Behind the Brand
Lee Diaz, ReserveBar Staff Writer
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With decades of experience in building and collaborating with groundbreaking brands in the food and beverage space, as well as extending her work into writing as a published author, Dee Robinson is setting her sights on reshaping the bourbon industry. Through Good Trouble, Dee is leveraging all of her previous work to develop a brand that not only delivers an exceptional whiskey, but more importantly encourages change-making conversations. This is founded in her belief that we all have the ability to get into “good trouble” – after sitting down with Dee, we couldn’t agree more.
I have been in the food and beverage space now going on 30 years, and through this work, we have launched restaurants and retail shops in airports around the country. I am also quite a foodie. So, I believe that all I have done is focus on the things that I am passionate about, and I lean in. I love my work as an entrepreneur in corporate America, and by having most of my locations in high volume traffic locations, that's how it all got started. This allowed me to lean into my love for food and people, then more deeply into my love for wine, and then these passions gave me an opportunity to start exploring bourbon.
Bourbon was one of those things that I just started to love. And I'm a curious sort and ultimately when I started drinking it, I decided to study being a craft distiller, because I was just curious how they make it. So once I studied being a craft distiller, the next natural way to lean in was that idea of “whoa, maybe I should make it.” This is how I began on this journey of where we are today. It's been literally a decades-long career in the food and beverage space that developed moments of inspiration, and a new vision for what could be.
A lot of people may think that it's a major leap from doing what I did to that, being in the food and beverage restaurant space for 30 years. But that time allowed me to start drinking great whiskey, fall in love with it, and then do the work to become a craft distiller. All of that led to that moment when I decided I wanted to make it.
But the journey really was, and has been throughout my career, about understanding that if you're going to do something, you want to do it right. And that initially entailed understanding what it would take to be successful in the space. So I interviewed several distilleries and their Master Distillers. I knew that I wanted to make whiskey in Kentucky, which was my first decision point. And then I knew that I wanted to make really good bourbon, which meant finding a partner to do it right and well.
This led me to collaborate with Jacob Call, an eighth-generation Master Distiller. When I met Jacob, we just really connected. We talked about food, and I discovered that his kitchen is a little bigger than mine, which we kind of laugh about. He also understood the mission of this brand – I always say that you can only really have successful partnerships when your values align. We were able to determine that we had values that connected, he understood our purpose, and ultimately, I knew that together, we would make great bourbon.
Of course, that was just the beginning of the work – I'm sure he would tell you that I have a discerning palate, and we tried all sorts of different whiskey samples to lock in the right profile, which is what led us to the liquid that's in the bottle today. You can't be called “Good Trouble” and not have good liquid. So that became the standard: make bourbon worthy of its name.
Making bourbon is truly a blend of art and science. And as I started considering why more people didn't drink it, or what their barriers were to drink it, it was interesting to discover that a lot of people don't like that heat or heavy burn. Many had sworn off from it early on when they just didn't either have the right bourbon or the right quality of bourbon. So I knew that we could potentially grow the category if we simply focused on releasing a really good bourbon that is smooth and satiny. The flavors are beautiful. We decided on high rye, so our mash bill is 70 / 21 / 9. We found that right balance with beautiful flavor notes of caramel and vanilla that I knew people would enjoy. We think of it as being well balanced (between sweet and spicy), with a satiny finish, like Christmas in a bottle.
While we knew that we had made really good bourbon, it's not enough for us to say we're good. So I spent a year literally submitting it into contests. Of those results, Forbes called us one of the Best Bourbons in 2023. Then we won a San Francisco World Spirits Competition medal, Best Small Batch from the International Whiskey Competition and some other really big competitions. Recognition like these enable us to continue to share our story and the vision behind the bourbon. And with the support of the industry, we are able to develop new partnerships with people that might have set us aside before.
What I have also learned through this process is that sometimes people want to underestimate you, but this is not about bourbon; this is about how we have to go out and live our dreams. Even though they don't know you, people will underestimate you, but that should not stop you. Just go, do, and lead with your strengths. That's what I try to instill our team – lead with what we know how to do and do it well. As a woman and someone of color entering this space, people didn't believe that this is what we could do. We set out to do something great, developed a flavor profile that shines, and now we have a vehicle for enacting what we know is possible.
