Little ‘can’t wait’ to bring aging Smooth Ambler to market.

John Little is a refreshing business interview. The co-founder of Smooth Ambler Distillery is confident without the bluster and insecurity of those preaching the Gospel of My Way. If anyone at all, Little blames himself for wrong choices and hard lessons learned, then delivers them with a wry grin.

“I remember all the losses and none of the wins.”

“I’m the opposite of a gambler,” he said, highlighting his propensity to fret over his miscues. “I remember all the losses and none of the wins.”

Whether he sees it, in the 15 years since Smooth Ambler’s founding, Little has matured as a businessman, adopting a pragmatism that’s very much the gambler’s: a clear-eyed comprehension of the long odds of convincing strangers to buy his Maxwelton, W.Va.-made bourbons and ryes.

“Fifty percent of the people who taste your stuff will like it, 40 percent are OK with it, and 10 percent will hate it. I focus too much on the 10,” he said. Still, he sees wisdom in those 10 percenters’ feedback. “It’s hard not to focus on the criticism. But when criticism comes from a meaningful place, that’s useful. You don’t get better in a vacuum.”

“Never thought it would get this big.”

While going to college, Little worked multiple jobs to earn money. He owned a yard service, worked on cars, sold brake pads and tended a bar, experiences that taught him what people liked to drink. Car work boosted his mechanical aptitude, and accounting classes taught him business basics. Both would come in handy years later at the distillery.

“I was a jack of all trades and master of none,” he said. “But those experiences really set me up for success as a small business owner.”

When his father-in-law, John Foster, approached him with the idea of starting a distillery, Little was interested. A whiskey fan himself, he knew American whiskey was growing exponentially, and Foster was confident the two could make it work—especially in West Virginia, a state without a like-minded competitor fighting for tourism dollars. The pair founded Smooth Ambler in 2009 and opened it in 2010.

Using a pot still to make its own distillate, the business made its name early on by sourcing barrels of well-aged MGP whiskey they branded as Old Scout. Whiskey nerds got on the scent quickly and began touting the Old Scout as well worth the hunt.

“We were fortunate to source such good whiskey while we made our own,” Little said. “Even now that we’re larger, we intend to keep sourcing Old Scout barrels.”

The business grew quicker than Little and Foster expected, and the challenge to grow it saw the men at the end of their ability to manage an enterprise far larger—and with much more upside—than they imagined. By 2016, the supply of MGP barrels was strained to the point that they partnered with a barrel broker, Richard Wolf, to help find others. When Wolf called Pernod Ricard to ask about extra stocks, the mega-spirits company said it had none to sell but that it was interested in the Smooth Ambler brand.

When Pernod-Ricard bought the brand in 2017, it gave Foster the opening to exit the company and Little the runway to grow it further. Little quickly realized and embraced the boundless options for tapping Pernod-Ricard veterans for their experience and knowledge.

“If I’m looking for information on yeast and fermentation, I go to Dr. Don Livermore. If I’m looking for help with finances, I go to Brad Frank,” he began. Help with HR and legal was a godsend. “I was out of my league there.”

Although he acknowledged that the sale removed some of Smooth Ambler’s entrepreneurial freedoms, he insisted the tradeoff was worth it.

“If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re used to making really fast decisions,” he said. “But if you have a big operation that owns the majority share of your business, you have to convince them of why the choice you want to make is right.

“There’s no doubt that we make better whiskey now. We also make it safer and run a better business than when we sold our business.”

“Our best whiskey has yet to be made.”

Viewing 2018 as a year of “coming off some not-so-successful product launches,” Little challenged his operations manager, Travis Hammond, to improve Smooth Ambler’s quality of spirits. A trained chemical engineer, Hammond focused on 36 variables in its production process—mashing, fermentation, yeast hydration, and use of its dephlegmator, among many others—to find opportunities for enhancement. All were tracked across many batches, and their organoleptic profiles were documented and sent to experts throughout Pernod-Ricard’s vast network of companies.

“That feedback drastically changed the production methods we used,” Little said, adding that he bought a column still and doubler as a result. “That gave us so much more consistency, and we believed it was a cleaner spirit.”

Not only was Smooth Ambler’s newmake noticeably better, as Little and his team sampled maturate developed from those new techniques, their excitement grew.

“You hear people say they love the dusties from all these large heritage distilleries, and they are good,” Little began. “But then a lot of (distillers) believe their best whiskey is behind them. I don’t think that’s the case at all for us.

“I’m confident the best whiskey we’ve ever made is in the barrel because it’s absolutely incredible at only 5 or 6 years. I can’t wait to bring that to market.”

One he’s particularly proud of is Smooth Ambler’s Founders’ Cask Strength Straight Rye Whiskey. At six years old and 122.8 proof, he credits its rich and deeply complex character to its 88 percent rye and 12 percent malted barley mashbill and Larry Ebersold, the legendary retired MGP master distiller turned consultant.

Ebersold showed them a low-temperature cooking technique called “infusion-style cooking.” Here, the rye is heated to below the common strike point for malt (less than 150 F) and held to cook for long periods at low temperatures. Once the rye grain’s starches are broken down, the mash is heated to 150 F, and malt is added.

“No, we’re not sharing any more details, but just know that you’re not killing off those big rye notes with high-temperature cooking,” Little said. “Cooking it low and slow draws out those big, bold rye notes enthusiasts love so much.”

Enthusiasts will also love its absurdly low $55 price for this distillery-only offering. Like everything else in its gift shop, that charge likely reflects a small-town price despite its proximity to the de luxe and legendary resort, The Greenbrier.

(If you visit Smooth Ambler, the tour is informative but short, yet plenty of great whiskey will hold you there for an extended and hospitable tasting. Nearby is the quaint town of Lewisburg, where I stayed during my visit to the distillery. It’s a lovely historic town with great restaurants and overnight accommodations.)

“We’re going to do what’s right for the whiskey, not what’s right for marketing. Do everything necessary to make the whiskey delicious.”

Of all the lessons Little has learned, one that seems obvious is: “We’re going to do what’s right for the whiskey, not what’s right for marketing. Do everything necessary to make the whiskey delicious.”

He learned much of that lesson when crafting the brand’s well-known Contradiction line.

“When we did our Contradiction Rye blend, we wanted it to be the same proof as Contradiction Bourbon, but it wasn’t as good at 92 proof,” he recalled. “That’s when we started saying, ‘Just do what’s right for the whiskey.’”

Though the team raised it to 99 proof, it wondered if there was something more. Ultimately, the whiskey was best at 105 proof.

“Our saying is at Smooth Ambler is we never hit singles anymore, we should be hitting triples and home runs every time we release a product,” he said. Despite its Pernod-Ricard majority ownership, its size—compared to other brands under the bigger banner—allows it some flexibility. “Our ability to pivot is key. So, if tomorrow morning we want to change a recipe, we could do that, make four barrels of it and do something really cool. We like that.”

Little believes Smooth Ambler’s future is bright and will include steady growth, but no explosion is planned.

“We have a lot of that’s inventory coming of age, very good distillate that’s right about ready for prime time,” he said. The goal is to grow the business with more limited releases and unique age-stated products. Sourced whiskey will remain a part of that strategy, but distilling more of its own whiskey is certain. “Stacking it high and letting it fly is not our brand. While our growth isn’t limited, that does not mean this is going to become a million-case brand. That’s not in our future.”