John Rich Launches New Whiskey with Grandma
John Rich—and his grandmother—are officially in the whiskey business.
Fans have seen Rich's savvy business side since his days on reality show Celebrity Apprentice in 2011 (which he won) and via the launch of his Redneck Riviera bar chain. He also spent the majority of 2017 working with distiller Mel Heim to create his original Redneck Riviera Whiskey. And now, it’s time for Grandma to get in on the fun.
At a recent media roundtable at Rich’s home in Nashville, Rich and his 87-year-old grandmother, whom he refers to as "Granny Rich," talked about a new whiskey line the two are in cahoots with: Granny Rich Reserve.
“I brought it up to Granny about making a new whiskey back in probably early 2017,” John Rich said. “That doesn’t seem like the normal person you might go to would be your grandmother, [but] Granny Rich, since long as I can remember, will go put in a full day’s work and then she’ll come home, kick her shoes off and have a little something to drink, calm down, take the edge off, watch a little TV, goes to sleep, gets up, goes right back to work.
"I said, 'Granny, I’ve been drinking this Canadian-blended whiskey all this years, I think I’m gonna try to make an American-blended whiskey. You think that’d be a good idea?' And she goes, 'Well as long as it’s smooth, I’ll probably drink it.'”
Fast forward from that conversation and not only has Granny Rich received her first royalty check from whiskey sales, but it’s named in her honor. John Rich noted she still works at an alternations shop that she's owned for 19 years, and has crafted his stage clothes for him since his ’90s days as part of Lonestar.
Granny Rich Reserve is currently available in 12 states.
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