Dixon Dedman: The Man Behind The Bottle

Mick Unplugged

Master blender Dixon Dedman joins Mick Hunt to discuss his journey from family hospitality roots to crafting award-winning bourbons like Kentucky

Key takeaways

• Dixon Dedman's 'because' is rooted in hospitality legacy: creating products that become part of customers' meaningful generational moments rather than just selling bottles.
• Professional blending requires precise mathematical replication from small sample bottles to full barrel dumps, accounting for varying proof gallons per barrel across components.

Main topics

• Bourbon blending craftsmanship and technical challenges
• Hospitality roots and customer experience philosophy

Notable quotes

I'm not a tasting note guy... I want mouth feel. I want viscosity. I want weight.

Conclusion

Listeners gain a deeper appreciation for the art and science of master blending, understanding how

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) This guy sent me an email and he said, you know, I just wanted to send you this picture. He and his son, they had a bottle of batch two of Kentucky Owl and they were toasting with little styrofoam coffee cups. In the background was a big window and what was beyond that was this gentleman's grandson and his son's firstborn son. And so it was the first, the second, and the third that had just been born. Speaker 1 (0:28) It was one of those moments where you get that Speaker 3 (0:29) and you think you're doing something that goes beyond selling bottles. Speaker 1 (0:40) Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of McUnplugged, and today's show gets personal. I'm talking to a guy that I call the Prince of Kentucky. If you know bourbon, you know him. I'm from his beginning roots at Kentucky Owl to now leading 2XO, which is my favorite bourbon on the market, and I have no shame putting that on record. We're talking to none other than the brilliant, the amazing. the master blender himself, Mr. Dixon Dedman. Dixon, how you doing today, brother? Speaker 3 (1:14) I, you know, I'm a lot better after that intro. I, um, I, I'm not sure I deserve it, but I sure as heck appreciate it. That that's, that's awesome. Thank you, bro. Speaker 1 (1:25) You deserve it. Um, in, in, in so many ways. I mean, again, I've been a huge fan of you and your story. Um, the, the family history that you have with bourbon. Like I, I've been telling folks for the last 18 months, you can't tell the story of bourbon. without talking about the Deadman family. And I'm just honored to truly have you on, man. Like, I've looked up to you forever. We're around the same age. We have a lot of connections. So I'm honored, Dixon. I truly am. Speaker 3 (1:57) Listen, I feel the same way. I mean, I think what you've done is amazing. You've talked to some amazing people. You continue to kind of... Speaker 3 (2:11) I, you know. It was a real honor, real privilege. The invitation was extended to get to talk to you. It was something that meant a lot to me, and I certainly do appreciate the opportunity. It goes both ways here, my friend. Speaker 1 (2:30) Well, much appreciated. This show is about you, and it's about 2XO. Knowing the story, and we'll get into it a little bit, but you know... You sold Kentucky out of Stoli, right? And you could have chillaxed, as I like to say. You could have, you know. rode off in the sunset, found other things that you wanted to do, but you came back to bourbon. And I don't know many master blenders, right? But what I can tell you is that you've perfected something that I would say most people haven't. But my first question to you, Dixon, is this, and this is what I ask all my guests, like, what's your because? Speaker 1 (3:14) That deeper purpose that's deeper than your why. Why does Dixon Dedman continue to do what you do and give back the ways that you give back? Like, what's your because? What's Speaker 3 (3:25) your Speaker 1 (3:25) purpose today? Speaker 2 (3:27) You know, I, um, I think about... Speaker 3 (3:33) yeah yeah yeah like why why did i come back and and do this but to me and i think with a lot of things like it just always there's it goes deeper like there's a deeper current to to a lot of that stuff um Speaker 3 (3:48) You know, I grew up in the hospitality business. My family, very, you know, a lot of tradition, a lot of history, you know, long legacy, generational business, kind of a historic and, you know, longtime Kentucky. So there's a lot of pride there, right? There's a lot of, you know, continuing that legacy. extending that legacy, building on that legacy. Speaker 2 (4:19) So Speaker 3 (4:20) that was kind of the way I was raised, right? And a big part of that is about the people component, the hospitality component. I used to talk to our team about it a lot. It was like, when people come to stay with us, when they were coming to visit us, we've got... Speaker 3 (4:44) really a number of options. Um, but the, the one that, that, that we're after is, is to provide them an experience that is unexpected, that is beyond, um, you know, what, you know, if they think they're just coming here to stay for a night in a hotel and have dinner and sleep and have breakfast and leave the next day. Um, Or if they think they're coming to stay here for four or five nights, but this is just kind of base camp and they're looking for all of these ancillary things to do outside. All of that, you know, it's like, okay, our goal is to exceed that, right? Is to become a part of their special moment, become a part of their experience, to elevate their expectations, to go beyond their expectations and to be a part of something special for them. And so, you know, with Kentucky Owl, as I got into the bourbon world and all