Hops & Spirits Bar Conversations
Hops & Spirits Bar Conversations
Hops & Spirits
Ryan Lang of Middle West Spirits plus the VaBourbonHunter
47 minutes Posted Nov 5, 2020 at 11:30 am.
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D. Brown, @vabourbonhunter on Instagram, joins at the 2-minute mark

  • How did you become the vabourbonhunter?
  • How big has your bourbon bar gotten now?
  • Are you someone who opens most of your bottles or do you hold on to them?
  • Is your wife a fan of bourbon or whiskey?
  • How do you find some of your bottles?
  • What’s your best or most excited about find?
  • Is it difficult to find certain bottles in Virginia?
  • What have you found out about the craft beer/bourbon community?
  • How did the #vabourbonslide start? And have their been any mishaps?
  • Where can people find you? 

Ryan Lang, co-founder and head distiller of Middle West Spirits in Columbus, Ohio, joins at the 19-minute mark

  • How have times changed since you all launched in 2010?
  • What made you and your business partner Brady Konya decide to start a distillery?
  • How did you and your business partner meet and come up with the business idea?
  • Can you talk about your family history in distilling?
  • Did you truly get your first distilling equipment by digging it up on the family farm and cleaning it?
  • What’s it like to continue on a family tradition?
  • Being an engineer, did you ever see yourself switching careers?
  • Did you think you’d be running a distillery and being a head distiller? 
  • You all source locally too, or at least in the Ohio Valley region, why was that important for you all?
  • What was it like to win the inaugural Innovation Award for whiskey at the 2019 American Craft Spirits Awards?
  • How does the soft red winter wheat give you all a unique flavor profile?
  • Why did you all launch the OYO Vodka and Vim & Petal Gin?
  • What can people expect with the Middle West expect from your whiskies?
  • What are the double cask like and why make those?
  • How did you pick your location in Columbus?
  • What’s next for you and Middle West?