Recognition at the 2025 Bartender Spirits Awards has brought The Free State Distillery into sharper focus among spirits professionals and whiskey enthusiasts alike. Their Signature Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished With Toasted Oak Stave earned a Gold Medal, 93 points, and the title of Small Batch Whiskey of the Year—a significant achievement for a distillery that only opened its doors in late 2022.

But accolades alone don’t explain what sets this brand apart. Rooted in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and guided by CEO and blender Floyd “Beau” Wheeler, the distillery is building something deliberately paced and culturally resonant. Its flagship bourbon, layered with notes of baking spice, cedar, and tropical fruit, is both a calling card and a conversation starter.

In this interview, Wheeler shares how the award is shaping the brand’s next steps—from market expansion and importer partnerships to sustainability priorities and a marketing approach that’s as thoughtful as the spirits themselves.

Congratulations on winning “Small Batch Whiskey of the Year” at the 2025 Bartender Spirits Awards. Your Signature Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished With Toasted Oak Stave has clearly struck a chord with the judges and the trade. Let’s start there:

The Signature Straight Bourbon recently won a Gold Medal and was crowned Small Batch Whiskey of the Year. How do you plan to leverage this recognition to reach new audiences, both within the US and internationally?

Honestly, we are so small and so new that we are still grappling with how best to leverage our early success and this win, along with the 7 other medals we’ve won this year. For us, winning a Gold Medal and the title of Small Batch Whiskey of the Year at the 2025 Bartender Spirits Awards is more than an accolade—it’s a market signal. And our plans are to use this momentum to fuel both domestic growth and international visibility. Domestically, the award provides a credibility anchor in conversations with local and national retail buyers, hospitality groups, and distributors. Internationally, it's opened doors for conversations in select export markets, especially in Europe and Asia, where U.S. craft whiskey is trending upward in premium and super premium categories. How we do that is still to be determined, and as we are very new, we want to be smart about how we move forward.

Image: Signature Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished With Toasted Oak Stave crowned Small Batch Whiskey of the Year at the 2025 Bartender Spirits Awards.

The tasting notes speak of floral aromatics, baking spices, cedar, nutmeg, and a long tropical-oak finish. Tell us what makes this bourbon distinct, and what story you want it to tell in the glass.

The Signature Straight Bourbon Finished with Toasted Oak Stave was always meant to be a layered sensory journey. It is such a full-circle moment that this particular expression won Small Batch Whisky of the Year! When anyone tells me they’re a Scotch person or a Bourbon Connoisseur, I start them with the Signature.  This bourbon is our flagship expression and meant to represent us: bold yet balanced, complex yet approachable. It tells a story of cultural richness, a palette that is by no means monolithic and capable of enjoying expansive flavors while staying true to its essence. 

Where is this bourbon currently available? Could you share key retail partners, national or regional chains, and restaurant accounts where consumers might spot it on the shelf or back bar?

Our Signature Straight Bourbon is currently available throughout Washington, DC, Maryland, and Delaware, with nationwide direct-to-consumer shipping enabled through our partners. Retail relationships are growing across independent liquor stores, and in Maryland, we were recently picked up in all county-controlled outlets. We are growing in those areas rapidly, and we are looking to solidify these areas, increase velocity,  and plan for growth from there. We also have several on-premise accounts in the area, including The Continent, DC; Metrobar, DC; The Brass Tap, National Harbor, MD; Bond 45, National Harbor, MD; Gallianos, Waugh Chapel, MD. The best way to locate us is on our website: www.arthurwheeler.com. 

Image:  Arthur Wheeler Spirits available at the Castle Liquors shop in MD. Image Source: Castle Liquors.

Can you share a few marketing initiatives or activations, digital, events, or partnerships that you’ve found particularly effective or that you’re excited about in 2025?

This year, we’ve embraced a culture-led strategy—pairing bourbon with sports, music, and lifestyle experiences. We are the official Whisky Partner of the Washington Commanders, so we lean heavily on these kinds of activations and are deliberate with aligning our achievements as well. In every scenario, we display point of sale and other marketing material displaying our recognition to align with elevated experiences. Notable 2025 activations include:

- The Arthur Wheeler VIP Lounge at PRocon in DC, a national event space for cultural tastemakers to connect over curated cocktails.

- The Arthur Wheeler VIP Lounge at the US Boat Show, National Harbor, connects nautical enthusiasts with our brand. 

