Black-Owned Whiskey Brand GUIDANCE Gets Store Distribution In Multiple States

Entrepreneur Jason Ridgel, founder of GUIDANCE, the black-owned whiskey brand out of Nashville, Tennessee, has signed a deal with Legacy Wine and Spirits distributors to gain shelf life in five stores across the United States for the first time.

After being shut out of distribution since the founding of Guidance in 2018, Ridgel launched his whiskey business solely online. According to The Tennessee Tribune, founder Ridgel, who wanted to provide his whiskey product for “the unique taste preferences of African Americans”, was rejected by many distributors constantly with the excuse that the market was saturated already and it wouldn’t sell.

However, not giving up, he finally signed a deal with Legacy Wine and Spirits in 2020, a fairly new black-owned liquor distributor owned by DJuan Ditto, Kelvin Young, Sr and Kelvin Young Jr.

Future goals for Rigel are to make Guidance available in places like restaurants and clubs where it can be ordered by the glass, and he would also like to mentor other entrepreneurs.