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Writer's pictureabisola

Toasting to Dreams and Distilling a Legacy...

A woman raises a bottle of whiskey in celebration

Whenever people ask how I started my own whiskey brand, I always provide a short answer and a long answer.

The short answer is simple: I drank a lot in college.


Specifically, a lot of whiskey in college and it instantly became all I would crave on a night out. I started with Jack Daniels, then when I'd go visit my cousins in the UK, I'd enjoy Scotch at the local pubs and before I started my brand, I was deep into Redbreast Irish Whiskey. I love the taste of whiskey, with its complex flavors, its rich aromas and the fact that no two whiskies taste the same to me regardless of their mashbill.


This love carried me from college into my 20s, where I felt a bit alone as a young woman drinking whiskey. I'd be told by men at bars that I should be more ladylike and opt for a glass of wine instead of a whiskey neat. That got tired and annoying to me very fast, I just want to say but it made me feel pretty cool and increased my curiosity about whiskey even more. Though I felt much like an anomaly as a young woman drinking whiskey, I would soon discover that I was not alone and the statistics support a sharp change in the demographics of who is drinking whiskey.


  • Women currently make up almost 40% of the whiskey drinker.

  • More people of multi-ethnic backgrounds are drinking whiskey.

  • The predominant age group of who is drinking whiskey has decreased for the first time in decades and are now ages 30-49.


If these are the fact, I wondered, then why aren't the brands on the shelves representative of that? Why is whiskey still considered a grown man drink? Why am I deemed unladylike for my choice of spirit?



This was when the dream was realized. There needed to be a change, something different on these shelves, and decided in late 2019 that since I checked almost all the boxes for what I deemed was the "modern-day whiskey drinker" (with the exception of being 30 as I was 25 at the time) that I should set out to create something for us.


The first step I took was trademarking the name because that was a step I could control, put money behind and it would force me to continue on in this path. I knew I'd name it after me because I love the idea of everyone finding their own wealth; knowledge, health, joy, peace, etc. Abisola is from the Yoruba language and means "A Child born into Wealth." I always tell people that I was blessed with the wealth of humor because I'm quite funny. (I'm just being modest, I'm very very funny.)


Once I did the trademark, I knew the taste that I was searching for and the recipe I wanted to bring to life and share with others and from there, it was God and a very organic process to get Abisola Whiskey into stores. Now, just because it was organic, doesn't mean it was easy. It still isn't easy. This is an industry where I'm learning new things every day, I study and push myself and the brand to be better every day and to ensure that the consumer (hi ya'll) is happy and feeling seen. We haven't even touched on the financial aspect of all of this: I emptied out my 401K and took my savings that I was going to use to purchase my first home for all of this. I can feel the deep sighs when you read this and I'm right there with you but this shows that I'm committed beyond words to the goals of Abisola Whiskey and all that this brand represents.


I always tell people that as far as this journey goes, the highs are the HIGHEST and the lows are in hell. That's just the truth of the matter but everything in the middle is what makes it that much sweeter. Since I launched the brand in May of 2021, I've been a one woman show, handling every aspect of this business. I am an accountant, social media manager, operations director, marketing director, CEO, founder, owner, sales rep, brand ambassador. I'm doing it all with the grace of God and while it gets taxing and exhausting at times, I've been able to build this company from the ground up, see what works and what doesn't and adapt. I've learned the best lessons and I've had amazing people teach me things along the way. I've had many underestimate me and not even take me seriously when I've gone to pitch my brand and try to get it into stores.


But my favorite moments, have to be when I'm doing a tasting at a store or a bar and I get to meet people, talk about not only Abisola Whiskey, but about what they have going on in their life. They share their wins, their celebrations, their ideas and their love stories (as a lovergirl, I'm a sucker for a good love story.) I love being a part of your celebrations, seeing photos of bottles of Abisola Whiskey at the dinner table, bbqs, birthday parties and calm nights in. The photos of cocktails being made, meals being shared, thank you for including me.



The mission has always been to evoke celebration and representation in an industry that has been seen as one way for so long. From label to taste, we're changing the way you think about whiskey, who's drinking whiskey and how they're drinking it.


I'm proud of this journey thus far, I'm proud of how far Abisola Whiskey has come and I'm so excited to share this journey with you all, one sip at a time.


A toast to dreams and distilling a legacy.


Please remember to celebrate yourself in big and little ways.

& always cheers with Abisola.




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