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For much of the 20th century, there wasn’t a lot of variety to be found in liquor stores. Whether you were shopping for beer or spirits, you were limited to a small number of national brands that were often owned by massive, global conglomerates that had bought up most of their competition.
But starting in the mid-2000s, we saw a veritable explosion in craft breweries and distilleries, with many operating at the local or regional level. This birthed an entire consumer base of connoisseurs, many of whom were willing to travel thousands of miles to taste their favorite barrel aged stouts or limited-batch spirits.
About a decade ago, Nino Kilgore-Marchetti found himself swept up in this movement after discovering that he had a taste for whiskey. “I just started drinking whiskey in the late 2000s and found that I have a happy palette that could discern specific flavors,” he told me. He started visiting different distilleries, spending time in tasting rooms, and picking the brains of those who worked in the industry. “I enjoyed the experience of trying different things and getting suggestions. I also started talking to folks online about whiskey.”
Because the craft industry was so nascent, there weren’t many professional news websites dedicated to covering it, meaning that Kilgore-Marchetti mostly had to rely on hobbyist websites to get information. Given that he already had a background in media and journalism, he started to think about the different kinds of content that could be created around whiskey. “I thought there were a lot of stories that could be told,” he said. “My mind just started going, and that was how Whiskey Wash was born.”
Kilgore-Marchetti launched The Whiskey Wash in 2013, and though he was its sole contributor for the first few months, he eventually took on freelancers and expanded its coverage to news, reviews, features, and recipes. Today, the site employs around 14 regular freelancers and generates a full-time living for Kilgore-Marchetti.
In a recent interview, Kilgore-Marchetti explained how he found his initial audience, how he monetizes the site, and why he hasn’t yet made any major investments in podcasts or video.
Let’s jump into my findings…
Transitioning from tech to media
Kilgore-Marchetti didn’t always consider himself to be a writer, and in fact his first few jobs were in tech. He was among the first 20 employees at Yahoo, working as one of its famed “web surfers” who were responsible for discovering websites to list within its directory. He then moved up within the company, eventually founding its customer care department.
He left Yahoo in 2000 and later got a job as a buying guide analyst at a platform called Active Decisions. Part of his role included researching and writing buying guides for consumers who were looking to make purchasing decisions in several product categories. “It kind of made me realize that I enjoyed writing online and that I wanted to make a move in that direction.”
From there, Kilgore-Marchetti transitioned into a career as a freelance writer, composing hundreds of articles for About.com and other sites. “I also figured, since I’m already doing all this online writing, that I might as well pursue a bit of journalism experience with it. So I enrolled in a community college in California and spent about a year and a half studying under this old grisly newsroom guy from back in the day.”
Kilgore-Marchetti’s first foray into media entrepreneurialism came in 2009 with the launch of a website called EarthTechling. “We were writing about environmental news from a consumer perspective. At that time, we were really early in the Obama years and there was this big buzz around green tech and cleantech.” The site covered the emerging products and services that came out of that industry. “I did that for almost five years. The challenge of writing a site like that is that it’s also very subject to the political trade winds of the time. People started souring on green tech for different reasons, and we just found that ad impressions were kind of dropping.” Eventually he told his co-founder that he was ready to throw in the towel. “I gave him the reins of the business and walked away from it.”
Paywall incoming…
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