Glass Design Meets Actual Production with Andrés Hernandez of Fusion Glass and Chad Micheal of Chad Michael Studio

Chad Michael (0:00)

I mean, you don't want to just copy what the other guy is doing. I mean, defeats the whole purpose. You put so much love into the liquid, you put your heart into it. Like you guys know, you distill the shit out of it, and it tastes amazing, and it takes all this time for it to be born, and then you don't want to put it in something that just looks like your neighbor. So that's always the goal is like, hey, how do we reflect the craft that's in the bottle and the uniqueness also on the outside, make it super bespoke and unique. So no one can be identified with it, but you, but you as your company.

Kenny Coleman (0:41)

This is Bourbon Pursuit, The Official Podcast of Bourbon, bringing to you the best in news, reviews and interviews with people making the bourbon whiskey industry happen. And I'm one of your hosts, Kenny Coleman.

How many times have you reached for a bottle on the shelf? Simply because the glass looked incredible or that label catches your eye.

I know I have. We're all guilty of it. And here at Pursuit, we talk endlessly about what goes inside the barrel. But really, we know at the end of the day, people drink with their eyes. And there's a lot of things that go around that behind engineering and design of what gets liquid onto the shelf. And there's a tire science behind it. So today on the show, we're sitting down with Andrés Hernandez of Fusion Glass Mexico and Chad Michael of Chad Michael Studio to talk about not only just custom bottles, but how it goes from engineering, design, and eventually go into market. And Andrés, he's the one with the factory, and they specialize in 100 percent PCR. You're like, what's PCR? Well, PCR stands for post-consumer recycled glass. And that gives their glass a certain rustic appeal, but they can do all kinds of things. But that process has a lot going on. You have to manage extreme temperatures, there's color formulation, and there's other structural tolerances that have to come from the design and the engineering process. And that's where Chad comes in. He's the creative. He can turn an idea on the back of a napkin into a bottle that looks like a piece of art. He spends his time trying to understand the brand DNA when working with a client, and translating that into a one-of-a-kind package design. And to be honest, this is that angle in the show that we've never taken before. And I'm sure a lot of bourbon geeks out there, you're gonna appreciate everything that goes into the bottle that you now pick up off the shelf. But if you're a whiskey producer out there looking for some custom bottles, and you're looking in the custom space that you can now call your own, this episode, you can call it the complete package.

See what I did there?

With that, enjoy this week's episode. And now here's Fred Minnick with Above the Char.

Fred Minnick (2:42)

I'm Fred Minnick, and this is Above the Char.

This week's idea comes from Brett Heiner, who actually finds me in a Facebook group, the Central Alabama Bourbon Club, CABC. That's a great club, but I've hung out with them before. Very cool guys.

Brett asked a question. I'd like to hear more knowledgeable discussion about the likelihood of us seeing more older, affordable, high-quality whiskies as the glut of inventory ages. Would be nice to see a domestic wild turkey 12-year-old, 12- to 13-year-old Russell's, more age-stated Jack, older store picks from Old Faux, Four Roses and Heaven Hill. Picks from these legacy distillers have been getting younger and less impressive. Would love to see that trend reverse. Brett, great question. It sounds like you're specifically talking about barrel picks. Now, here's the deal. I will say that I do know, I have firsthand knowledge, that the everyday products like Maker's Mark, Jack Daniels, M&M's, Beam, things like that, they are getting older bourbons in their batches. So a lot of the six to seven-year-old whisky that would be used for special editions or would age for longer for special editions or would be thrown into the barrel picks, but to your point, would be of less age than what you would like. A lot of those six to seven, eight, and even eight and nine-year-olds are going into the regular batches. So what that means, Brett, is that you are actually probably tasting Makers Mark Today and Wild Turkey and Jim Beam, that is older than it was four or five years ago on a composite scale. So that is one thing that's happening.