New Scotland Spirits founder Jesse Sommer is a former U.S. Army paratrooper and officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He was twice awarded the bronze star for combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Responsible for the “feel” of his company’s brands, Jesse mines the Town of New Scotland’s history and culture for inspiration. At the company’s helm, he spearheads product development, social media programming, marketing, supply chain management, sales strategies, and the business fundamentals underpinning the company’s distilling operations. We wanted to learn more about the man behind the whiskey, so we shot down to his new Tasting Room on Albany’s Lark Street to sample some spirits and ask Jesse 7 Questions.
TBM: “What inspired you to begin distilling spirits?”
JESSE: While I was overseas, New Scotland was yet again threatened by a developer trying to pave over our community’s most sacred land. It made me question what about America I was out there “defending” while my own hometown’s rural sensibilities and agrarian traditions were about to be buried under a freaking parking lot. I surmised that the only way to fight capitalism was with capitalism, so I started working with local farmers to source grain for distillation into whiskey, betting there was money to be made by leveraging the culture’s alcohol habit. And let’s just say: Snake eyes!
TBM: “We’re at a Thanksgiving Eve house party. You’re the DJ. What are we listening to?”
JESSE: Me at the mic, soliciting someone, anyone, to sub in as DJ. If no one volunteers, then I guess we’ll be jamming out to a vibrant mix of NPR’s “This American Life” and the original 80 episodes of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. It’s not that I don’t like music. It’s that I came of age in the 90s. I’m a Napster kid who never came to grips with paying for music. That preposterous ideological position has completely isolated me from music, though I recently heard a song on terrestrial radio with the chorus “Pink Pony Club” and that s**t was pretty tight.
TBM: “Outside of distilling, what other hobbies/interests do you enjoy?
JESSE: Distilling is neither hobby nor interest. It’s the pretense by which I satisfy my insatiable need for attention on social media. I discern evidence of my existence solely in the “likes” my Reels amass. Beyond that sole pursuit, I’m ruthlessly boring.
TBM: “Wife? Kids? Pets?”
JESSE: No. Nope. Nada. I travel light, player, and by that measure I’m batting a thousand. Today I address all you high school graduates to encourage eternal bachelorhood, as accentuated by a healthy dose of Peter Pan Syndrome. It’ll make our dystopian future so much easier to stomach when the Machines inevitably attain true sentience and decide humanity is a nuisance.
TBM: “ What’s one thing about you that people would be surprised to know about you?
JESSE: That I’m no longer sure the moon landing wasn’t faked. I’m not saying we didn’t go to the moon, but I am saying the footage of the lunar liftoff cannot possibly be real. Like, I know special effects, homie; that s**t might’ve tricked an audience 60 years ago, but we can all make a feature length film on our iPhones now. And there’s just no way. These days, I’m basically of the opinion that nothing is real except aliens. So, yeah, I’m hanging on by a thread. Fortunately, our supply of Helderberg Whiskey is inexhaustible, and I’m prepared to cope accordingly.
TBM: “If you could sit down and share a cocktail with 3 historical or iconic characters, who would they be and why?
JESSE: Hard pass on this one, brah. I’d settle for sharing a cocktail with some random dude in Indonesia right now. Because I have no idea what life is like for the people with whom I share this planet. The brilliance, or maybe the horror, of [mobile applications like] Tik Tok is that it’s exposed me to snippets of life beyond my immediate awareness, and it’s insane how other members of this species experience an entirely different reality. Actually, save your money; I’d settle for a trip out to Amsterdam. Not the European city, I mean the one in Montgomery County, like 35 minutes from here. Building this business has required me to explore 32 New York counties and counting, and people are just mind-numbingly fascinating everywhere you go. From Afghanistan to Oneonta, you ain’t need to go back in time for a good conversation.
TBM: If you had an opportunity to speak directly to Capital Region Spirit Consumers, what would you like them to know about New Scotland Spirits?
JESSE: Whiskey is whiskey, vodka is vodka, gin is gin. Everyone has different palettes, but don’t flatter your “expertise” — our Helderberg Bourbon holds its own against Woodford Reserve or Knob Creek any day of the week. When you’re out at the bar, or looking to replenish your cabinet, buy New Scotland Spirits. Support local. Support the New York farmer who grows the grain, the New York distiller who distills the spirit, the New York cooper who constructs the white oak barrels, the New Scotland Spirits employee who pays New York taxes on his or her wages. And if you need to hear me say it, fine: we’re veteran- and woman-owned. But the real reason to drink our spirits is that our products are superb, and they were crafted right here in the home state that it’s on all of us to defend.
