Entrepreneurship w Ryan Maybee | Bartender at Large ep 487

About this episode

Ryan Maybee discusses the challenges and strategies involved in reviving a historic whiskey brand and building a successful cocktail bar.

What does it take to resurrect a pre-Prohibition whiskey brand while building one of America's most celebrated cocktail bars? Join us for a deep dive into the business of hospitality with Ryan Maybee, the Kansas City entrepreneur behind the legendary speakeasy Manifesto and the historic revival of J. Rieger & Co. Ryan pulls back the curtain on the operational realities of navigating federal regulators, raising capital for a distillery, and the five-year grind to bring a 100-year-old brand back from the dead. He shares hard-won lessons on partnership structures, the discipline of knowing your numbers, and why creating an entirely new whiskey category required as much business savvy as creative instinct. From surviving the pandemic to building a sprawling distillery campus with a 40-foot slide, Ryan offers an unvarnished look at the entrepreneurial roller coaster. Tune in for a masterclass in calculated risk, brand building, and the long game of leaving a lasting mark on an industry. This episode produced in association with J. Rieger & Co. ____________________________________ Join us every Monday as acclaimed bartender, Erick Castro, interviews some of the bar industry's top…

People in this episode

Host: Erick Castro

Guest: Ryan Maybee

Topics covered

• entrepreneurship
• hospitality
• whiskey brand revival
• cocktail bars
• business strategies

Keywords

• entrepreneurship
• whiskey
• cocktails
• hospitality
• business
• distillery
• J. Rieger & Co.

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: J. Rieger & Co., Manifesto

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