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We are reshaping or challenging prevailing perspectives on current events. "Change The Narrative" reflects an intention to not only inform but also inspire listeners to engage with current events thoughtfully and proactively.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Dave
Rico White 0:30
and welcome. Today is Sunday, and we are so happy to be here. You know what? We are reshaping or challenging prevailing perspectives on current events. That's what we do here. Change the narrative reflects an intention to not only inform but also inspire listeners to engage with current events thoughtfully and proactively. So welcome, welcome, welcome. I am here today with my co host,
Sarah Fernandez 0:55
Sarah Fernandez.
Rico White 0:59
Sarah Fernandez and we are here with the wonderful absolutely, I don't even have enough words, because I can't even put the words together to say who our guest is here today, but I'm just gonna let him introduce himself that way. I don't have to say it's Jason Ross, but
Jason Ross 1:17
go ahead. This is Jason Ross with black eat 1912 I'm honored to be here with you guys, and actually just capping off what Black History Month. So excited about that, you know?
Rico White 1:27
All right, all right. So Jay, because I don't really know you. First time meeting, first time meeting. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Man, where you from? Like the D or, Oh, that was a guess. Yes.
Jason Ross 1:41
I'm originally from Detroit, Michigan, Southwest Detroit. I've been here in Las Vegas for going on eight years now. Okay, so I love it. You know what? That's great right now. No, back home, it's a little cold, so I don't know,
Rico White 1:53
little man, it's insane.
Sarah Fernandez 1:55
We're just getting warm now. Here it's beautiful. It's 85 degrees. It's been cold, so we're just now getting this heat in, and I'm loving it.
Jason Ross 2:02
We have some bad days, but I take it cold. Is 50 degrees,
Rico White 2:10
you know it That's right, that's right. Hey. So if I'm not mistaken, you're married, I am.
Jason Ross 2:17
Yes sir, kids or anything. Have one daughter, okay? She'll be 22 this year. She's back home at Michigan code, okay, all right. So one, what's your store?
Rico White 2:25
Right, right? And if I'm not mistaken, I thought I saw you on Facebook. You do real estate too, right? Absolutely.
Jason Ross 2:35
Yes. I am on one of the top real estate teams here in Las Vegas. No way. Hannah group, yes, we are top three, and we are top three, and we wanted the smallest team, but we still top three in the state of Nevada, and one of the top teams on our brokers were in the US. Can I join that team? I would love you. I would love for you too. But you know, Jason, you multitasking. I do a lot. Yeah, that's what's up. Busy Man, I'm one of the top deuces on my team, so I'm gonna make it happen.
Rico White 2:59
You know, I think I might have to join that team. I think you do well. You think so? All it takes is a test.
Sarah Fernandez 3:06
Long as you don't procrastinate,
Rico White 3:07
you'll be on point. You know what? You know we're we give me talk about black, age, 1912, I don't know what y'all talking about. Okay, so let me, let me ask you a question, man, and this will get like, this would be a serious question. So what inspired you to focus on Bourbon and whiskey, specifically when establishing black Eden 1912 right? Yes, sir. Oh, I said the whole thing, right?
Jason Ross 3:35
Good job. Thank you, brother. Well, we got started with the black eat 1912 brand, because it's a brand. We have more than just the burden. We also have a wine as well. No, you don't, yes, we do a Moscato, semi sweet moscato, delish for real. Yeah, I know that. Yeah. We got, we had total three wine screws. We have a red blend, sweet rose a then we have the Moscato.
Rico White 3:58
I did not know that. Can, can a brother get a bottle? I got you of everything.
Sarah Fernandez 4:03
How about we just get a taste test? I want a taste test.
Jason Ross 4:07
I got y'all, I appreciate. Okay, we gonna see Yeah, so let's talk about how we got started.
