A New Era of Bourbon

Marquez Knolls Resident Mike Montgomery Launches Blue Run Spirits

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

“Not in my wildest imagination would I have ever imagined launching a whiskey company.”

From a world of politics and public affairs, Palisadian Mike Montgomery said he had a lingering entrepreneurial itch that needed to be scratched. When the itch persisted, he eventually set out to pursue a boozy venture—alongside a Nike designer, one of Facebook’s first director-level employees, a hospitality executive and a philanthropist.

Together, they launched Blue Run Spirits.

“It started in 2018, just as an idea,” CEO and Co-Founder Montgomery shared with the Palisadian-Post. “My business partner and I are both bourbon fans and … were thinking long and hard on how to turn our passion into a business.”

Prior to launching a business, the Marquez Knolls resident was Gavin Newsom’s finance director and worked for a handful of companies as a consultant.

“I never really found that entrepreneurial path, it was always escaping me,” he shared.

He said the idea eventually dawned on him to rethink the look of bourbon, making it more modernized and approachable—“and that was the genesis for how this all happened.”

Thus, Blue Run Spirits was born, with a goal to reach a “broader and more diverse whiskey drinker.”

With the help of Master Distiller Jim Rutledge—who has five decades in the bourbon business under his belt—the team got some notes and began creating a product. As the company’s liquid advisor, Rutledge helps select the barrels, and oversees blending and proofing in Kentucky.

But as things were moving along, the team’s launch was stunted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were planning on launching pre-pandemic,” Montgomery said. “We had a whole playbook for what that would look like and how we would go about launching, and the pandemic blew it all up. It forced us to re-think the process, because people weren’t going to restaurants and hotels and bars any longer.

“We pushed a lot of our products online, whereas before we [could have sold] a large portion of our inventory to on-promise retailers, bars and restaurants. We completely nicked that, and moved to a direct-to-consumer model and retail only.”

Blue Run’s first release was a 13-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey in October 2020.

The company grabbed the public’s attention quickly with its unique approach: “sneakerizing the bourbon industry.”

Montgomery said this idea came to him on a Thursday morning, as he noticed people waiting for the latest Supreme drop outside of the Fairfax Avenue store. He questioned the lure, before realizing the magnetism of a limited product.

He called his friend Devon McKinney, senior creative director at Nike, who he knew would help take Blue Run to the next level with a captivating and modern design.

“I immediately thought that he could give us an elevated packaging vision, and he really has,” Montgomery said. “There needs to be something more that draws people in, there needs to be an elevated experience … It can be fresh, it can be cutting edge, it can be different, but still be tethered to the heritage of the industry through the liquid in the bottle.”

Each hand-numbered bottle features Blue Run’s signature butterfly, “which symbolizes the metamorphosis of the bourbon industry as it reaches a broader audience.” And each release is unique with a different colored butterfly logo, creating a buzz for bourbon drinkers who set out to collect each bottle.

“People are now trying to … catch the butterflies, as they say,” Montgomery said, “trying to find the ones they haven’t been able to get their hands on … Each release needs to feel special, each release needs to continue to up the ante.”

Since launching, Blue Run has released nine bourbons and rye whiskies. Two of which have been recognized in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition—one of the most prestigious whiskey competitions—winning Best Small Batch Bourbon: 11 Years and Older and Best Single Barrel Bourbon: 11 Years and Older in 2021.

Blue Run has been a success since its launch, with its latest releases selling out in minutes. The team raised $15 million during the pandemic, and anticipate another $15 million in sales this year.

“It’s one of the spirits that’s on fire right now, there’s a ton of demand,” Montgomery said. “The consumer base is growing exponentially, it was fortuitous timing. [Each release] is different. There’s a richness, and they’re all very approachable. Sometimes bourbon can be hard for people because it can be too spicy or too overwhelming, and I think we’ve done a fantastic job of finding the approachability in each release that really hits the sweet spot.

“This is a bourbon that is top-shelf, a luxury product. It’s among the highest-priced bourbons there are, but the quality is there to match.”

Montgomery also credited Blue Run’s online presence for its success. Its buzz has forged a relationship between the company and its consumers that has taken them a long way.

“Because we sell so much online, we get to understand who the people are, we get to reach out to them and get to know them,” he said to the Post. “And everybody who buys a bottle online gets a handwritten note from me, they’re all personalized. I think we’re upward of 15,000 so far, with a huge backlog that I’m getting to … But it’s true, it’s a true connection with the consumer.”

Blue Run Spirits can currently be purchased in a handful of states, including Kentucky, California, Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and more, as well as online.

As the Post went to print, there was one bottle in stock online: “Reflection 1,” a Kentucky Straight Bourbon available for $99.99.

“Reflection is what I would call a more approachable bourbon,” Montgomery explained. “It’s got very, very sweet notes to it, and it’s an easy drink.”

For Palisadians wanting to try Blue Run, Montgomery said community members can find it at Porta Via in Palisades Village—one of his wife and daughter’s favorite restaurants in town.

“It’s such a great community with wonderful people,” Montgomery said about Pacific Palisades. “Everything’s accessible, it’s got great restaurants, and we’ve made a lot of friends in the Palisades over the years. And you know, that’s part of the community that’s been built. It’s just really wonderful.”

For more information or to make a purchase, visit bluerunspirits.com.