Episode 102: Bourbon Culture and Spirits Education With Samara Davis

Our July/August 2024 issue features a profile of Samara Davis, written by Gray Chapman, and to follow up on this, Davis returns to Radio Imbibe to talk about her many projects in the spirits industry and in bourbon culture, including the Black Bourbon Society, Diversity Distilled, the Society Marketing Group, the Black-Owned Spirits Scholarship, and Bourbon Boule.

Radio Imbibe is the audio home of Imbibe magazine. In each episode, we dive into liquid culture, exploring the people, places, and flavors of the drinkscape through conversations about cocktails, coffee, beer, spirits, and wine. Keep up with us on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook, and if you’re not already a subscriber, we’d love to have you join us—click here to subscribe. 

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Paul Clarke 

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Imbibe from Imbibe magazine. I’m Paul Clarke, Imbibe’s editor in chief. 

And this summer marks the four year anniversary of the launch of this podcast. We started this during the pandemic lockdown as a way to keep in touch with our friends and colleagues in the drinks world at a time when we couldn’t get together in person and to share their stories with Imbibe’s audience. As I mentioned in our previous episode, we’re very pleased and thankful for everyone who has joined us along the way, and we’re proud to be a finalist in the Best Broadcast, Podcast or Online Video Series category for this year’s Spirited Awards from Tales of the Cocktail. 

One of the very first people we had on Radio Imbibe back in 2020 was Samara Davis. Samara is the founder of the Black Bourbon Society and she’s gone on to establish a range of projects over the years that all function within the drinks space, and that all function in one way or another to provide support for and create opportunities for greater diversity and inclusivity in the drinks world. We bring you Samara’s story in our brand new July-August issue in a Characters profile written by Gray Chapman. And having known Samara for years now, I know that she’s always up to something engaging and exciting. So for this episode, I asked her to join us again and to bring us up to speed with the work she’s doing across all of her various projects and about where this path is taking her. 

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Paul Clarke

Samara, welcome to Radio Imbibe.

Samara Davis

Yeah. Thank you for having me, Paul. Good to hang out with you.

Paul Clarke

Absolutely. And you know, it’s always good to talk to you and I wanted to have you back on the podcast because we first had you on way back in the summer of 2020. I think it may have been the very first episode of this podcast when we first started and at that time we were talking about the summer of 2020 and George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and how some of the conversations we were having at that time in American culture were relevant to the work that you were doing at the time, first with Black Bourbon Society and then with your new project at that time, Diversity Distilled. Now in 2024 for we’ve got a profile of you in the new issue of Imbibe focusing on this work as well as on newer projects your Society Marketing Group you founded in 2022 and the Black Owned Spirit Scholarship through Diversity Distilled. I want to get into each of these individually, but before we do, how do all of these various projects you’ve been involved with tie back to those conversations, that conversation we first had in 2020 relating to diversity and equity and how you got into this business in the first place. 

Samara Davis

Well, that’s a loaded question. So let’s this down. I first want to say thank you for featuring me, it’s a huge honor to just be, you know, anytime my story gets a chance to get out and maybe inspire others and really shed light on the work that we want to do, it’s it’s super important. And I really appreciate you being able to lend your platform to share my story so thank you. 

And to kind of answer your question, I’m going to start from the end of the question, back to the front. And how it all ties together is really around the singular word, society. Right? And so, yes, we started Black Bourbon Society and we have diversity Distilled and now Society Marketing Group. But the common thread in all of it is really how do we redefine our society and how do we make a more diverse and a more, a more responsible and educated and more generous society? Right. And the way that I wanted to redefine what society meant was through the spirits industry. So with the work that we’re doing through Society Marketing Group, it’s our agency that, again works with brands and figures out how can we redefine society, how can we take your marketing message and really build some genuine engagement around it. The reason why we started this whole thing with Black Bourbon Society was really dispelling the notion of stereotypes in the spirits industry, especially when it came to marketing to African American consumers. And again, it was off of this old notion of like, Oh, Black people drink this, Asian people drink this, Latino people drink that, white people drink that. And so it’s like coming at it from like we drink these separate different things and there’s has to be a separate way of connecting with these different audiences. And that’s not true, right? Common thread: We’re all human beings, right? And we all want a really good cocktail from here and there, you know?

Paul Clarke 

Yeah. 

Samara Davis 

So let’s start there with the common thread of being able to connect with audiences. and so that’s what SMG, the Society Marketing Group does. And, and that’s what Diversity Distilled does too, right? It’s changing the messaging and changing how we connect with one another. It’s the respect that we lend towards each other no matter what we look like. Right? this is our spirits industry. We all love to imbibe. And the good cocktail for me is bourbon, which is America’s native spirit and really redefining like who is that for? If it’s America’s native spirit, it’s not just for you, it’s not just for Susie, Right. It’s also Keisha. And it’s also for me and it’s also for everybody else. 

Paul Clarke 

Absolutely. And you know, I wanted to kind of pick this apart a little bit, if I could, because, you know, starting off with Black Bourbon Society, because I want to start there. First off, it was your first step into it, but it’s also kind of almost an accidental step into it. You weren’t doing this beforehand. You weren’t working this industry beforehand, and you mentioned your rationale, but also rationale because you saw this in the marketing. But also there’s bourbon. And bourbon is wonderful. 

Samara Davis 

Right? 

Paul Clarke 

What prompt you to say, you know what, I need to do more than just sit here with a bourbon, say things need to change, and actually what prompted you to actually make that step and make this part of your mission and what you did?

Samara Davis 

Right. Well, I mean, so going back to the beginning, right? With like, Black Bourbon Society, it really was me coming in as a consumer and me really enjoying and wanting to learn more about bourbon and then me wanting to find a community to drink bourbon with. And at that time period, there just wasn’t that, especially in San Francisco, California. So It was me searching. There’s the San Francisco Whiskey Society. You know, there’s all these online societies, but there weren’t many Black women, if any, as a part of those groups. And just kind of fell on the place for me. Like I was during that time period also searching for community, but also had ran into folks in the industry who were hiring me to produce these experiential marketing events for their brands. And it was just having those genuine conversations of, okay, yeah, I can put this together and we can have these fabulous events, but who am I producing this for? And it was in those discussions that we were looking at their marketing strategies internally and discovering that even from a brand perspective, they were more focused on the tried and true demographic for bourbon, which is middle aged white males. Right? And that’s fine. There’s always going to be a major stakeholder in the consumer demographic for that spirit, but kind of ignoring everybody else. And it was then like, oh, wait, wait, wait. No, I don’t I don’t fit with that. I’m not a middle aged white male. But then when they did have they had African Americans on their marketing deck, it was more towards a younger audience, more hip hop audience. And they approached that audience completely different than they would their major demographic audience. And the question was why? Why would I be approached on the same product completely different than you would someone else? And I mean, we all drink at pretty much the same, right? If it’s Jack, it’s going to be sold with Jack and Coke. Or it might go in an Old Fashioned. So like I didn’t understand the stark difference between high end, dinner and cocktail pairings for one demographic versus like handing a rapper a bottle and having them rap it over a jingle on the radio for another demographic. And to me, that glaring strategy of like, this is how you do one, but this is how you do the other didn’t sit well with me. And so between all of that of me trying to find community and then also working with these brands to try to build these experiences for them with consumers, I decided to create Black Bourbon Society, which dispels the notion of how do you genuinely engage with consumers of color in a way that isn’t necessarily offensive, but also like just inauthentic? You know, like I really wanted to build this connection, and I really wanted to show them what real consumers who drank their products looked like and what they liked and how they wanted to be engaged.

Paul Clarke 

And I mean over the course of the years, you know, I’ve seen myself when I when I came to the annual event last year, it seemed like the industry is taking this very seriously where they were talking to you, they’re listening to you and they want to hear what you have to say. Am I correct in that?

Samara Davis 

Absolutely. You know, we turned 8 years on Friday. It would have been eight years at Black Bourbon society and in eight years we have seen so much tremendous growth in the spirits industry and, so much adaptation and evolving and all that. Right. First of all, the brands they were never dismissive of Black Bourbon society or the work that I was trying to do. I think the brands were always more curious of like, Oh, well, we didn’t know, right? And so how do we genuinely engage and connect and so the brands have always been open to hearing my suggestions and me consulting with them on really building this genuine olive branch, let’s just call it that, or we call ourselves sometimes the bridge right between the brands and our audience. And so it’s always been this, this great connection for them, and it’s been a very huge learning opportunity for the industry. So yeah, like when you came to Bourbon Boule last year, we had amazing events, we had education courses, we had dinner and cocktail pairings. We had a party with a full out bar and, you know, all sorts of cocktails being displayed. But it was just really great engagement and, you know, behind the scenes distillery tours, really a one on one exchange between this demographic that used to be completely ignored with some of the world’s largest brands. So we’ve made tremendous strides there. And now it just seems very normal for us. Since that time period, we’ve got Uncle Nearest, we’ve got Greenwood whiskey, we’ve got all these new Black owned spirits that have popped up as well and have joined in. And so they’re also changing the way that this industry engages consumers of color, because now you have brands that are made by people of color. So it’s super, it’s good to be a part of. We can see the growth that we’ve done in the past eight years. 

Paul Clarke 

And you got into it, as we said, you know, looking at the marketing and the consumer engagement side, but you’ve taken it a step further. You started getting more detailed into it, looking into more of the management, looking to operations. How did this prompt you first, again, make that next step to create Diversity Distilled and then to some of your more recent projects. How did you kind of like follow that path step by step?

Samara Davis 

Yeah, well, so one thing always leads to another for us, you know, so that’s one that’s when we last talked right, was with Diversity Distilled and that was because we realized why it was sort of a challenge back then for us to push this charge for there being more diversity and inclusion within the marketing strategies of these organizations is because the people in these organizations were not Black or there was very little representation of diverse talent within these organizations. So we started Diversity Distilled as a way to help to advocate for more diversity within the workforce of the spirits industry. And we did that and actually did that before the pandemic even hit. Right? And we kind of had to pivot for a little bit because we had to figure out how to do Black Bourbon Society in a virtual world. Of course, like everything had to shift for a minute, but then we were thrown back and kind of catapulted back into Diversity Distilled after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. And so that then became a real task again with this whole Black Lives Matter and the Black title starting to come up and really understanding that, you know, Black people are people too, and we need to have more inclusion and more equity in our everyday society, right? So here comes that word again. And so we’ve been able to do that through the work that we do, through our nonprofit Diversity Distilled and really continue to advocate for more diversity and inclusion. behind the scenes in the spirits industry, but also even like when it comes down to getting employee resource groups for some of the larger companies. And then our latest program under Diversity Distilled is BOSS, which is the Black-Owned Spirits Scholarship. And that really does take all these baby brands, I call them my boss babies, all of these Black owned spirits companies that are entering into the ether. Right? The group chat and really showing and sharing with them all that I know about this industry. And all that I’ve learned for the past eight years, really helping them with their sourcing, with helping them with hiring decisions, liquid sourcing, marketing, of course, just really trying to get them the rope to skip and the ropes to know because again, it’s great to have more diversity in our spirit space. But when it comes to bourbon, these brand new babies, these brands are 200 years behind the eight ball. So how do we get them up to speed as quickly as possible? 

Paul Clarke

Right. And I want to ask you about BOSS and about the scholarship program. How does this actually work? Because especially right now, when we look at our, our kind of landscape of distilling in the U.S., there are lots of small brands, a lot of lots of startups coming in. For people who are interested in this, where it sounds like, you know, I could really use this kind of benefit. What do they need to know and how does the program operate? 

Samara Davis

Well, it’s a six month cohort and we work with them virtually. And we have lesson plans essentially. So we bring in guest speakers that come in once a month and talk with them and share what they do in the industry. So someone could be through distribution, someone could be from a branding side, some could be, you know, from internally, from sourcing. So there are an all kind of avenues of the spirits industry and they’re basically there to coach and to give as much information that they can and encouragement to these brand new brand owners, and just give them knowledge. And of course they come with questions. They are just asking, they’re asking for contacts or asking general questions that you can’t necessarily Google, right? Like how do I build a brand and it doesn’t pop up in the AI section on Google anymore, You know, like it’s just not there. So they’re able to ask those questions and then almost all times when we’re not having a special guest come in, we’re just doing one on one coaching. And so we’re just going through everything, fundraising, funding, sources, whatever they need, even if it’s just a motivational pep talk, because most of the time as an entrepreneur and you know this Paul, sometimes we get tripped up over the doubts in our own head, and it prevents us from being able to make wise business decisions. And so sometimes it’s just giving them the encouragement they need to get back on track and look at the bigger picture. But that’s all we’re doing. And if it’s a contact, if it’s a negotiation, we’ll help with that too. But it’s really being a resourcemand holding their hands to get them to the next stage. 

Paul Clarke 

It really kind of comes back to that where that you keep bringing up, the society role, where you’re looking to this group of people who have informed perspective, who can provide some educated advice and kind of help you along into that. Going back to the society for a moment, going back to bourbon a moment, because, you know, we got into some of the work that you’ve done that has been much more inside the company, inside businesses, working with scholarships. But coming back to the society, we shouldn’t forget, there is a very fun and a very engaging connection side to do what you do. And you mentioned the Bourbon Boule. It’s summer at the time that people are listening to this. Bourbon Boule is coming up at the end of the summer. What should people know about this event? What should they expect and what should they look into for it? 

Samara Davis 

Oh, wow. So Bourbon Boule is our premium spirits festival. It happens every Labor Day weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, and it is now four days. Paul, when you were there last year itwas only three. So we’ve expanded it into four days of just community, education, dining and cocktails and exploring Louisville, getting a chance to see how bourbon is made, up close and personal at the distillery tours with some of the finest master distillers and brand ambassadors that come from this industry. And it’s just a good time. If you’ve ever been bourbon curious or even if you are a bourbon collector and connoisseur, it’s just a fun weekend dedicated to bourbon and community, you know, and everything is done at a very high level. Like we don’t spare any expense, which my husband, you know, looks at the budget at the end of the event and is like, really? But we don’t spare any expense because it truly is experience for us and it is the connection of building community that bourbon has this great attraction too. Right. So you know we’ve talked very much about the why and some of the technicalities of the businesses that I’ve done. But the thing that I overlooked in those early days, right, in trying to push and just be very passionate about changing this mindset and adding inclusion and diversity in the spirits industry is I forgot that I was also building this community. And so this always reminds me of the greater impact that is just not within the spirits industry itself. It’s just not within redefining a word society, but it is actually us connecting and becoming friends and making memories and enjoying our native spirit together. Our slogan is, it’s just bigger than bourbon. It’s just, it’s indescribable. It’s bigger than bourbon and it’s a great time. So of course, we love everyone to come. All are welcome to come and enjoy this weekend with us.

Paul Clarke

I mean, I’ve gone to bourbon events for more than a decade now. And what you say is true, you really throw down the top tier. You know, it’s a really great experience. You know, the distillers show up for this. But I thought, you know, this was fantastic to see people who have known each other maybe only online over the course of years. get together and talk bourbon and drink bourbon and hang out together in Louisville, Kentucky. So it’s just a fantastic experience all around. Now, as I said earlier, you came into the spirits industry almost by accident and by now you’ve worked at it in many different levels. Learning what you’ve learned over these past few years, how do you see your mission moving forward? What types of projects do you see yourself taking on in the months and years ahead? 

Samara Davis

Well, there’s still so much more on the radar. And, you know, this is where SMG, Society Marketing Group, is able to really take it to the next level. Through building our communities, through working with these brands internally right behind the scenes, and then also outwardly with our marketing strategies and being continued to being asked to produce these experiences for the brands that are able to highlight their brands in the best way and genuinely engage with diverse audiences. That’s when we created Society Marketing Group, but Society Marketing Group is able to take us beyond bourbon. Number one, because bourbon is just not in the name anymore. But and, you know, there was some limitation with that with Black Bourbon Society. But we also are able to use the consumer data and the qualitative and quantitative data that we’ve had on our group for over eight years in producing events all over the country. We’re able to use all of that experience and knowledge that we have to help other brands, not only in the spirits industry but beyond that. Right? Because now we truly understand what our demographic needs and what our demographic wants. We also see it from not only an American perspective, but from a global perspective. And so there’s this common theme of how do you redefine society? Redefining American society is one problem, right? But really understanding how to redefine and respect society on a global level is completely different. But it all comes back to that same red string that ties us back together, it’s our humanity. It’s we all really, as human beings, we all want the same things out of life for the most part, right? We all want to just enjoy life. We want to enjoy it with the people that we love. We want to do the things that we love and we want to drink the things that we love. We’re able to translate all the skills that we’ve learned, all of the angles that we’ve picked up and all of the skill sets from BBS and from Diversity Distilled and are able to put it into this agency Society Marketing Group that can really just be able to work with any company and get to the core of what their marketing message is and find a very common way to market that to anyone in the world by highlighting our uniqueness, our commonalities, and our unique differences. So that’s really what the future is for me and that’s where I want to go. I enjoy being in the spirits world. Of course I enjoy bourbon, but we’re crossing over into Cognac and we’ll be working with, you know, travel and tourism, and we’re doing other things now because it all is around that same thing about how do we redefine society, how do we change the way we market and engage with consumers, a.k.a human beings, You know.

Paul Clarke 

We’re moving toward the exit here. Are there any final thoughts you’d like to share? 

Samara Davis

You know, I just enjoy connecting with you all the time, Paul. And there’s a lot more that is coming fruition for us right in the future. So I’d love for you to come back to Boule and I’d love for us to continue the conversation. But, you know, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you are, everyone loves a good cocktail. So cheers to you, cheers to everyone. Thanks for listening to my story. 

Paul Clarke

Thank you so much, Samara, for being on the podcast again. It is always wonderful to talk to you and I’m so excited about everything you’ve done over the past few years, and I’m excited to see where you go with this. So thank you. 

Samara Davis 

Thank you so much to you. 

[music]

Paul Clarke 

You can find Samara Davis on Instagram at sammybeedavis. Just follow the link in this episode’s notes to get there. 

And that is it for this episode. Pick up a copy of our July-August issue to read the full profile of Samara Davis from Gray Chapman. Or better yet, subscribe to the print and/or digital copies of Imbibe by following the link in this episode’ notes. Be sure to subscribe to Radio Imbibe on your favorite podcast platform to keep up with future episodes, and we’ve got our full back catalog of episodes along with many, many recipes and articles for you on our website at Imbibemagazine.com. We’ve also got your social media needs covered on Instagram, Threads, Pinterest and Facebook so you can keep up with us on the day to day. 

I’m Paul Clarke. This is Radio imbibe. Catch you next time.