Rico White 4:13
Let's talk about that. You see how he redirected me
Jason Ross 4:17
and brought me back? Well, I just met you today, but you know,
Sarah Fernandez 4:22
you know he can go off the deep end, I feel like I know
Jason Ross 4:25
you for a long time, long time. Okay, go ahead. Yeah. So the vision came from my, actually, my business partner, John, who's in Michigan, okay, his mom passed away during covid. Oh, sorry to hear that. Yeah. So you want to do something to keep her memory going. So he started his wine brand, his wine brand, okay? And with the wine brand here, he's in the music industry as well. So he understood the concept of hip hop, music and liquor. So when he started the wine brand, it was, how do you spell that?
Rico White 4:53
E, D, E, A, just like it sounds. Okay with the
Jason Ross 4:59
brand is. Phyllis wine, he got an added red. And we have which is named after his grandmother, and Rose is named after his daughter. Okay, John A then we also have the black eating moscato, which is under the black eating brand. So anyway, she started with the wine brand. Man, we are because we are cigar smokers and bourbon drinkers. I love cigars. But go ahead, we want to do something, something cool, something that we enjoy doing. So he came up the concept. We talked about it. He came up the idea of the name. So we didn't want to do a bourbon brand, just no point out a bourbon like everybody else. He wanted something to actually have some meaning, some meaning to it, something that you know, that resonate through the communities and people can stand behind and get excited about, okay, okay,
Sarah Fernandez 5:40
like that he actually took the most important women's name of his family and making them a legacy.
Jason Ross 5:45
I love it. Yeah, that's part of our Catch. Catch phrase is family and legacy. So it's all about legacy and family with us.
Sarah Fernandez 5:52
Why don't you first get started? What was the date? What's your anniversary date of starting? I'm not
Jason Ross 5:57
good with dates. So the wine launched, I would say three years ago, almost four years now. Okay, so the wines are cool. Thing about the wines there are most people don't know about they are Michigan wines. So the grapes are actually made on the lake shores of Michigan. So that makes it unique for some of the other wine brands, like you get from California, things like that, because they actually grow in Michigan. Okay, so that Michigan wines, where we're from. So that's another thing we wanted to do, do something that, you know, it's all about Michigan, Detroit. No, we trade folks. We always like to, you know, give back and show love to our city for sure.
Rico White 6:29
Okay, so okay, if we were to, did you have something? Oh, no, I'm waiting on you. Okay, just jump in whenever you want. Can you walk us through the distillation, distillation, distillation,
Sarah Fernandez 6:46
distilleration. Just don't give out any secrets.
Rico White 6:51
Yeah, distill, distillation, distillation, distillation. Can you walk us through that process?
Jason Ross 6:57
Yeah, so we are just we do all our distillation in Chicago and Illinois. That's why our distiller. Is that okay?
Rico White 7:04
We're very Hillary distillery, yes, see, I got that. Okay?
Jason Ross 7:07
Go ahead. Our distillery is in Illinois, where we're very hands on. So like, literally, we going down thinking a week or so to proof up some more batches to get ready to get shipped. So we everything is done in house, from the proof in the sourcing, we add our little special juice to it to make it our own special thing. Okay?
Rico White 7:26
And I think not. I think I know I've tasted the Bourbon A few times Front Street. It is, yes, I have taste a few times. Let me ask you a question, because this I don't know, so excuse my ignorance. Is it grapes that you use? No, or is it? Is it another part of the
Jason Ross 7:50
steel process? We age it in barrels, three year American oak. Well, the barrels is American oak, but we barrel it from three and a half right now, what we have is three and a half, but we have some that's aging that was going to be around. We want to do a special edition, one that's probably gonna be like five or higher.
Rico White 8:07
Okay, I was gonna ask you, the longer it ages, the more you can charge, and the better it tastes, the flavors, perfect flavor. And then with that oak distillery process, it has a way of being able to bring out the flavors, right? Like the oak or
Jason Ross 8:26
the oak intensifies the longer it sits in the barrel. It intensifies the flavor of the bourbon itself.
Sarah Fernandez 8:31
So question, does it just intensify the flavor, also the color? The color
Jason Ross 8:35
definitely gets a little darker. There she go. It gets darker and it gets a little stronger.
Sarah Fernandez 8:41
I got another question for you. Why Chicago? Why did you guys choose, instead of them doing something in the D to go on to Chicago, Illinois?