- A digital influencer campaign centered on NFL fans and spirits-forward content creators.

- Ongoing community activations in partnership with the Commanders on the Club & Concourse levels at Northwest Stadium, and blending live sports with bourbon education and sampling.

Image: Official Whisky Partner of the Washington Commanders.

Are there any international markets you're currently in or actively exploring? And how do you support importers and distributors in turning brand awareness into velocity?

We are currently just having conversations about exploring import partnerships in Western Europe and potentially India. We are just dipping our toe in exploring international markets, as we continue to solidify our base at home. We joined the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) very recently to assist us in our planning and strategy, as well as to facilitate our own education. To support international velocity, we would equip our partners with:

- Award collateral and media kits

- Localized tasting events and POS assets

- And a custom storytelling framework that ties our spirits to cultural moments and legacy, not just liquid.

Our strategy emphasizes building brand equity before pushing volume, ensuring a sustainable ramp in each market. Just like the Commanders, we also want to be great teammates! So we want to truly partner with a distributor who understands our brand well enough to provide their own relevant insights and strategy to support growing our brand and theirs.  

In terms of business growth, what are your expansion plans—new markets, new expressions, or perhaps new categories?

We opened our doors on October 26, 2022, so our current objectives are primarily focused on solidifying our base in the immediate areas of Washington, DC, Maryland, Delaware, and hopefully Virginia very soon. Right now, we offer Caribbean Rum (highest rated U.S. Rum at the London Spirits Competition - 96 points), Vodka, Rye Whiskey, and Agave spirit at our Distillery in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in addition to our Bourbon selections. We hope to add Gin sometime in 2026 and will offer a limited release Cigar blend toward the holiday season. We partnered with DMV Distribution to really lock in on our homefront as we plan to build for expansion and growth in the near future. We are able to ship to most states with our partnership with The Urban Grape and are looking to refine and solidify our direct-to-consumer channel as well. 

Image source: DMV Distribution - Tasting in DC, Maryland, and Delaware.

Sustainability is increasingly a cornerstone of modern spirits making. Could you share how sustainability or environmental stewardship shows up in your sourcing, packaging, or production practices?

We view sustainability as a form of stewardship, and as a non-distilling producer, we partner with distillers who have documented track records of sustainability. We look for several key practices, including:

- Local grain sourcing to reduce transportation emissions and the return of spent grain to farms

- Renewable energy and energy Efficiency with solar, wind, or biomass energy to power distillery operations and heat recovery systems

- Energy-efficient equipment: Investing in upgraded, energy-efficient machinery and optimizing production processes to reduce energy consumption.

- Closed-loop water systems that reuse water during production, minimizing fresh water consumption. Where there is wastewater, technologically advanced treatment systems are used to ensure the safety of local watersheds.

As we grow, we’re committed to embedding sustainability deeper into our production process without compromising on flavor or design.

Image: Arthur Wheeler Spirits Company - Winners at the 2025 Bartender Spirits Awards.

Finally, beyond the medal, what does this win at the Bartender Spirits Awards mean for you and the team personally, and how will it shape your brand story in the year ahead?

The Bartender Spirits Awards win validates and adds credence to our ethos of Excellent Spirits, Together. It’s an ethos and a mission, not just as a distillery, a culturally grounded spirits house redefining excellence. It’s one thing for us to say it, it’s another for it to be validated at an international level. It gives us, and me personally as the founder and blender of all our spirits, credibility it might otherwise have taken us years to achieve in the industry. For our team, it affirms that our blend of authenticity, craftsmanship, and bold storytelling resonates at the highest levels. In the year ahead, this award becomes a cornerstone of our brand story—one that says “you belong here,” whether you're new to bourbon and fine spirits or a seasoned aficionado. It’s a celebration of what’s possible when purpose meets precision.

Image: The packaging of Signature Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished with Toasted Oak Stave with BSA’s winning medal.

Conclusion

At a time when authenticity and craft still matter, but marketing agility is everything, The Free State Distillery is navigating its rise with a rare blend of both. The award at the Bartender Spirits Awards provides a foothold in a crowded field, but it’s the brand’s layered storytelling, from local community ties to nuanced, oak-driven flavor, that is helping to shape its trajectory. With strong roots in the Mid-Atlantic and careful steps toward international markets, The Free State Distillery isn’t rushing its journey, but it is clearly one to watch.

In conversation with Malvika Patel, Editor and VP, Beverage Trade Network

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