088 | Bringing Luxury to The American Whiskey Category

The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring Drinks Builders worldwide. It’s listened to in over 100 countries. Its no-nonsense approach focuses on how beverage brands are built from the ground up. The Show is free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Listen to the episode :

MAFFEO DRINKS: The Lab | 088 | Andrew Borenzweig | Bringing Luxury to The American Whiskey Category with The Beverly High Rye

In this episode, host Chris Maffeo talks to Andrew Borenzweig, founder of Beverly High Rye, who shares his journey of creating a modern, luxury-focused American whiskey that breaks away from tradit…

MAFFEO DRINKS: The Lab

You receive this episode one week before it gets released on all other platforms, with exclusive deep dives and transcripts. If you wanna check the different plans, you can here:

In this episode, host ⁠Chris Maffeo⁠ talks to ⁠Andrew Borenzweig⁠, founder of Beverly High Rye, who shares his journey of creating a modern, luxury-focused American whiskey that breaks away from traditional frontier or rustic imagery.

Inspired by the elegance of Beverly Hills, Andrew crafted a whiskey that blends rye’s bold spice with bourbon’s smoothness, presented in sleek, decanter-style bottles.

He initially concentrated on securing placements in prestigious California venues—such as Nobu, Mastro’s, Cipriani, and the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons—to build brand credibility and visibility.

This strategic on-trade focus laid a strong foundation before carefully expanding into off-trade channels like select Pavilions stores.

Throughout the episode, Andrew emphasizes the importance of brand authenticity, founder-led advocacy, and a California-centric rollout as key drivers of Beverly High Rye’s success. Additionally, he touches on leveraging top on-trade outlet groups to facilitate potential international expansion, referencing Nobu Tokyo’s interest in the brand.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview

00:29 Guest Introduction: Andrew and Beverly High Rye

01:02 The Inspiration Behind Beverly High Rye

03:02 Commercial Strategy and Market Positioning

09:38 Expanding to New Markets: Japan and Beyond

13:57 Product Portfolio and Special Editions

21:27 On-Trade vs. Off-Trade Strategies

30:42 Final Thoughts and Advice for Brand Owners

31:57 Conclusion and Call to Action