Jason Ross 8:48
Well, we had researched several different distilleries that we was trying to partner with. Okay, and just so happened we came across this. We can't tell who it is, that's okay. Keep a little bit, not much a little bit. Came across this guy, this company, and they was really, they were super cool. They allowed us to come in and, like, be hands on. And throughout the whole process, one of those no secrets are there. Just like, look, doors open, come in. We'll show you what we doing, how we doing it. We'll show you how we can make yours. Just let me gather in. Just worked out, I
Rico White 9:21
like it. That's what's up. So what distinguishes black Eaton, bourbon and whiskey 1912 all that good stuff. Or if it's black, Eaton 1912 bourbon and whiskey, would say, right from other brands like Angel envy or basil Hayden, or which I have those both in my house. I like them too. Or Maker's Mark. I like makers too. I like also have in my house. I drink it all. Yeah, I do too, probably too much. But what distinguishes your brand from those other brands that we just mentioned?
Jason Ross 10:00
Flavor profile was, our is like carrot. We got caramel base. We'll have less sweets of fig. You're gonna have some little candy then have that back taste of little spice that comes from the wire, yep, but it's a 90 proof. And most people may drink it, when you say 90 proof, they Oh, my God, it's gonna burn my thoat. But as you can tell when you taste it and you drink it like it's no burn, there's no burn. It's super smooth. So you don't just taste liquor. You actually taste the caramel, you taste the fig, you taste the sweetness of on the back end of it. So it's crazy, because most women love it. I wouldn't
Sarah Fernandez 10:36
know, I haven't tried it yet, but you know, I'm not gonna put you on frizz food like you did. Rico, but go here.
Rico White 10:48
Okay, all right, um, whatever. So, is there a, is there a story behind the name Blackie, 1912 Yes.
Jason Ross 11:01
So the reason why I renamed it black in 1912 is because we wanted, like, say, we want to do something that was special. We didn't want to just name it our name or something like that. Really wanted to have some meaning behind it. So the name black e 1912 is really the nickname of historical Ottawa, Michigan. If you're not familiar with Ottawa, Michigan, it's Ottawa. Michigan was the very first historic black community where black people was able to own resort lands in Ottawa. In Ottawa, Michigan,
Rico White 11:26
o, t, t, O, W, A, that Ottawa.
Jason Ross 11:28
I know Id like you ever seen the show? Idaho movie? Yeah. So they Idlewild. I know they use the concept of that, but it's a real, true history behind it. So back in the 1912 when it was established, and throughout all the way up until the 60s, when, of course, segregation got distinguished, it was like we had over 300 businesses there. You had your who's who of entertainment, from boxing to somebody. We had Aretha Franklin. You had BB King, you had Bill Cosby, you had Sugar Ray Robinson. You had all these people used to come up there and entertain because they weren't allowed to go to other venues where our people was able to come and see them. So they came there and perform. Okay? So in this heyday, you had over 2000 people every summer come to this to this resort island. They own land, yeah, Madam CJ Walker, owned the house up there, and she was building a school up there before she passed so left some of your who's who they came and had, they, like conventions, their meetings and talk about, you know, the Black Agenda and things like that. So you had clubs, you had restaurants, you had hotels. It was like the spot to be for us. And we owned the land. We own property. And through generation, they pass it down. Pass it down. Of course, segregation happened, and we start being allowed to go to other resorts. So that's what
Rico White 12:51
happened to gentrification process happen in Idlewild. No, oh, so it's still predominantly
Jason Ross 12:59
to this day my
Rico White 13:00
business partner, African American, whatever you want to wonder. Whatever you want to power, I don't even know.
Jason Ross 13:05
So my business partner, his family, still owns a lake house there, really? Yeah, they still, they've been generational, okay, so every year we go back and do an event there, but they have something. No, in the summertime, there's always something going on. They have our type of concerts and glamping, camping
Rico White 13:22
trips. What's that? What's the population of Idlewild population?