of a sudden we're creating these things and, and, you know, they, in a different way, they become part of somebody's special, like special moment, special experience there. You know, it's like, you get the note, I've been saving this bottle until certain, you know, a certain. Speaker 3 (6:05) you know time certain uh moment certain certain thing happened and and this is when we opened it this is when i shared it with my son or with my father with my friends or um this is how we celebrated that or whatever all of a sudden it's like oh you know you can Kind of do the same thing in bourbon that we were doing in hospitality. And that's. That's being a part of someone's special moment. And so I think leaving Kentucky Owl and wanting to create something else was a lot, when you say the because, the because is, it's just really special to be able to... Passionately develop something, put yourself into something to really, you know, to create something that then goes out into the world and becomes part of people's, you know, something that moves people, that excites people, that they say, hey, you know, I have that bottle and. that reminds me of this, or we use this to celebrate or, you know, or whatever. I mean, it's, it's. Speaker 3 (7:25) Probably you were looking for a one sentence answer to that question, but that's what I got. No, Speaker 1 (7:30) that was perfect. And what I take away from that is this. And again, it's something that I applaud you on because you've mastered this. And I'm going to say blends, so no pun intended on Master and Blending, right? But I believe that life is about moments and memories, right? And if I were to say what has Dixon Dedman done almost better than anyone else on earth is that through hospitality, that background that you have, and the passion that you have with that and bourbon, you've allowed the world. to have moments and memories. And I don't know if that's purposely what you've done and if that's tied to your because, but you have done that. And that's what I think I appreciate and respect the most from you is that you've allowed me personally in the last 18 months to have lots of moments and memories that are associated with you and the things that surround you. Speaker 3 (8:34) Well, you know. Speaker 3 (8:36) That means a lot. And that is... Speaker 3 (8:42) It's going to take me a while to unpack that compliment because that's really special. I think... Speaker 3 (8:49) What I have enjoyed the most about my experience in bourbon is that it's always been more of a passion project for me rather than a business model. And I think that it's become this incredible way to... to interact on a, on a very personal and emotional level with people that, and my partners and the people, you know, everybody's like, maybe you should focus more. I mean, I, yes, focus more on the business side of this, but yeah, the, the reward, the, the, the, the real reward in, in a lot of what, what we've accomplished in the, in the bourbon space has been, Speaker 3 (9:44) Kind of the, what you, what you gain because you've created these, these personal emotional connections with people through. Um, and, and so that's, um, I don't know. I, I just, I feel very, you know, very, very blessed, very honored, um, to, to have, you know, kind of. my path to go the way it's gone. No, Speaker 1 (10:07) absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, this next segment of the show, I like to call the unplugged truth. Speaker 1 (10:18) And I'm going to start with the truth that I'd love for you to elaborate on because you kind of hinted on it earlier when you talked about, you know, holding something for the right occasion or pulling it at the right time. Blending? Bourbon. Speaker 1 (10:36) is an art, obviously, as you know. And I personally feel like it requires a lot of patience. It requires a lot of variables and testing. Tell us a truth about blending bourbon that most people wouldn't know or understand. Speaker 3 (10:59) You know, that's such a good question. And there's, there's really two, I mean, there, there's like the, the technical piece of it. And that's the part that, that is, um, that makes it a lot more difficult than, um, Speaker 3 (11:16) than people realize. I think, you know, you have, I mean, no disrespect here, you know. Speaker 3 (11:26) But a lot of times, you know, people fancy themselves as like, uh, um, you know, home blenders because, you know, they, they, they take a measuring cup and it's 30 % wild Turkey and 40 % Weller and a little bit of, you know, whatever. Um, And that's, you know, the, the real, honestly, one of the real challenges with blending, with, with blending whiskey is, you know, working from sample bottles, 200, 200 ml sample bottles, um, or whatever, and, and creating a blend that you can actually replicate when you start dumping, you know, full barrels. Uh, you know, and, and so. The challenge is having an understanding of the fact that this particular component is actually roughly, say, 46.5 proof gallons per barrel at a certain proof. With this component is 47.5 proof gallons per barrel. This one is 53 and this one is... So to create a sample in the lab, you know, it's not just like 20 % of this, 30 % of that, 30 % of that, because the volumes of the barrels are different. Because, you know, so when you went and dumped those and in reality, that blend, that ratio is going to be off. So that's the. That's the technical challenge that a lot of times is not, you know, people are like, oh, I could do that. Well, that's the hard part. Speaker 3 (13:11) I think. Speaker 2 (13:13) For me, in terms of blending... Speaker 2 (13:18) It's about the, Speaker 3 (13:20) it's really about the confidence. And I don't