Filming with Alaska Distillery

About a year before starting at the GSB, I developed and produced a pilot for Animal Planet about a small distillery in Wasilla, Alaska. Alaska Distillery calls itself an "artisan" operation in their media package. They're able to get away with that label because no one actually goes to Wasilla to visit them. In reality, they're a 5-person team and a revolving cast of local contractors (depending on who is and isn't in legal trouble at the moment) operating in a frigid, experimental warehouse without much business acumen or operational consistency, but with a plethora of interpersonal, managerial, production and financial issues... including that their Master Distiller is legally blind (his signature line: "I'm blind, but I have a vision").

What they do have is a unique competitive advantage: their Master Distiller has the only license in the US to harvest glacial icebergs from Prince William Sound, which he melts down to make a glacial vodka. Similar to Beach Whiskey, Alaska Distillery will never be a premium brand. Unlike Beach Whiskey, they don't want to be. They've embraced their Alaskan identity and are now at least locally well-known for flavored vodkas, such as smoked salmon, hempseed, and fireweed (see below for clips from the show, about as authentic as it gets).

Hunting for Fireweed, Finding a Bear Instead

Searching for Ice Worms

As discussed in yesterday's case though, it would be almost impossible for Alaska Distillery to scale and retain their authenticity - and this friction is a huge, daily source of tension between their GM and their Master Distiller. The question that I saw playing out daily while filming with them was: if this issue comes to a head, who does the business need more? Is it the GM without whom the production would go bankrupt almost immediately? Or the Distiller who literally owns the competitive advantage? The answer lies with the company's goals. If they are content running the distillery as a "two-legged stool" with a great product, a loyal local following, and sales that pay the bills, then the Distiller wins every time. But if the CEO decides that he wants Alaska Distillery vodka in Bloody Mary's on brunch tables in New York, they will inevitably have to sacrifice ice worm expeditions to hit quarterly goals, which would likely mean losing their Distiller and hoping that they can find a way to save their product and story, since a one-legged stool can't stand.

Reading about Copperhead, my main question was how many people were on the team and what were the dynamics? And beyond that: what were their long-term visions and goals personally and for the brand, and which legs of the stool did each care about most? Unless they are aligned in their answers to these questions, it would be incredibly difficult to take the next step and become a premium brand.