Corks, bottles and oak wood spires. A bar top with an ice-cold glass perspiring like they do on television. A liquor library lined with an assortment of barrel-aged whiskeys. No, this isn’t the setting of a local bar or restaurant. This is the headquarters for the Southlake-based whiskey brand, Oak & Eden.
Created by Joe Giildenzopf, his brother Jamie and their business partner Brad Neathery in 2017, Oak & Eden is making the most of their creative storytelling and patented in-bottle™ finishing methods. If all goes according to plan, their brand will become the next nationally-recognized spirit to hail from Texas, akin to TX Whiskey or even more notably Tito’s Handmade Vodka. With a distinguishing trademark, a slew of celebrity endorsements and a deep love for creating and sharing new experiences, Oak & Eden is well on its way.
BOURBON BEGINNINGS
Long before he started looking at the whiskey space, Joe has been a successful entrepreneur in a number of businesses in the financial, transportation and food and beverage industries. After Joe sold one of his companies in 2016, Jamie marked the occasion by offering him an unexpected gift.
“I poured a batch of my bourbon in a Mason jar with [some] wood spires in it and let it sit for a month,” Jamie says. “All of his friends loved it, but they were all looking at the glass wondering, ‘Why is there wood in there?’”
Brewing and distilling his own spirits for over 20 years, Jamie attributes local vineyards for having originally given him the idea to add a wood spire to his bottles.
“[The vineyards] bought 1-inch diameter spires that are 10 inches long and dropped them into their wine bottles to age them,” Jamie says. “I figured I would try that out on my side and see how well it worked.”
Joe's business mind saw the potential before he even tasted Jamie’s unique batch.
“[Joe] looks at me and said, ‘We’re gonna sell this.’ I’m like, ‘No, you can’t sell a glass jar with wood in it. The FDA is not going to buy that.’ Turns out I was wrong,” Jamie says with a chuckle.
As with any other great business idea, Joe started researching to see if other whiskey companies had a similar in-bottle finishing concept. To his surprise, he couldn’t find any after nine months of research, so he got to work building out a business plan. Understanding the need to protect his vision, he also hired an attorney to secure the patent for the corkscrew spire design the brothers knew would be at the heart of their brand.
With a distinct product in hand, Joe’s next step was to hire a team — and he knew his first call would be to Brad Neathery. Having previously been a client of Brad’s advertising agency, Joe experienced firsthand the breadth of Brad’s brand-building prowess and knew he would need his storytelling talents to successfully launch what would eventually become Oak & Eden.
“My background is in helping people get excited about what other people are selling,” Brad says. “[Joe] called me up and showed me this bottle of whiskey his brother had sent him. He said, ‘I know how to build this business. I just need you to position the brand.’”
The trio spent the next several months getting ready for Oak & Eden’s debut, testing the impact of the different spires on their base spirits’ ensuing flavor profiles and rolling out the company’s website. Meanwhile, Brad was busy building the anticipation early through digital advertising, social media influencers and press campaigns.
Brad’s expertise shined through as the brand launched in May 2018 and almost immediately found its way onto shelves in around 300 stores in two states.
“My strategy for building any business has always been to build the hype before you launch,” Brad says. “We had so much early traffic that when we launched, our first few months of sales were shockingly good — and we were only in the DFW market.”
INSPIRED INNOVATION
Every story has a main character, and in the case of Oak & Eden, that would be its proprietary wood spires. Each spire imparts distinct flavors of the various woods selected specifically for their unique profiles.
“Inherent to each of those wood species are different flavors inside the wood,” Joe says. “By harvesting it, seasoning it, toasting it and infusing it, we can intentionally add different flavors to our whiskey in the embalmed age process.”
American oak offers vanilla, coconut, caramel and butterscotch accents, while French oak has more floral, spice and pepper notes. Joe says the type of wood used can make a big difference.
“It’s interesting how two very similar trees grown in two different parts of the world will produce dramatically different tastes,” Joe says.
Not only does the type of wood matter, but also the length of time it’s toasted after the wooden spires are seasoned, cut and put into the oven.
“Just like how the wood offers different flavors and botanicals, how you harvest and impart those flavors to the spirit is through toasting,” Joe says. “The lighter the toast, the sweeter the note it imparts. The longer or darker the toast, the smoother it is.”
If the spires are the main character, then Oak & Eden’s whiskeys are the ensemble cast. Whiskey enthusiasts can taste the difference across Oak & Eden’s three bottle lines. In the Inspired series, oak spires are dropped into four different whiskey varieties distilled with corn, rye, malted barley and wheat for rich and smooth spirits.
