A Perfect Pairing
Village Garage, a Bennington, Vermont distillery, is thrilled to announce a partnership with their neighbor and fellow spirits enthusiast Jonathan Goldsmith, the actor best known for his role as the “Most Interesting Man in the World.” As Village Garage Distillery’s Chief Storytelling Officer (CSO), Jonathan is back to write his next chapter. He’ll continue to build the Village Garage Distillery legacy, all while encouraging whiskey drinkers to create their own stories worthy of local Vermont legends like Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.
“Fellow Vermonter Robert Frost said, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’ Well, great whiskey makes better neighbors,” says Jonathan. “From the moment I walked into Village Garage Distillery, I knew they had bottled the very reason I live in Vermont. It’s an incredibly well-crafted product that lacks pretension. The liquid, the people, and the story are genuine and unique. It’s elevated yet down to earth. I feel good there. So I’m inviting friends I know and friends I don’t to share this with me.”
As VGD’s Chief Storytelling Officer, Jonathan will tell the tales of the brand by creating a whole new world of content in online video, audio, and more. To do so, he and Village Garage Distillery are partnering with advertising leaders who helped create the “Most Interesting Man” legacy. Jonathan will also be in charge of helping the brand and patrons alike create new stories through appearances, hosting events, and joining local and nationally recognized artists onstage, around bonfires, and more. Jonathan is excited to return to the drinks industry and create his next chapter as he pursues the finer things.
“From the moment I walked into Village Garage Distillery, I knew they had bottled the very reason I live in Vermont. It’s an incredibly well-crafted product that lacks pretension.” –Jonathan Goldsmith
In the classic “a guy walks into a bar” scenario, Jonathan quite literally walked into Village Garage Distillery in 2022 where he met cofounder Glen Sauer, a man with quite a few intriguing stories of his own. “Jonathan was here for a philanthropic event, and I kept looking and going, ‘Hey, that guy, he’s the guy!’” says Glen. “I went over and introduced myself, and we started talking. About Vermont. Philanthropy. Whiskey. A lot of other stuff. An hour and a half later, we said a really awkward goodbye with me wondering whether we should hug or handshake, and then the gears started turning. The rest? It’s a whole story….”
The story of Village Garage Distillery began on Christmas Eve 2018, when Glen and cofounder Matt Cushman discovered they shared a lifelong dream to build and operate a distillery. But they needed a location. Glen knew that the former garage for Bennington’s highway department, locally known as the “village garage,” was up for sale, and the story grew (with many amusing twists and turns) from there. Today, Village Garage Distillery produces bourbon, rye, smoked maple whiskey (Bonfire), vodka, and gin.
“We make spirits for people to interact with each other,” says Glen. “We want people to like and share again in real time, without a screen between them, without the abbreviations and without pushing buttons. Well, sometimes we push each other’s buttons. But that’s also what whiskey is for.”
