Suntory Global Spirits or Beam Suntory are world-renowned, and for good reason. In its arsenal of delicious adult beverages, there are some big names you’ll recognize instantly, including Laphroaig, Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, Basil Hayden, and more. But our focus today is on a little-known brand called Basil Hayden. Here to talk to us about the brand and his journey to becoming the Global Small Batch Whiskey Ambassador and American Whiskey Ambassador for Suntory Global Spirits, Tim Heuisler. He has now been with the company for over eight years, nearly a decade. The Manual’s Dan Gaul sits down with him to discuss everything about bourbon, whiskey, travel, and what it means to be an ambassador within the spirits industry. Take a seat, pour yourself a glass, and let’s go.
Tell us, Tim: How did you get into the wide world of whiskey and Beam Suntory?
As the youngest-ever General Manager of Time, a renowned whiskey bar in Philadelphia, Heuisler’s career evolved from staying behind the bar to becoming the small batch ambassador for Beam Suntory. “It’s funny; I found a matchbook from Time restaurant the other day, which has got to be fifteen years old at this point,” he says, sharing a bit of nostalgia.
But he also explains that trajectory and what it was like. “I kicked my career off working at bars and restaurants since high school. When I was 21, Time opened up — amazing whiskey bar, jazz venue, still in Philadelphia [and] a great spot,” he says. “I cut my teeth behind the bar, worked up to general manager, [and] spent about nine years there. Truly my passion for spirits and cocktails and, particularly barrel-aged spirits and whiskey blossomed there. I was really lucky to meet a lot of people in the whiskey industry.”
That seems to be a driving connection for many influential people across all industries: making strong connections and building rapport. In this case, Heuisler found it in the industry he grew to love: spirits and whiskey.
“None of these brands were created overnight, and none of this whiskey was created overnight. There’s a lot of time and energy and passion that goes into them.”
Meeting those people is all part of building a budding career. “If, Fred Noe, our seventh-generation master distiller from Beam, if he was in town, you bet he was swinging by our spot, tasting, or hosting a little event. So, that’s where I got to meet Fred and become part of the Beam Suntory fold. After many years of doing the restaurant thing, which was great, I wanted a change. I missed a lot of weddings, I missed a lot of birthday parties, you’re working weekends — I mean anyone that’s been in the industry can relate,” Heuisler says.
Heuisler broke away from that mold and ventured into new territory, where he is today. “I can’t say that my job now is ‘normal,’ being a global brand ambassador. The travel is very real. I’m still missing some of those events I mentioned. But I love to travel, I love spreading the stories, and the brands I get to represent — representing Fred and Freddie from our distillery and everybody that works there,” he says. “I’m very ,very lucky. My job is not normal, and I’m really blessed to be in this position. I love the world of whiskey, and I love meeting folks like yourself and others that enjoy it. Because there’s a lot that goes into it. None of these brands were created overnight, and none of this whiskey was created overnight. There’s a lot of time and energy and passion that goes into them.”
Tasting excellence: Pouring a dram of Basil Hayden’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Deeper into the interview, the boys pour themselves a dram and dive in with a tasting. Today, they’re wetting their lips with Basil Hayden Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, just the base blend. But don’t take that to mean it’s a lesser variant.
“This is the OG, released in 1992 as part of our small batch collections. Under that small batch collection, which was created by [Frederick] Booker Noe, our sixth-generation master distiller, it was Basil Hayden, Knob Creek, Baker’s, and Bookers. That was the original lineup,” Heuisler explains. “Again, it all came out in ’92 to reinvent the bourbon wheel and what people thought of as bourbon whiskey. Because, at that time, bourbon was not very popular. We really didn’t have any ultra-premium bourbon brands out there, and Booker, he created that term small batch.”
“Small batch, I like to describe it as more than one and less than all. It’s not one barrel. Not all of our barrels. It’s a small batch.”
Heuisler jokes that they should have claimed the term small batch as their own. “I’m sure there’s someone in the company kicking themselves in the butt because we didn’t put a copyright on the term small batch. Because it is everywhere now,” he says.
“But small batch, I gotta be very clear, has no legal governance. Like the word ‘bourbon’ is protected by the U.S. Federal government, and you need to follow guidelines to put bourbon on your label.”
Small batch is not protected or governed in the same way, implying that it could be pretty much anything a distiller or whiskey maker wants.
But Beam Suntory, at least according to Heuisler, has a very tight definition: “Small batch, I like to describe it as more than one and less than all. It’s not one barrel. Not all of our barrels. It’s a small batch.”
He explains how Booker was essentially the father of the modern development of small-batch releases and what evolved into what we experience today with many whiskeys and bourbons. Booker stretched the boundaries of taste, experience, and blends, creating a ton of unique flavor profiles.
A nose for the good flavor
Back to the tasting, they first nose in and then sip, exploring what flavors are sloshing around their taste buds. True aficionados.
“I never want someone to say, ‘Oh, I’m smelling this wrong.’ No, you’re doing great. But your vocabulary and what you’re picking up might just be a little bit different.”
Gaul says, “I get that smell right up front of like caramel, maybe some honey, like really nice and warm.”
Heuisler responds, “You’re talking about those caramels, that vanilla when you take a look at a glass of whiskey […] you gotta remember 100% of the color is coming from that barrel and most of the flavor. The things you’re mentioning — caramels, vanillas, light oak, a little bit of spice — those are aromatics. You don’t taste those. You taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter, Umami. So, all those romantic flavors that we like to swirl our glass and mention as we nose and taste, that’s coming from the aromatics. That’s coming from that interaction of that whiskey with that barrel.”
“I never want someone to say, ‘Oh, I’m smelling this wrong.’ No, you’re doing great. But your vocabulary and what you’re picking up might just be a little bit different,” he says.
Personally, I recognize this as an odd juxtaposition with my cigar experiences. Your tongue and taste buds only pick up so much flavor. The rest of the nuanced flavors you get on the retrohale — when pulling the smoke through your nostrils. That is nearly identical to nosing the whiskeys and bourbons and allowing your olfactory senses to pick up a more nuanced flavor.
Another great interview in the books
It would be impossible to summarize the entire hour-long interview here. As always, I highly recommend watching the full thing to preview the parts that weren’t included and get a better visual sense of what’s happening while the two aficionados discuss the whiskeys.
