literacy program for kids. They're building a private school here in west Louisville. It'll be tuition free to the students, but it's a private school and that's in west Louisville. And if you're not familiar with Louisville, west Louisville is really known for crime, drugs, poverty. So it's hoping to kind of help break that cycle.

00:24:52
This current exhibit will benefit USA cares, which is assistance for military vets. So I don't know if you know this, but more veterans have died from suicide post 911 than died in the war. So this is really focused on that and the national Parkinson's institute. And one of our artists is actually the 2023 Parkinson's institute warrior of the year. Oh, great.

00:25:23
Which is cool and special because if you're an artist, especially fine art artist, and you get that diagnosis, that's pretty good. Your life up. My grandfather on my mom's side had Parkinson's and my father had Parkinson's, but my grandfather was a jeweler, so he literally had to retire early because he couldn't do it anymore. Well, then you totally understand. So he is pretty far along in his Parkinson's journey, and so it was a bit of a struggle.

00:26:02
But he made two awesome bourbon barrel heads, and they've actually already been claimed and sponsored by the Kentucky bourbon festival, which will be coming in September. That's great. Well, this has been fascinating, learning all about this stuff. I can't wait to read the magazine. I can't wait to get out to Louisville myself and see one of these beautiful galleries.

00:26:27
I'm going to call it displays. What do you call it? It's an exhibit. Exhibit. There we go.

00:26:33
That's the English carrie I am very excited to come out and see it. How often do you have exhibits? Do you have a specific cycle that you work on saying, okay, you guys have three months to do this, or is it just kind of I think. Our cycle is just nonstop. Every time we end one, we have another one.

00:26:57
We're going to be at the Kentucky bourbon festival with 25 hand painted staves that will be in the VIP areas of the bourbon festival. Then for we're, we're doing Christmas trees with custom ornaments that will be sponsored by bourbon brands that'll all be on display for Christmas on main street in Louisville. It's called lights on, kinds of we're constantly doing exhibits in our website, bourbonwith.org. We also always have a voting component to the exhibits, and so the public online can vote on their favorite design and the winning artists. We let them choose a nonprofit of their choice that we also donate to that's awesome.

00:27:47
Well, this sounds like a very great project, and I'm very happy that I was able to talk to you about it today. And I would love to keep following you guys and seeing all the beautiful art that comes in the years to come. All right, well, thank you. And don't forget your dog's food. Yes, thank you.

00:28:04
Thank you. Bye.