The NBA legend has been very hands-on with every aspect of Digits Bourbon, from tasting and blending to pasting labels on bottles.
The following written content by Maria C. Hunt
It’s all hands on deck at the Savage & Cooke Distillery on Mare Island in Vallejo, California, 30 minutes north of Oakland. Dave Phinney’s distillery has shut down its regular whiskey production to concentrate on a new release: Digits Bourbon from Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen.
Bottles are filled at a contraption that looks like stainless steel udder that dispenses bourbon instead of milk. Office workers are taping boxes together. Guys who usually tend to vats of fermenting grain are labeling bottles. And the warehouse team includes a very tall new guy named Scottie working quietly at a stainless steel table.
Pippen went casual chic for his first day on the job: grey and red Dior sweatshirt and black jeans, plus diamond studs and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch. As “Nonstop” by Drake booms from his Ultimate Ears portable speaker, Pippen smooths the labels on each side of the short bottle. “The secret to getting it straight is this little box,” he says, referring to a guide that helps him line up the labels. “It’s a gorgeous bottle.”
With Digits Bourbon, Pippen joins the celebrities-with-spirits club. But it’s hard to imagine George Clooney unpacking bottles of Casamigos by hand. Of all the celebrities to launch a spirit brand, Pippen may be the most hands-on. Phinney, the wine-branding genius behind The Prisoner and Orin Swift, created a striking label for Digits: black-and-white photos of Pippen’s fingers by Greg Gorman.
Pippen says enjoying fine foods around the world has been a perk of being a professional basketball player. Moving to Chicago after he signed with the Bulls and traveling to play in the Olympics exposed him to high-end Italian cuisine. He’s been known to dine at Rosebud in Chicago and Prime Italian in Miami. In Beverly Hills, he loves the branzino and the black truffle pasta at Celestino Drago’s Il Pastaio.
He drinks all kinds of wines but prefers bold reds. “I like something that’s got a little age on it,” Pippen says. “I’m a Cabernet kind of guy.” Lately, he’s been collecting Phinney’s wines, including The Prisoner (now owned by Constellation Brands) and Machete. “I think I like the little Black model sitting on the car more than anything,” Pippen adds, referencing the Machete label. Read more from Food & Wine.
