Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/471637
100 / the tasting panel / march 2015 HOT SHOT What attracted you to building WhistlePig and what inspired you from the start? Necessity is the mother of invention. In the wake of the financial crisis, I had to face the reality that I needed to make my modest farm work, so I made the decision to fuse my love of whiskey and my desire to operate a real farm in Vermont to create WhistlePig Rye Whiskey. At the very heart of what drove me, and what still does to this day, is the desire to fulfill the American dream and to become the most luxurious whiskey brand in this country . . . and ultimately in the world. What advice would you give someone that is building a company? Be profitable. What do you look for when hiring for your team? Intelligence and loyalty. Describe your most memorable moment since launching. Frankly, these stories aren't fit to print. What was the best career advice you've ever been given and who gave it to you? This is a very tough question. Career advice and business wis- dom come in many forms, and sage advice—say something like "focus"—may be the right advice for one person and totally wrong for another. Personally, I think the best business/ career advice has come from my father. He came to America from India with no money and realized the American Dream. In doing so, he acquired the kind of pragmatic sense you get drilled out of you in business school. His advice was simple: If you have a business, see to it that that you come home at the end of day having made some money "in your pocket." In an age of sky-high valuation for loss-making companies, Wall Street should take heed. If you didn't work in the beverage industry, what would you be doing? I could never have calculated the trajectory that led to being a farmer and whiskey man, nor could I guess where I would be without the farm or WhistlePig. In any event, I am very content with running a family and employee-owned whiskey company, humbly seeking to reshape the high- end whiskey landscape domestically and globally. Here we come. Outside of WhistlePig Rye, you'd likely be sipping on . . . I love my fellow Vermont brand, Barr Hill Gin. PHOTO COUTESY OF WHISTEPIG RYE WHISKEY Raj Peter Bhakta FOUNDER AND CHIEF STEWARD, WHISTLEPIG RYE WHISKEY Each month we team up with the beverage industry recruiting & staff- ing experts at BevForce and chat with one of their Movers & Shakers to get a behind-the-scenes insight on the job search process, the beverage indus- try's most innovative companies and the executives who drive them. This month, we chatted with Raj Peter Bhakta, founder and Chief Steward of WhistlePig Rye Whiskey.