Jason Ross 13:26
Now, I'm not sure. It's not all people that live there. Now, okay, so more tourists, yeah, even then back in the day, was more resort. Okay, people that live there four times. Some people still lived in the community up there, but most people just came in the summertime for holidays, things like that. So resort,
Sarah Fernandez 13:41
I see a field trip in our future.
Jason Ross 13:45
It's really like, when you go on, you can feel your ancestors. And I'm saying, okay, like you get, like, my wife, sorority still has a sorority house up there. What sorority is she? She's a zeta. So they actually have a house there that we have to go and visit and check it out. Was super cool.
Rico White 13:59
I didn't know she was a zeta. That's why those Zetas were at the Oh, not that I know you or anything, or that I attended the tasting session and it was a bunch of Zetas there, not that I was and, okay, anyway, so, yeah, that's really interesting. Man, we got a history lesson.
Jason Ross 14:19
It's Google. Like, you check it out. It's a really, really dope story. Like, it talks about how it was created, the Dave the from the high ends, when it was, like, everybody was, it was boom, like, you think about entertainment, everybody came through that was like, doing the height of the chicken circuit. Okay, we weren't allowed to go to other resorts to see how people perform, but we could go there. We go there, because we owned it, right? We felt safe, no saying they had clubs, restaurants. What year was this? Around the started was founded in 1912 it did start in 1912 in the 40s was like 40s and 50 was the height of it.
Rico White 14:54
Okay, wow. So I'm thinking that that they weren't bothered by out. Outside influences, or not influences, but outside people to come in and try to ruin it
Jason Ross 15:07
for him. No, it was just us like, Yeah, let's say they had numbers being up there, the from Detroit, Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York. For the Midwest, we have people internationally come down to this resort. Okay, so of course, you will have your numbers. You gonna have your, you know, doing everything, all the other extra things that you might know in the back room. Yeah, everybody
Rico White 15:31
sound like one of my parties,
Jason Ross 15:34
old parties, not just Rico, oh Rico.
Sarah Fernandez 15:39
Oh Rico. Wow. Okay. Anyway, throwing jabs today. Boy. What challenges do you see that you face in the bourbon and whiskey industry, and What influence does it have on your business?
Jason Ross 15:51
Well, the biggest challenge starting off because it was a new brand and wasn't a lot of name recognition, was getting distribution from different states, because every state you do business with, majority of them, you got to have a distributor to sell for you. So we didn't have a big name. We know it wasn't a Kevin heard or 50 Cent, so people wasn't so willing to invest or take the chance with us. So it was all about no finding the right fit with the distributor that's willing to give us a shot. And so far, it's been pretty good. Like we're in six states right now, nice, and we taking the slow coat. No, we probably own, no, we've got no investors, so it's all out of our pocket, which gets pricey. So we just know that's right. Then the bourbon industry itself, liquor industry itself, is kind of down right now. Most, lot of people's not the Gen was drinking as much as the x's used to so but they find the other extracurricular activities
Rico White 16:51
into partaking. Okay, I got you, I got you, I got you. So I kind of know the answer to this question, but I want to hear what you're going to say. So how do you engage with the community and promote your brand locally and then and then nationally? We can, we can go on both of them.
Jason Ross 17:11
So locally, here in Vegas, we just launched in Vegas in January. Oh, okay, yep. So we just launched in Vegas. Vegas is our last first one this year. Okay, so we're in four stores, the liquor outlet, all four day stores, and we also inside of the Virgin Casino. Okay, we got one of the big boys that know good. Okay. So what we do locally? We do tasting events, like the one you came in. We do in stores. We come in, let people sample it, tell them about the history, talking about the bottle and taste and anything like that. And normally, as you see, they buy, you know. So we don't think we started in four stores here in Vegas, and pretty much every store we didn't been in is sold. I think we might have six bottles left.
Sarah Fernandez 17:59
I know I was told that somebody was upset because you guys had sold out. Yeah. So let me know when's your next test tasting. That way I can come through absolutely and, you know, bring some more people. I got you for sure, definitely go directly.