The history symbolized in the label mattered to us, so let me take you through the journey. First of all, you might see what looks like a Greek goddess. And yes, indeed, she first looked that way, but with a specific vision. I told the team of designers that they could do anything, but I did give them one directive: envision the symbolism and virtue of Lady Liberty, and what the Statue of Liberty in New York symbolizes as liberty for all. (But we don't have liberty for all) So, while we start with the ideal of a Lady Liberty , we want to embody the strength of liberty, and embrace the history that we want to remember as a platform to build on. So, we adjusted various features of her to encompass aspects of every nationality with the idea that we must work to bring the world together.
It’s when we’re together that we can tame this raging bull that you see on the label, and that Raging Bull can be a lot of things, such as hate, misogyny and racism – we can tame it by having a spirited conversation. You know, when we break bread and when we drink – in those moments, we're more alike than we are different. My goal here was to bring people together, and I knew that we could, in a better way, make this world better. And this was all about the change that I wanted to see us help create with the brand. Every aspect of the design is intentional – even the broad shoulders of the bottle. We stand on the shoulders of those that came before us, and I also wanted to convey the responsibility we had to have these kinds of conversations and figure out a way each of us can make a difference in the world, however small.
The name for “Good Trouble” is interesting. So the good trouble was made famous by John Lewis, the civil rights icon, and he suggested we needed to get in good trouble, necessary trouble, because he knew that we had to work towards change. And I want to make sure people know that story, because I had to honor it, and those that would instantly know it, and I wanted to respect what that meant to so many. For me, even more personally, the name came about because I have an older sister; her name was Pearl. She was my mother's first born, and my mom would say that “if I told Pearl to go right, she went left.” So, Pearl was our troublemaker, and my mom would say that all of her gray hair was because of my sister.
I'm a twin; 10 years later, my brother and I showed up, and my mom used to say the only kind of trouble we could get in was “good trouble,” because my sister got into all the rest. So “good trouble” always meant something to me about how we do good but she also was teaching us how to show up in the world. You may not always be liked, and people may not get you, but this is what we know, and the standard she set for us. So that's where good trouble came from. It has always been a part of how we had to show up, and again, understanding and honoring the impact of what John Lewis said and what others understood it to be, and we wanted to make sure we honored and respected that legacy. That's why it’s a part of this brand ethos you see today.
We really are using bourbon as a tool. This is where we come together, and how we celebrate. And this is our purpose of conversation. We call our Foundation, “Shine Your Light”. I fundamentally believe that there's good in all of us if we choose it. How do we really think about the world and use of our brand to help us be better at what we do and lead to positive change. I believe that if we created better connections among folks, and are able to get people to think about the value of those connections, that we could lead to something that was great. And I know that when people are willing to sit down, the best decisions are made through a conversation and then finding what is the common ground.
One simple way that we express this is in our specialty cocktails – they were all around this whole theme of our purpose. The first one is, Disagree to Agree: we're going to have differences, but I know that we could find a place where we can agree. And another one we have is called Common Ground: if we really work at it, if we're intentional, if we're authentic about how we bring people together, we will grow together.
We're going to have people who look at this brand and pick up that bottle, that glass of bourbon, and I hope, in some ways they get inspired or touched in some way. People are motivated in all different ways, and sometimes you have to find creative ways to sort of bring people together, and I'm hoping that's what we can figure out to do with Good Trouble. We are out there trying to affect positive change. And I just want everyone to know that they can go anywhere their dreams take them – and that we can all do it with a lot of hope, faith, courage and connection.
I originally loved big bold reds, from cabs to malbecs to pinots and zinfandels. Then I was first introduced to the world of bourbon at a Super Bowl party. But it was really an event with the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs that my interests truly changed. They had a bourbon tasting, and I'll never forget discovering the variety of flavors that were there. The impact of age across various bourbon releases and the range of complexity was exciting to me. And again, I think anyone who really loves food, and then you think about wine, when you get to bourbon, you realize wow, this is really unique. And it was a beautiful beginning to a life-changing journey starting by finding flavors that for one reason or another I really liked. Of course, in that process there were some I didn't like at all.
It was in that moment, at that tasting, that I started to realize that there's such complexity to the taste, and that intrigued me, and that's what ultimately led to Good Trouble – it was understanding that I could create something great here. But it really started with one taste at a big Super Bowl party followed by this tasting that came about – that was the spark that set me out to learn about bourbon and love it. And then that's when you start understanding the art and science of making bourbon. There's something beautiful about bringing art and science together and that's probably why I've leaned in so heavily on this brand, because it is complex and beautiful all at the same time.
