Episode Details

John and Kaylee sit down with Tim, the founder of 2A Bourbon, for a conversation about how a retirement plan turned into a Second Amendment bourbon brand built to give money away. Tim is a lawyer and lifelong serial entrepreneur who has owned a nightclub, a bottled water company, and a digital label company he ran for 16 years. He says he will turn 75 next month, and he explains that the idea came from a single moment on a golf course over Memorial Day weekend of 2022. He sliced a ball on the 18th hole and it landed on the name of his son-in-law's twin brother, a fallen North Carolina soldier killed in Iraq, written in chalk down the fairway as part of a Folds of Honor tribute. From there he decided to build a charity, heard on a podcast that a charity needs a following, and landed on guns and bourbon.

Tim walks through the build. He locked the name, the .com, and the trademark in about 15 minutes, then got his label approved by the government in three days when most people told him a Second Amendment label would never get cleared. He took three people to Kentucky to taste bourbons because he wanted real Kentucky bourbon rather than going to the well-known Indiana distillery, and he found a bottler known as the Bourbon Rabbi. The brand pairs gun-company toppers with each run, capped at 20,000 cases to stay collectible, and the current edition carries Smith & Wesson, who licensed their name and logo for free because they did not want to be in the revenue stream. Tim says he has not taken a penny from the company and has raised over a quarter of a million dollars in two years for groups including Folds of Honor, Stop Soldier Suicide, and a ruck walk in Clearwater, Florida. His reasons run personal: a brother who died by suicide at 18 and a son-in-law's family touched by war.

The back half moves into advocacy. Tim, a lawyer, argues that Congress is for sale and that enough money could push gun rights out of reach, which is why he supports GOA and the Second Amendment Foundation, the groups he says are in court keeping the rights. The hosts and Tim trade thoughts on D.C. v. Heller, grassroots versus elite funding of gun groups, and Senator Tim Kaine's claim that rights come from government. Tim's soapbox is a plea to get along across the aisle, framed by his mother's line that the Second Amendment is like a bird that needs a right wing and a left wing to fly. The episode closes on voting with your dollar, the GOA 50th anniversary in Iowa, and a half-serious plan to do a GOA barrel pick.

Questions this episode answers

What is 2A Bourbon and why did Tim start it?

2A Bourbon is a Second Amendment bourbon brand built to give its proceeds away to veteran and gun-rights causes. Tim, a lawyer and serial entrepreneur, started it to turn a retirement plan into a charity, choosing guns and bourbon as the following a charity needs.

How did a moment on a golf course lead to the founding of 2A Bourbon?

Over Memorial Day weekend of 2022, Tim sliced a ball on the 18th hole and it landed on the name of his son-in-law's twin brother, a fallen North Carolina soldier killed in Iraq, written in chalk as part of a Folds of Honor tribute. That moment pushed him to build the brand.

How did Tim get a Second Amendment bourbon label approved by the government?

Tim locked the name, the .com, and the trademark in about 15 minutes, then got the label cleared by the government in three days, even though he was told a Second Amendment label would never get approved. His prior experience with high-end liquor labels gave him an edge.

Why does the bottle carry the Smith & Wesson name and logo, and what did it cost?

Each run pairs a gun-company topper with the bourbon, and the current edition carries Smith & Wesson. Smith & Wesson licensed its name and logo for free because it did not want to be in the revenue stream, only to help the cause.

How much money has 2A Bourb