Jason Ross 18:14
Okay, all right, so we also did. We also in tapping ass cigarette lounge. Don't be very supportive us. We did a couple private events with them that went over super well. I think, did I get to the first one? Oh, I did come. That was like a pretext. You weren't even in Vegas yet. You did come doing support. And I
Rico White 18:31
bought a bottle. I bought a bottle. You did very expensive Well, you know, at that time, because that was because that was,
Sarah Fernandez 18:38
well, like he said, it's off their dime right now. They don't have outside.
Jason Ross 18:42
We weren't even the state of Las Vegas.
Rico White 18:44
It wasn't even in Las Vegas. Where was it?
Jason Ross 18:46
Again? Look outlet, locations here and
Rico White 18:49
locations, and then virgin tourists coming in and out.
Jason Ross 18:53
Yeah, tapping ass has been no one of our biggest supporters since we started the wine supporter. So that's when one of my people got shot them out.
Sarah Fernandez 19:02
Okay, yeah, I go there at times and smoke cigars with some of my my sisters. So are you thinking part of me? No, I hang out with my Eastern Star System. Did I say? And we smoke our cigars and drink our whiskey and our bourbons, and it's not just you men. There's a lot of women that smoke cigars. I know that. That's why I'm inquiring, because I know a lot of young ladies, and if he has a tasting, we can all show up and we can support him. I got you.
Rico White 19:41
Okay? I guess we're friends. All right. So do you have some future plans, or for expanding the black eating product line, or reaching new markets and all that good stuff?
Jason Ross 19:55
We're currently, we're in, of course, Michigan, Michigan, noise, Wisconsin. Constantly in Maryland, DC, okay, New York. Oh, shoot, yeah, we just launched here in Vegas. So I think Georgia is gonna be next up.
Rico White 20:10
Do you have to pay these different states in order to be in those states licensing? So you pay for the licensing and then you get a distributor, or is it this same distributor that will reach out to those different places,
Jason Ross 20:22
different states, got different distributors. Let's do with one of the big boys. Oh, well, you need to get with one of the big boys. Well, the big boys ain't taking on small brands. Some are actually some of your big names are leaving the big boys right now, really, okay, so it doesn't make no financial sense, though, especially when the market is down.
Rico White 20:40
You know what? At this time, I just want to interject, because I want to tell you who this program is brought to you by, and so it is brought to you by SF. CCW, all right. And in the world, in today's world, being prepared means getting the right training. So at SF CCW, they're the leading concealed carry weapons certification company dedicated to empowering responsible gun owners, and their instructors provide comprehensive classes that combine safety, legal, knowledge and practical skills, ensuring both certification and confidence and whether it's a novice or a seasoned shooter at SF, CCW, they're equipped for every situation, and you can reach them at 702-706-1913
Rico White 21:36
So again, that's 702-706-1913
Sarah Fernandez 21:41
the website, which is SF, ccw.com
Rico White 21:45
Yeah, you can go to SF ccw.com and you can see there and register there too. What else? What advice do you have for expiring distillers or entrepreneurs in the spirits industry,
Jason Ross 22:02
I would say number one, do a lot of research on it. Is you
Rico White 22:05
said it's very expensive? Is it very expensive or just expensive? Not very expensive, very when you say, Can you give us a number a round about,
Jason Ross 22:14
think about, I'm just gonna put like this. We have, like, monthly fees. We have a warehouse in Michigan. Okay? So we house our liquor and our wines. We also have a marketing team that does all our marketing, social media and things of that nature,
Rico White 22:27
okay? And I've seen some time, I've seen it online.
Jason Ross 22:29
Sometimes we also have licensing that you gotta for each state that you get a license in, it costs, okay? And you gotta that's annually, so your energy paying for these fees. Then sometimes you have shipping costs when you ship in different bottles, different places. No, we have online presence. So it's cost to that. Everything is a cost. It's not cheap, buddy.
Rico White 22:50
Okay, all right. So what advice do you have for people?