I have to admit that I tend to drink Good Trouble neat as a rule; I just love the warmth and getting all those flavors. Every blue moon, I might add one drop of water, and I’ll also do this for friends, because I like to help people understand that there's a spectrum for drinking bourbon. I love demonstrating by putting a drop of water in and how the nose opens up even more. Every now and then, it's going to be a big cube, but I do tend to be on the neat side.
We do also focus a lot on cocktails. This takes me back to my food experience, and how we promote how to channel your inner mixologist. I think people are risk adverse, when it comes to food, and that leads into how they feel about mixing cocktails at home. That’s why food shows became so popular – show me how to do this – I really want to make a good meal, but I really don't know how to cook. I think people don't want to mess up a cocktail, so they just stay basic versus expanding their repertoire of how they might enjoy a spirit or an ingredient for that matter. But cocktails could be an interesting entry point, and I think that’ the beauty of some of our cocktails. We make our cocktails easy to understand and try at home, and they’re also connective to our brand and story, so you have some great stories to share with your guests as you’re making them.
I just think when you're entertaining, a cocktail can also have the power of bringing people together, because you have things to talk about. There's all the different tastes there, and there's another way to engage a group. Art in a bottle.
Absolutely. First of all, you need to break out the charcuterie board – I think that with the nuts and some of the varieties of meats and the cheeses, the bourbon gets to play with all of those varying flavors with every bite and sip. The other thing that I do is I'm oftentimes using some of the bourbon, as an ingredient or a finish. One of my favorite recipes is a candy bacon. And really anything that's in smoked meats, whether you're smoking ribs, or sometimes a smoked chicken, wings – really smoked meats across the board. Bourbon is also a great base for a glaze – I make a maple bourbon glaze, which I use on chicken and also salmon. I find that bourbon is so adaptable across the board.
I was challenging my team to think about our brand, and I remember asking, “how many bourbon brands celebrate the doers, the dreamers and the troublemakers?” Then I asked them, “how many brands are intentionally purpose-driven and giving back? How many brands really set out to be excellent to start?” And yes, I think there's several out there, because there are a lot of great brands out there. But if you think about the intention of that represented by what's on your shelf, what's on your bar, and can they check this list, and which one is there authentically trying to bring people together?
I want to bring us together; I want to connect us in a way that's so genuine, especially now – yes, we want people to drink with each other – but are we talking about authentic, real connection? I want you to know that you're going to drink a really good bourbon. I want you to understand why we're doing it. And I hope that I can connect personally, intimately with a consumer. And I hope that we can use the virtues of other brands doing this well to challenge us all to try to do that, because through this, we’re becoming a part of people's lives in many ways.
First, I'm trying to instill in our team what Good Trouble – what making good trouble is. I truly want us to live and breathe that. Good Trouble is a lifestyle. And even before that, a key routine for me is simply waking every morning with gratitude – and then taking those notions to my interactions with my teams. Even on our team calls, I'm always first trying to figure out where people are. Part of my job is to get to know my team, because just as much as I have to make sure we understand the customer journey, all of that journey begins with our own people and understanding them.
I want my team to deepen their understanding of what it means to get into good trouble – helping them see it. We want to be able to see the impact of our work, you know. And so even in the selections of the charities, we’re always considering if we can see meaningful change? You can give your money to a lot of different things, but you may not know what they're doing. So it goes back to meaningful conversation, meaningful change, being able to see the things that we've done. And then when we’re finished, I'm always talking about what your win was for the day – it could simply just be some level of fulfillment that you had on the job.
It's not always about the business, because the change is not about the business that we want. It’s about having to think about how we get into good trouble, and being authentic about what that means, and then living it and breathing it is what's important to us as a brand.
I would only just say this – we can be the change that we want to see in the world. We truly can be and I hope that this brand is one that will empower people to go out there and do just that. People might say it's impossible; it's not. We believe in what is possible and the dream is a better world so and whether in their personal lives or wherever, I want your readers to just believe in what is possible in the world. And if we can help inspire that within everyone, whether it's their own personal dream, or change that we can see in our communities, those are all wins. My own story is just one of being inspired, believing in what might be, and relentlessly seeking after that change. And I hope that through Good Trouble we gain the platform to help people understand in this world that we are in right now: Be hopeful. Be inspired. We talk about one sip, one conversation at a time – be open to the world that's around you, and as you open up, I believe you also see a new opportunity.
