5 Questions with Julie Macklowe

It’s arduous to outline somebody like Julie Macklowe.

Born in Aspen, raised in Colorado, Julie accomplished her B.A. in Economics and B.S. in Commerce on the College of Virginia McIntire Faculty of Commerce and went on to a profession in finance. From structuring leveraged buyouts in Seoul and Singapore to ultimately operating her personal hedge fund in 2006.

In 2010 she closed the fund to pursue her personal investments within the style enterprise, together with investing in BaubleBar. In 2011 got here her personal skincare line,  vbeauté. Now, Julie has launched her personal American Single Malt.

The primary cask comes from her personal reserves and ONLY 237 bottles will likely be bought for $1,500, whereas photographs are anticipated to be bought for between $115 to $175. Constituted of the very best high quality, 100% non-GMO USDA Grade 1 Kentucky Barley and distilled in column and copper doublers at an undisclosed distillery, The Macklowe has been bottled at 46% ABV and aged for 7 years in ultra-premium toasted and charred new American white oak.

We sat down with Julie and talked all issues whiskey:

Pursuitist: The place did you uncover your love for American Single Malt? 

Julie Macklowe: I’m Julie Macklowe and that is the story of a whiskey I produced, the primary Luxurious American Single Malt Whiskey, referred to as The Macklowe. It’s the story of a journey I’ve been on since I found single malt Scotch whiskey on the tender age of twenty-one initially of my profession.  Have you ever ever been thrown into deep water to both swim with the sharks or get eaten alive?  And when you get moist you discover you’re simply as hungry, possibly even hungrier, than the sharks?  That was me.

I obtained hungry for achievement at an early age.  My first job was in “arduous” finance: shares and hedge funds of all issues.  This was a high-testosterone, “win or die” world, the place the fellows smoked cigars, performed poker, and drank Scotch single malts, neat. Each side of it was aggressive.  Now it had me…the renegade.

So I confirmed up in my tailor-made Chanel skirts and stepped proper into the center of the sector and discovered the video games. I’ve since given up cigars and poker however I discovered learn how to drink, and love Scotch single malt.  I grew right into a enterprise with the sensation that women and men had been basically equal.

That’s the place the whiskey obsession started and as I traveled the world for work, I began gathering whisky: the Far East, Europe, ending up in Speyside or Kentucky or Paris, in all places I went I searched out the bottle outlets and duty-free outlets and stuffed my suitcases for the journey residence.  One bottle results in one other bottle….and now…

I’ve obtained a loopy, huge whiskey assortment, primarily Scotch single malt. The bottles in my kitchen are those I drink on daily basis after which there’s the “assortment”: previous, uncommon, a few of them priceless.  However I drink what I purchase, I’m pushed by my palate, not the value, and I like all the vary of flavors obtainable from malted barley, from fruity and spicy all the best way to smokey and peaty.

I moved from the buying and selling flooring to the highest strategic ranges of finance, obtained married, and had a ravishing little woman.  However investing solely creates wealth, not worth, and I needed to make one thing of worth, a product that individuals would love to make use of.  I created a line of natural skincare merchandise referred to as vBeaute and bought it completely on QVC. As a substitute of inventories and accounts receivables and logistics from a purely summary view, I now owned them, and I invested closely within the individuals who managed them for me.  We began vBeaute with no guides and we made quite a lot of errors and I ultimately closed the enterprise, however I discovered I beloved the main points of packaging and sourcing, and promoting.

Ten years later, I obtained pregnant once more and had my second daughter and commenced to appreciate that it’s important to actually love what you’re doing if you happen to’re going to be pleased with it.  And after she was born I discovered myself in Scotland with my flask and began {golfing} there and thought: I ought to be doing this on daily basis!

What was the method of creating The Macklowe like? 

I took sensory programs to find extra about my very own palate.  I traveled by Scotland and into Kentucky consulting with a few of the nice distillers and blenders in each locations. I spotted I needed to make a single malt whiskey that was luxurious however was uniquely American and inclusive of everybody who beloved luxurious: The Macklowe, the primary Luxurious American Single Malt Whiskey.  A single malt of 100% barley due to the big selection of flavors that may be produced from that grain: fruity, spicy, smokey, or peaty.  However I used to be not going to distill it myself: what I’m good at is bringing the correct group collectively, organising circumstances to allow them to be one of the best of what they do, and directing the end result.

Initially, I had whiskies distilled particularly for me right here within the US that I bought a number of casks of: These are my personal assortment, my Household Reserve “Casks of Distinction”.  The Macklowe is the primary Luxurious American Single Malt.

This whiskey is constituted of 100% malted barley distilled in 2014 and matured right here in a char #3 new  American oak barrel.

This specific barrel, Barrel #61, was chosen particularly by Ian MacMillan, one of many nice grasp blenders in Scotland.  He’s been within the enterprise near 50 years, was the grasp blender for Burn Stewart (makers of Bunnahabhain, Tobermory, and Deanston) and most just lately introduced the Bladnoch Distillery within the Lowlands again to life.

There are solely 237 bottles of this whiskey obtainable.  They’re going particularly to those who I’ve chosen to obtain them.  These bottles are like Ferraris: luxurious, elegant, with deep nuances that carry them from the strange.  Every bottle was bought out minutes after our launch.

These are casks that I had particularly distilled and matured for me, the Household Reserve. These are going out to solely those that are a part of the unique membership of high-end whiskey connoisseurs and eating places.  This liquid is irreplaceable and restricted and as soon as it’s gone, it’s gone.

At an SRP of $1500, The Macklowe Casks of Distinction is a luxurious that makes the fortunate proprietor really feel completely different for having it.  Each bottle of The Macklowe has my very own private contact, from the flavors inside to the packaging outdoors.  This will likely be a pre-allocated merchandise, I labored very carefully to pick these prime venues and individuals who get to personal it.  Then we’ll be releasing restricted quantities for the primary few years as we construct stock and status within the market.

Who’s The Macklowe Drinker?

I might say it’s positively Whisky Afficiandos.

The place are the dream bars/motels/lounges you’d like to see The Macklowe? 

I’m very happy with our who’s who of one of the best on-premise accounts who took our product.  I might say as a result of fabulous high quality of this liquid, it was NYC’s best eating places – a dream come true.  These embrace Eleven Madison Park, Daniel, Jean George Nougatine, The Mark, The Grille, Casa Cipriani’s, Sistina, The Polo Bar, Kappo Masa, and lots of extra.  A full checklist of eating places will be discovered at https://themacklowe.com/places/ .