Jason Ross 22:55
Number one, do your research? Understand the industry in the business, understand where the business is at, right now. Find you some good people that you can support. You know, get the support from. We don't have mentors in the business, so a lot of the things that we learn in our own as we go, okay, some good, some bad, but we learn it No. So every every loss, is a learning. So we learn it a lot. So find somebody that's in the industry that you can trust, that you can get mentored by. You can ask questions, like, we always willing to help somebody else. Oh, we do, yeah,
Rico White 23:24
okay, that's what's up. So what else you want to tell us about? What else? What else is good for you?
Jason Ross 23:31
We just excited about it. Man, it's growing. Vegas is gonna, gonna grow. First Quarter was a little slow, because coming up the holidays, people really doing too much, but it's growing already like so we've been here since January. The stock we had is already pretty much sold out. So that's super cool. New York is growing. Michigan is going crazy right now, is it really? Yeah, like Michigan, we look black history for you. We are the first and only minor we say minority owned, okay, Bourbon brand in the state of Michigan, first and only so young, black owned bourbon brand and state of Michigan. No, that's home for us, okay? And we probably in about almost 40 stores. There are you in Myers? 50 acres. We launched in Myers in April in Michigan. Yeah, we launched them in April at Myers. So you're in all of them. We haven't had many stores yet location, but they're launching us in and Myers in January, in Ford total wines in Michigan, which is doing really good. They always sell out there.
Sarah Fernandez 24:35
So you're in total wines in Michigan. Yes, ma'am, couldn't they connect you with the total wines here,
Jason Ross 24:41
we're working on that. So our distributor already sent me to our paperwork. So we already got approved for Wisconsin total wines. Okay, I want to say Michigan. We already in. Want to say Maryland. We got approved for total wines there. Even our wines been approved for some of the total wines. Shout out. My wife Kenyatta,
Sarah Fernandez 24:59
yes. Definitely give
Rico White 25:03
you don't, she's gonna be very upset,
Jason Ross 25:06
and we couldn't. I'm telling you, me and John can do without them. Not only do you know the moral support, but you know right, financial support and letting us go out and do like stop. Know how my schedule is, I'm right a lot. So right, right. She let me go and do what I need to do. And that's
Rico White 25:21
a beautiful thing. When you have a supportive partner, you can't beat that. Okay, yeah, that's, that's what's up. Yeah, man, this is, this has been interesting. Is there anything else that you want to tell us about black Eden, 1912 besides when we're getting our bottle. You know what? I've heard that term before I got y'all. I got you.
Sarah Fernandez 25:47
I used to be a bill collector. We'll find tracer too, before we get here.
Jason Ross 25:56
My brother
Sarah Fernandez 25:57
so well, I got a quick think, you know how we were talking about the community, and you know, what would you tell somebody to start now? Wanting to do this, have you ever thought of starting up a mentorship program?
Jason Ross 26:07
We have not. Can we still learning? Okay, we still taking our lumps, you know? So we learned a lot, but a lot we still learning as we go through the process growing.
Rico White 26:17
So, okay, all right, one more time, tell us where you can get this, where you can get the liquor,
Jason Ross 26:22
right here in Las Vegas, you can get the liquor outlet for locations get it at you could try that tapping Nash while you having a cigar. Had that cigar that you inside of the Virgin. Have a dinner. You also find us online at Black Eaton 19 twelve.com,
Rico White 26:37
black Eden 1912 calm, okay.
Jason Ross 26:40
Instagram, everything is black, e 1912 so just Instagram, Facebook, Facebook as well. Okay, 1912 gotcha. I know you older, so you probably got Facebook, Myspace.
Rico White 26:54
Don't laugh, because I tried to access my MySpace and it's not working. Got some pictures I was trying to get rid of. No not rid of, because people listen to this. Okay, again, find those old pictures of your youngin days. Y'all both a trip. So anyway, once again, this was brought to you by SF, ccw.com, we were joined again with Jason Ross, with Blackie 1912 with my co host here.
Sarah Fernandez 27:30
Sarah Fernandez, yep, yep, yep. Put the handles on it,
Rico White 27:33
and we appreciate you guys. So we are coming to the end of our show again. I just want to thank everybody for being here. I'm your host, Rico white, and we appreciate you joining us this Sunday. Thank you and have a wonderful, wonderful morning. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai