Photos: Andrea Ceraso
Father-and-son Brian and Kevin Crowell are building their burgeoning new bourbon brand…‘Brick by Brick’.
The Crowell (pronounced: krole) clan first came to the Hudson Valley in the 1700s, and in 1872, Brian’s great great great grandfather - Kevin’s great great great great grandfather - bought a sawmill on a tributary of the Wallkill River in Ulster County, and launched JB Crowell & Son, manufacturing the moulds which were used to make the kiln-fired bricks used in all the new factories of the industrial revolution and many of the apartment buildings and skyscrapers in the nation’s growing cities.
The Crowell family still owns the J.B. Crowell & Son Building, but the brick mould business has become somewhat obsolete. American Brick Bourbon was inspired when Kevin came upon some papers that were saved from a 1940s fire, which indicate how the Crowells were distilling a locally-sourced mash in the J.B. Crowell & Son Building during Prohibition. It may have been more than coincidence that the J.B. Crowell & Son brick moulds were hand crafted out of the same White Oak that’s used to barrel and age all bourbons.
American Brick Bourbon is a continuation of the Crowell family legacy of craftsmanship and tradition of hard work, and to highlight that rich tradition, the Crowells used one of the old J.B. Crowell & Son brick moulds to give the American Brick Bourbon bottle its distinctive ‘brick-like’ shape.
American Brick Bourbon is 60% corn, 20% wheat, 11% barley, and 9% rye - and every ingredient - even the water - is sourced, and the bourbon is distilled, entirely in New York.
First released in May 2023, American Brick Bourbon has already earned a 96 point rating from San Francisco World Spirits, as well as a score of 96 from International Wine and Spirits, and a 90 from Wine Enthusiast!
But the Crowells have had the entirety of their American Brick Bourbon production thus far swiped-up by Total Wine! So, while locals can find a bottle of American Brick Bourbon at the Total Wine at 380 Main Avenue in Norwalk…the Crowells are just on the first floor of building-out the American Brick Bourbon brand.
“This interview with Bedford & New Canaan Magazine is big for us! American Brick Bourbon is selling out at Total Wine as fast as they can stock the shelves…but our vision is to make American Brick Bourbon ubiquitous! We need to get the word out faster than ‘word-of-mouth’ will allow,” Kevin says frankly. “We want to make American Brick Bourbon as American as apple pie!”
“And Bedford & New Canaan Magazine is particularly important to us, because our tie to the local area is so strong,” Brian adds. Brian is particularly well-known in the local area because he was the Head Golf Professional at GlenArbor in Bedford from 2007 to 2015.
Brian grew up next to the JB Crowell & Son Building, went to Wallkill Senior High School, and then Syracuse University, where he got a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ad Design. “When I was 14, my grandmother bought me a Junior Membership for $100 at the Osiris Country Club in Walden. I felt like she gave me the keys to a whole new incredible world. I went on to play on the golf team at Syracuse. When I got out of college I got a job in advertising at Hadley Group in Stamford, Connecticut, and was doing well there, but was always thinking about teeing it up the next weekend. I figured I should follow the old adage and ‘do what you love’, so in 1992, I took a job as the Assistant Pro at Leewood Golf Club in Eastchester, New York. I went on to be the First Assistant at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff Manor, and then the Head Golf Professional at the Village Club of Sands Point in Port Washington, before returning to Leewood as the Head Golf Professional in 1999, and doing that for 8 years.”
“Joining-on at GlenArbor in 2007 was a big deal for me professionally, and also made me an integral everyday working part of our local community,” Brian continues. “My wife, Wendy - who was my 9th Grade Sweetheart - and I, raised our three kids, Kevin, Casey, and Christina, in a house on Bedford Road in Bedford Hills. I left GlenArbor in 2016 to become the General Manager at Discovery Land’s Silo Ridge in Amenia, New York, and then moved in 2021 to become the General Manager at what was the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point - which has just been acquired by Bally’s Golf - where I will remain as General Manager. But it wasn’t until earlier this year that we sold our house in Bedford Hills and moved into Manhattan…and we sold our house in Bedford Hills to my son Kevin, where he’s now living with his wife, Lily, and our baby grandson, Addison!”
We want to make American Brick Bourbon as American as apple pie!Kevin Crowell
“Yeah, you can’t get much more Bedford!,” Kevin remarks. “We moved to Bedford Hills when I was 4 and I went to Bedford Hills Elementary, Fox Lane Junior High and Fox Lane High School. Like my dad, I was pretty obsessed with golf. I started in the junior program while my dad was teaching at Leewood, but really started to play while my dad was at GlenArbor, and I could get out there to play sunset rounds with him. I played on the Fox Lane High School Golf Team, and I caddied and worked in the bag room at Bedford Golf & Tennis Club. …And now I live here again - running it back for round two in the same hometown - and home - I grew up in!”
Kevin continues, “I followed in my dad’s footsteps and went to Syracuse, and played on the golf team there as well. I’m also a guitarist - faced with the reality that the dreams of being a rock star are over. In high school, I was in a band we named The Catch, with Tim Bland, John McDermott and Chloe Arnow, and we played all the local fairs and festivals. And after college, with Chloe and Tim, in what we called The Good Few, we had gigs at venues in New York like the Mercury Lounge, Bowery Ballroom, Gramercy Theater, Rockwood Music Hall, and even The Bitter End…but weren’t able to take it to the next level commercially. I have a real estate license, and a really good job in finance with Discovery Land Company. I’ve been motivated to achieve greatness by the example of Discovery’s Founder, Michael Meldman. …But, I majored in Mechanical Engineering, have always felt like an entrepreneur, and saw American Brick Bourbon as an organic way to continue the Crowell Family’s legacy. This business is my birthright!”
100% New York State does seem like a natural motto for us Crowells,Brian Crowell
…And when Brian speaks a magical trance seems to fall over all listeners! Brian is, in addition to being a PGA Golf Professional, a nationally renowned golf broadcast personality and, quite notably, has an eerily similar voice and sound, and a strong physical resemblance, to the biggest guy in golf broadcasting, Jim Nantz. Every time Brian opens his mouth it sounds like it’s Sunday at The Masters. Whether it’s by imitation or coincidence, Brian has the same warm, soothing, serious, confident, and friendly delivery, and effect, as Nantz. Brian started-out by buying studio time on Westchester-based WFAS and doing a radio show all about golf. He was discovered by then Executive Vice President and now President of Acquisitions and Partnerships at NBC Sports, Jon Miller, who called him to pinch-hit in the tower at the Greater Greensboro Open in 2000. Since then, Brian has Hosted the NBC Lexus Wrap-up Show, Co-Hosted Golf Digest’s Equipment Spectacular, Hosted Lesson-Tee Live for Golf Channel, among other TV and social media roles, and he is currently a Host and analyst for The Masters and the PGA Championship on CBS.
…And it’s with that magical voice, which seems to embody all the streams and fields of New York in one peaceful breath, and to convey all the sensations of sipping a fine bourbon, that Brian entices his next friend to try American Brick Bourbon… “If you love bourbon as much as we do, then you know that the mineral-rich waters of New York’s limestone aquifers give New York bourbon a unique body and taste. Like for New York bagels, bread, and beer. And the volatile temperatures over the course of our Seasons, causes more contraction and expansion of our charred White Oak barrels in the aging process, and gives the bourbon a richer and more nuanced character. Our American Brick Bourbon is just something special!”
As featured in the November/December 2023 issue of Bedford & New Canaan Magazine