Its What’s Inside
I was recently in Louisville Kentucky on business and had the opportunity to stop in at Angles Envy Distillery.
I don’t know whats more impressive, the Architecture or the “oh so smooth” Kentucky Bourbon.
Great care and detail were taken from the ground up – location, the structure, the sweet elixir itself and the bottle that contained it.
The tour guide was amazing – weaving a story that spanned generations making sure to note the nuances that set them apart. She talked about the barrels, how it was stored in Rick houses and that a few percent of the alcohol evaporates yearly. That’s referred to as the Angels Cut.
The distillers thought “if whats taken is the Angels Cut, whats left must be even better”. That would be what the “Angels Envy”. And with that, a brand was born.
One story that struck me was about the bottle. It is shaped in the form of a medicine bottle from a time long ago – when whiskey and other spirits were used for medicinal purposes. Much debate occurred over that specific shape, weight and how to decorate. Eventually, it ended up looking like the below – with Angels wings adorning the bottle.
The tour guide was part of the company while all this debate took place, and one day she told them – “I get that you want the bottle to be perfect and something that will draw people to it, but if what we’re putting inside isn’t good, then what’s it matter what the bottle looks like?”
She made a good point we can all take something from. All of us are concerned to some degree on appearance, perception and how we “look”, but if whats inside – whats in our core “isn’t good”, then the “bottle” or trappings we cloak ourselves in doesn’t really matter.