Soaking the spire in other liquids yields even bolder finishes. In the Infused series, the Bourbon & Brew soaks a spire in West Oak Coffee Bar’s cold brew to provide a coffee-accented finish. The Rye & Rumba drops a Caribbean rum-soaked spire into the bottle that tastes like it came from the high seas. And its bestselling bottle Bourbon & Vine pairs a Marker Cellars’ cabernet sauvignon-soaked spire for a bold and sweet vino infusion.
With even more collaborative infusions in its Anthro series like vanilla, maple syrup and honey, Joe says the spire brings a wealth of flavors and sensations to Oak & Eden’s products.
“We knew how much the spire could influence the product when we started the business, but we’ve learned over time through experimentation how precise we could be with our flavor profiles,” Joe says.
Attention to detail aids Oak & Eden in winning over any purists who might doubt its in-bottle approach.
“One of the most common reactions we get from people is shock, especially from whiskey fans,” Brad says. “They adhere to tradition so closely. They have this perception that because this is different that it’s going to be a gimmick or a trick. Then they try it, and every time they’re always like, ‘Holy cow, that’s amazing.’ We always turn them into believers.”
BRIDGE TO INNOVATION
As unique as the wood spire is, it’s only half of Oak & Eden’s business concept. The other half comes in its flagship brick-and-mortar tasting room located in Bridgeport, Texas, about an hour northwest of Southlake on Route 114. Opening in January last year, the corner watering hole has a cocktail bar and nano distillery where guests can customize their own whiskey creations through Oak & Eden’s in-house processes.
“From the very beginning, our goal has been to sanctify and liberate the spirits industry by bringing the power of creation to the people,” Brad says. “The spire allows vendors to do that at the brand level, while our flagship location allows our customers to do that at the consumer level.”
After reserving a time online, guests can choose their whiskey base, proof, wood spire, toast and infusion to achieve the rich flavors they want. Then after making their selections, their customized bottle is wrapped, boxed and sent home with them.
With so many customizable infusing options in their library, Oak & Eden ensures the final product is distinctly their customers’.
“The heart and center of our space is the library, which is the place where people can come, have this experience and build their own bottle,” Joe says. “The large vision has always been to allow customers to create their own bottling experience and make the barriers to that limitless.”
This location is not a one-off for Oak & Eden. Joe says they plan to roll out a second tasting room in Clearfork while looking at introducing concepts to Houston and Austin. These new locations will allow Oak & Eden to reach new customers as it rolls out even more infusions like olive oil, Coca-Cola extract and elderflower.
“Anything you can soak a spire in, we’ve soaked a spire in,” Joe chuckles. “The spire is not the innovation of the brand — it is the tool. The innovation is what that tool allows us to do, and that is to customize whiskey.”
ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME
Oak & Eden products are now distributed in 10,000 stores across 30 states, with plans to expand to the remaining 20 by the end of the year. Those plans seem all but assured as Oak & Eden unveiled its first celebrity product line, collaborating with big names such as folk duo Jamestown Revival, The Civil Wars’ John Paul White and actor Forrie J. Smith, who plays Lloyd Pierce on the hit Paramount series “Yellowstone.” And this summer, the bourbon business plans to unveil an e-commerce site where customers can get the same customizable experience online as they do at its flagship location.
Even as this upstart brand starts to take off, they are forever grateful for their hometown. Thanks to friends and restaurants across the city like Moxie’s Bar & Grill, TruFire and The Westin, Southlake has been instrumental to Oak & Eden’s growth.
“Southlake’s been good to us,” Brad says. “It’s been really amazing to see how tight of a community Southlake is and how much trust and loyalty there is in the area.”
More than anything else, Brad says their team is excited for what’s ahead for Oak & Eden, even if it can be a little overwhelming at the same time.
“It kind of feels like month eight of waiting for your child to be born,” Brad says. “You’re so excited, you’re terrified, you’re hopeful, you’re confused, you’re everything all at once. This is what we’ve been building towards since day one.”
Thanks to the founders’ innovation and initiative, Oak & Eden’s footprint is bigger than ever before, and Joe thinks its potential can only grow from here.
“People are anxious to see what’s next,” Joe says. “What’s the next whiskey that they’re going to inspire? What’s the flavor? What’s the wood? What’s the science behind it? They’re eager to geek out with us, and frankly, so are we.”