There’s a moment in my conversation with Zach Johnston where he drops a line that’s been rattling around my head ever since: “You’re not going to get 2% of Diageo. You might get a half, but you’re never going to get two or three. Whereas over here, you can create your own 5%.”
It’s the kind of clarity that only comes from someone who’s seen the spirits industry from every angle—behind the bar, behind the keyboard, and now behind the brand.
The Long Way Around
Zach’s path to Blackwood Distilling reads like a novel with too many genre shifts to be believable. Film school in LA. Cocktail bars in Prague. Then Berlin’s Victoria Bar—the kind of place where Stefan Weber (co-author of The Art of the Spirited Drinking) takes you under his wing and teaches you that a proper Old Fashioned might take 20 minutes, and that’s perfectly fine.
“Being observant, and then internalizing what’s already happening,” he tells me. “If you can adjust something to make it more efficient, prove it. If not, follow what’s already there.”
That philosophy “observe, internalize, refine” carried him from folding bar towels on top of espresso machines (”so they’d dry evenly”) to building Uproxx’s whiskey vertical into one of the most-read spirits publications online. The differentiator? He actually tasted the whiskey before writing about it.
“A lot of the whiskey reviews in the mainstream were just reposting press releases,” he explains. “We made a pact that I had to taste the whiskey and do my own tasting notes and give you a bottom line of what is this good for, who is it for.”
The 10% Reality
What strikes me most about Zach is his clear-eyed view of the whiskey world’s actual demographics. We spend so much time in our enthusiast bubbles—the subreddits, the YouTube comments, the tasting groups—that we forget we’re outliers.
“About 10% are your regulars, who are ride or die,” he says, drawing from his bartending days. “The 90% of the other people? They’re there because they read about it somewhere. They heard Old Fashioneds are cool again.”
This isn’t dismissive—it’s strategic. If you’re selling a $40 bourbon, Zach argues, go hard on Instagram and YouTube. But Blackwood’s $80-200 products need different gatekeepers: chefs at Michelin-starred restaurants, bartenders at hotel lobby bars where guests don’t flinch at $40 pours.
“If you get the bartenders on your side, the price won’t matter.”
Chasing Ghosts (The Good Kind)
Here’s where Blackwood gets interesting. When founders Guinness and Justin looked at the toasted barrel market in 2019-2020, they saw a gap. Every toasted product was oak-forward—which is fine, but it’s not the whole story.
“What wasn’t out there,” Zach explains, “was utilizing freshly toasted barrels for the toasted wood sugars that caramelize—as opposed to the actual oak.”
Their process—one-to-one rebarreling from the original barrel into new Kelvin Cooperage barrels, medium toast, no char (or char four and char two with medium toast heads)—creates something that evokes a different era entirely. Through his work with Justin Sloan at Justin’s House of Bourbon, Zach has tasted enough vintage pours to recognize the connective tissue.
“There’s a parallel line between an old Fitz from 1956 or an old Granddad from 1972 and our whiskey,” he says. “The body’s similar. It’s got the same viscosity. That depth on the caramel, stewed fruit side.”
The Barrel Market Silver Lining
We talk about the current state of American whiskey—the surplus (Zach diplomatically avoids “glut”), the dropping barrel prices, the brands that won’t survive. But he’s genuinely optimistic.
“You can get four-year-old, pretty good Kentucky bourbon for $850 a barrel, which is almost cost,” he notes. “That 2020 surplus? It’s going to be eight years old in less than 18 months.”
For Blackwood, lower barrel prices have meant lower consumer prices—about 20% down since Zach joined. Their core Toasted 105 now sits at $79.99 MSRP, making it viable for bars and restaurants where pour cost actually matters.
The Products
For those keeping track:
Toasted 105 Bourbon & Rye: 52.5% ABV, ~$80. The core lineup, proofed to maintain density while trimming the edge.
Barrel Strength Bourbon & Rye: 58-59% ABV, $134-150. Small batches from 9-14 barrels.
Single Barrel: $174-199. Highly allocated, primarily medium toast and char four barrels.
On the horizon: a 12-year age-stated (non-toasted) bourbon and a collaboration with a German distiller on what they’re calling “the world’s first German American rye.”
Where to Find Blackwood: blackwooddistillingco.com/ , bourbonoutfitter.com for online orders, Justin’s House of Bourbon in Louisville, or ask your local high-end liquor store to bring it in.
Follow Zach: @ztpwhiskey on Instagram
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