Posted in: Interview, Nerd Food, Pop Culture | Tagged: Find Familiar Spirits, Matthew Lillard, whiskey

Interview Matthew Lillard Chats Quest's End Whiskey

We had a chance to chat with actor and D&D player Matthew Lillard about his new fantasy-themed spirits company, Find Familiar Spirits.

If you told me a year ago we'd be talking to actor and D&D player Matthew Lillard about his own brand of fantasy-themed whiskey, I'd ask you to speed the calendar up. Probably one of the most interesting cross-branded items we've seen in 2024, Find Familiar Spirits has become a passion project for Lillard and his partner, actor and screenwriter Justin Ware, in which they release high-end spirits tied to fantasy gaming. Such as the awesome Rogue flavor for Quest's End, which recently hit the market. We had a taste of it, and it is absolutely worth trying if you love bourbon whiskeys, as it sits at 98.3 Proof. Hell of a drink to have while sitting around the table fighting off magical beasts as a character you created. We had a chance to chat with Lillard about the new company and the spirits they're making, as well as what's on the way.

BC: Hey Matthew! How have you been lately?

ML: Lately, I've been very busy… but currently, I'm sitting by the Arno River in Florence, Italy. My daughter is studying art here, so my wife and I took a quick trip over to Europe to visit her. It's been an incredible journey so far, with a couple more days left on this adventure.

How have things been going with Beadle & Grimm's these days?

B&G is currently crushing it; thanks for asking. We launched our Vecna Platinum edition this past week, and sales have been "off the hook," as the kids say. We also have our game, Ring of Chaos, coming soon, along with some very exciting new products for Magic: The Gathering, our character class dice sets, and some new IP that we're working with. We have lots to be excited about.

When did you and Justin Ware first meet up and eventually become friends?

We did a terrible film together called Pool Boys about 100 years ago. True story, my right testicles makes its film debut in that moive.

How did the discussion between you two come up to start your own spirits brand?

Justin called me about a year and a half ago and pitched me the idea of building a whiskey brand tailored for the D&D/RPG gamer. He had a buddy named Tim Sparapani who was running a successful whiskey company called Blue Run, and Justin saw firsthand how much fun he was having and the sort of success he was realizing, and thought maybe there was something there. One day, we all jumped on the phone, saw some potential, and decided to take the first step and see if we could build something cool.

Where did the name Find Familiar Spirits come from, and how did you decide on Quest's End for the whiskey name?

Both names took forever to land on, if I'm being honest. In the early days of the company, we quickly learned that our vision extended beyond creating just a gaming-themed whiskey. We understood—and firmly believe—that our value is born out of the communities we help build, and that there were more fandoms we could serve than just the RPG/gamer community. Justin and I always frame things in "Hollywood" terms, and we evolved from being one-off independent filmmakers to a movie studio. The idea was, why build one community when you can build several? That's where the Find Familiar name was born out of: Can you find your people, and can we help build those communities around spirits? As for Quest's End, we were locked and loaded on a different name, but it turned out that an independent entity was building a brand with that name. After throwing a million alternative names against the wall, I said one day, in complete capitulation, "I just want this quest to end," and Justin said… that's our name. Quest's End.

What was the process like in finding the right blend for the original Paladin release?

Early in our creation story, we were looking for someone who could guide the alcohol aspects of our journey, as that wasn't going to be Justin or me. We kept saying to anyone who would listen that we wanted a woman to run that part of our business, and through luck and the good grace of the Universe, we were introduced to Alé Ochoa. She is our master blender and a rising star in the whiskey world. Each bottle of Quest's End is a different character and a completely different blend of super-premium (4+ yr bourbon) liquid. Each blend is specifically created to reflect the story elements of that specific character and help tell the story of their journey. Alé doesn't play D&D, but once she read Kate Welch's story, her imagination took off, and she started to blend for what she believed to be the essence of our hero, Seron of the Pit. She's an amazing partner and a true artist with what she does with whiskey.

What was that initial release like, and seeing it sell out twice?

We spent the better part of a year putting together what was a dream project for us, and the reaction we received right out of the gate was astonishing. [During] the opening, our distribution partners told us that selling 300 bottles would be impressive. By the end of the first day, we had sold through half of our total stock and completely sold out everything within the first three weeks. Due to this overwhelming response, we set up a waiting list in case we had extra bottles to sell from our breakage reserves, and astonishingly, we got 25,000 people on our waiting list in just seven days. With such a strong response, we decided to pivot and release a second drop called Paladin +1. This batch featured the same whiskey but with renumbered bottles and an inverted color design on the label. We opened this sale for three weeks and managed to outsell our original launch of Paladin. To say we were blown away would indeed be an understatement!

What is it like working with Kate Welch and Tyler Jacobson on all of your Quest's End releases?

They've been incredible partners. I was already familiar with Kate from the Dungeons & Dragons community and knew she was married to Tyler Jacobson, whose reputation as one of the world's greatest fantasy artists precedes him. When I reached out to Kate to introduce us to Tyler, she handed the phone to him, and we discussed him getting involved with what we were doing. He was on board immediately and has done all the art for Quest's End; he's been fantastic to work with. We realized we also needed someone who could write our ongoing saga, and it occurred to us that Kate could be a fit. After a conversation with her, it was clear she completed our team perfectly. We're now through the third book, Warlock, and moving towards Dragon, and the collaboration among us has been one of the great joys of this project.

What do you view as the long-term goal for the company? Do you want to keep doing one-offs, or would you like to have a stable line?

We have lots of goals, I'm happy to report, and getting off to such an incredible start has given us a leg up on accomplishing those goals. First and foremost, we have two big announcements coming up. We think that these announcements will solidify this company in a really exciting way, diversifying what we're bringing into the fandom communities. Our three-year plan has us rolling out multiple one-off relationships with brands and developing 3 to 4 flagship Find Familiar brands. As these things are coming to light, we continue to build our team to accomplish all the things we hope to accomplish! And yes, having an everyday whiskey that we can deliver at an affordable price point to a large collection of fans is 100% in our "not too distant" future.

Any hints you want to give as to what the next run will be after this?  

Hard to give a hint without giving it away… The good news you don't have to wait long as our first BIG collaboration will be announced in early April. We're hoping our fans are as excited about it as we are. Our second big announcement happens in October… and that in itself is enough of a hint.

Is there anything else you'd like to mention that we didn't chat about? 

Nothing really other than to say thank you for your support and helping us get the word out. We launched last October and one of the great surprises to us, was that all the press we did in the "geek news  community" helped promote the brand to great heights, and we're forever grateful for that support.  Honestly, it meant the world to us.

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