Wonderbird Spirits: A Mississippi Hidden Gin
On 20 lush acres near Oxford, Mississippi, three ex-corporate guys have decided to pour everything they have into "field to bottle" gin. Pull up a seat, take a sip, and learn all about the wonder of Wonderbird Spirits.
Wonderbird Spirits goes against the grain of most distilleries β even those withΒ grain-to-glass, artisan, and small-batch monikers. Rob Forster, Tom Alexander, and Chand Harlow departed from their varied corporate backgrounds to build something world-class in rural Mississippi. From their botanical sourcing to their tasting experiences, meet the dynamic trio shaking up the world of fine spirits.
Called to Mississippi: Wonderbirdβs Origins
Originally from Covington, Louisiana, Rob Forster spent most of his career practicing law in Manhattan and Los Angeles. βI was leaving a lot of myself on the table. My love of people and storytelling. My creative impulse.β
Rob often traveled to Oxford to visit his late father β an Ole Miss Law alum who spent his final 12 years there β and Rob felt a strong pull to start over in Oxford with his young family. He followed the call, and ultimately, he convinced his UVA roommate and fellow traveler-epicure Tom to uproot from Austin, TX, and do the same.
βWeβd had these half-hearted conversations about starting a distillery for about a decade,β Rob recalls. Two of the Wonderbird three made the leap. Then, enter Chand, a younger Mississippi native with a longtime dream of starting a grain-to-glass gin distillery. They had a team and a plan. Time to learn how to make gin.
Why gin?
Put simply, they love it. βWe really esteem gin and its place in classic cocktail culture,β Rob says. βFrom the creative side, once youβve introduced that fore note of juniper, the creative latitude is limitless. We use some unusual botanicals like bay leaf and rosemary and forage two of our 10 botanicals from this land,β Rob says, proud of this terroir stamp on his bottles.
What βGrain-to-Glassβ Means to Wonderbird Spirits
βWe visited probably 20 distillers of all stripes,β Rob says. βTheyβd all say, βI bet youβre thinking about being grain-to-glass, right?β and we would say, stupidly, βYes, thatβs right.β And they would say, βDonβt be stupid!'βΒ Meaning, most folks make gin starting with neutral grain spirit purchased in bulk from Indiana or Nebraska. But that wasnβt in the cards for Wonderbird.
βThere is nothing wrong with doing that. So many beautiful gins are made that way,β says Rob. βBut we wanted to create this from the ground.β
Being in a legendary agricultural region meant the team scoured Mississippi for something to ferment on to create their base alcohol. They tried many types of corn and even considered the sweet potatoes grown on a large scale the county over. Then they heard about a culinary rice farm in the Mississippi Delta called Two Brooks, whose five varietals are in kitchens from New Orleans to Memphis to Birmingham.
βTheir jasmine rice started yielding this super creamy, clean, aromatic distillate that caught our attention,β Rob says. βSo we had to learn to make gin and sake. It took us about two years stem to stern to do both of those things.β
61 Iterations Later, a Signature Expression
This sake-adjacent base alcohol was a canvas on which to paint the botanical notes. In developing their first gin, they spent months looking for the right juniper before landing on one from Southern Italy.
βWe had no distillation experience before getting into this. The team decided to make their gin with individual micro distillations of each of our botanicals,β Rob explains. βThis is not a novel concept in distillation, but it requires a lot more labor. We yield those beautiful, perfect parts and then blend them after the fact. Monkey 47 is the only other gin in the world that lays claim to that level of labor intensiveness.β
Bottling The Magnolia State
Wonderbird got immediate distribution and fostered relationships in four states, a key to the success of a young brand in a heavily red-taped industry. Then COVID-19 happened. During a lockdown walk, Robert broke a branch off a magnolia tree on Ole Missβs campus.
βI wondered if I could take the unmistakable, unforgettable essence of Mississippi magnolia and put it in a bottle,β Rob says. βNo oneβs ever done that before. Fresh blossoms from peopleβs trees are distilled same-day, and the fresh white petals deliver a beautiful, round, buttery note,β Rob says of No. 97.
Folding Wonder into the Name and Design
Many people comment on the Wonderbird packaging and aesthetic. βWe wanted our design to echo something deeply within the three of us, β Rob says. Where so many liquor brands are doing this bright, shiny object tactic, Wonderbird sought to counter-program that impulse and go βlinear, graceful, and timeless.β They were drawn to the Native American symbology from North Mississippi and ended up separately gravitating toward migratory birds without realizing it.
What Does βSmall Batchβ Mean to Wonderbird?
Wonderbird currently makes a batch and a half to two batches a month. βThatβs 600 bottles. Thatβs not a ton of gin,β Rob admits. They are, however, on the heels of a monster expansion. βWeβre making two batches a month, but weβre four months into being able to make 10 times that.β They have the facility. Theyβve proven they can scale without sacrificing quality. And theyβve even garnered some awards, building a brand and a reputation. βItβs time to go find those markets and earn those fans,β Rob adds.
Wonderbirdβs Distillery and Tasting Room
When people come to Oxford and have a beautiful meal on the square, shop at Square Books, and visit William Faulknerβs place, Rob hopes Wonderbird becomes the obvious next stop. βWe want people to say, βOh, dude! You have to go out to Wonderbird. Itβs this grain-to-glass rice-based gin distillery 12 minutes from here!β And we can welcome people with this beautiful experience like youβd get at a California winery,β Rob adds.
Currently, the sparse yet stunning distillery hosts by-appointment tastings and tours. And they recently launched a Thursday night cocktail service thatβs three hours long, ten people max, and almost βsurgicalβ in its execution, according to Rob. A growing line-up of tastings, concerts, and community events are on the horizon.
βOxford is filled with dynamic, cool, creative people here who have come from all over the country, and in some cases the world, because thereβs something in the water here,β Rob adds. βItβs the food and bev scene. But itβs also the music scene. The art scene. Weβre proud to be here. And weβre earning our way into the community so that they see us as a mainstay.β
New Wonderbird Expression Landing Soon
Rob spoke to us in the midst of developing their third recipe: a simpler gin that may come in at a slightly lower price point. βIβll go in there in a minute and keep going with it,β he says at the end of the interview. βAll three of us are doing the βhive mindβ thing right now. Itβs not a paint-by-number situation. Itβs all through exploration.β
The Wonderbird trio has made something world-class in a place no one would expect. One sip and youβll taste that the Magnolia State, and the whole dang South, is better for it.
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This article was made possible byΒ Visit Mississippi.
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Zoe Yarborough
Zoe is a StyleBlueprint staff writer, Charlotte native, Washington & Lee graduate, and Nashville transplant of eleven years. She teaches Pilates, helps manage recording artists, and likes to "research" Germantown's food scene.