Old Hillside Bourbon, Created By Four Hillside H.S. Alums, Pays Homage To The School, City

DURHAM, NC – Eighteen months ago, four Black men entrepreneurs with roots in Durham, North Carolina – Emmanuel Waters, Courtney Tucker, Jesse Carpenter, and Brian Burton created an enjoyable bourbon whiskey now sold in the ABC Store in Durham. It all started when Jesse had an idea, picked up the phone, called the other men, and asked if they were interested in starting a company with him. They agreed.

Their story began at Hillside High School in Durham, their Alma Mater, and where the gentlemen first met. Through their new business, Old Hillside Bourbon Company, they are dedicated to paying homage to their origins with the logo and branding. They aim to be a brand that reminds their customers of the richness and value of honoring their collective history and heritage.

On Saturday, Nov. 20th, the four founders held an Official Old Hillside Bourbon Bottle Launch at the ABC Store on North Pointe Drive in Durham. The event introduced the brand to the City and each bottle purchased was personally signed. 

Start-up

According to wbur.org, “Bourbon was born in Kentucky, and today the industry is in the midst of a renaissance, despite trade disputes and tariffs that threaten its future.” That did not stop the Old Hillside Bourbon delegation.

“It [Old Hillside Bourbon] was founded on friendship, so a bunch of us got together and decided to create what we liked. So we created a product where it is not about getting drunk, it is about fellowship. It’s about us coming together and having a central peace around Old Hillside Bourbon, just laughing and telling old stories about high school, just having fun and doing it through Old Hillside Bourbon,” said founder Jesse Carpenter.

Quality Look

They wanted to attract the eye first. The second part is just the quality of the bourbon itself. Once they draw you in with their label, you take it off the shelf, buy it, take it home, and then you drink it, which makes you feel the soul.

“As well, if the product placed on a shelf in a bar, it would be the most distinguishable from anything else on the shelf,” said Brian Burton.

Even the size of the bottle plays an important part. Old Hillside Bourbon Company did not want something too tall so that it would be difficult to stock and they did not want anything too small so that it would be on the bottom where people would not be as attentive.

According to one of the company’s founding partners, Brian Burton, ‘the bottle was chosen to provide a continuous pour, where the bourbon does not drip back against the bottle, as well as the label reflecting a lot of construction, sort of like art deco brutish.’ “We based it off of architecture, so it’ll always hit your eyes. That’s why the copper outlines the name. It kind of shows itself against the lights. All the details went into the labels, including the Black Wall Street sign and the actual school. The outline of Kentucky was selected solely to represent the bourbon.”

Everything is representative of the men and Durham.

Taste of the drink

Founding partner of Old Hillside Bourbon Company Courtney Tucker said,  “Yeah, we decided, you know, we wouldn’t put anything in a bottle that we wouldn’t drink. You know, we like quality bourbon. We have a similar taste palate. So we came together with that and determined the mash bill –  the substantial amounts of corn, wheat, and barley that we would need. And so we came up with that in terms of just what we like to drink. And that’s what we bottled.”

It has a taste that is adaptable to any palette. There are certain things that Old Hillside Bourbon Company does to introduce the bourbon at their openings. They take dark chocolate and eat it first to open up your palate. Then you can taste all the flavors in the bourbon.

Emmanuel Waters, another founding partner of Old Hillside Bourbon Company said, “And we’re thinking back on saying, you know, none of us have a background in this space. We’re all experts in our separate fields. We had late nights, googling, researching, talking to, and calling people. I would also say the one thing that stands apart from us is that we do it our way. If we all don’t agree with everything, we don’t go in that direction. So again, this leads back to the same strength. We may not have the knowledge to get there, but we are all on the same accord when it comes to decisions that will make sense. That just goes to show you the love and respect we have for each other.”

Old Hillside Bourbon Forever

The four gentlemen took their time with creating this Bourbon. They did a lot of tastings and they wanted to make sure they put a quality product out that they all like and agreed on. It is something that we all came together with from start to finish.

Want to find out more about Old Hillside Bourbon and their upcoming events, click here!