How Dawn O’Neal Created A Sustainable Whiskey Business

Dawn O’Neal, founder of New Dawn Distilling, gained an interest in whiskey in graduate school while earning her PhD in Ecology from Indiana University Bloomington. A group of roughly 15 people from her class would host tastings, and she was eventually invited to bring a bottle. She quickly learned what it was all about and even decided that she wanted to open a distillery. Her original plan was to make the leap when she retired.

“I’m sitting around with a bunch of friends, and we’re tasting all of these really amazing whiskeys and everything,” she said. “It was a pipe dream of all of it. We used to have this dream where we’re like, ‘We’re going to open a distillery doesn’t it sound amazing?”

The feat would combine her love for both conservation and whiskey.

After graduating, she worked at an environmental conservation non-profit organization for over a decade, but began feeling burnt out.

She’d eagerly think about her dream of retiring and starting a distillery as she’d planned. 

She decided that she was going to take action immediately.

“I really just wanted to go out on my own,” Dawn said. “For me, it was like, if I don’t do this right now, if I don’t make this leap, I will never do it. It was just like, ‘Mic drop. Quit my job,’ and a week later, I incorporated.”

Dawn works in a space that does not traditionally have representation of Black women.

But she found community while kickstarting her business, she has gained the support of Black women who fill in the knowledge gaps around distilling and starting a brand. She met them by joining business advancement groups including the Nasdaq Milestones Circles.

Despite her inexperience in distilling, she knew what she was looking for in the taste and feel of her whiskey. She curated what she considers a “fruit-forward” whiskey without it being sweet.

Although her whiskey does not taste like cognac, it has the same “mouth feel.”

Her whiskey can be enjoyed by many because of its cask strength. Giving the highest percent of alcohol possible, allowing people to dilute the to their preferred strength and taste.

Her offerings include a 6-year-old cask strength bourbon crafted from a 70% corn, 15% rye, 15% barley mash bill and a 10-year-old wheated whiskey featuring 70% wheat bottled at Alton Distillery in Bethel, New York, nestled in the Catskill Mountains. 

“The way I describe it to everybody is whatever comes out of the barrel is how the distiller and God intended,” she said.

She does this all while maintaining sustainable practices. For example, at the brand’s distillery, they recycle water used to distill throughout the entire system and ensure their production will not disrupt locals’ access to water. They do it by using their own well instead of taking up the local water supply.

Making a sustainable distillery involves knowing where the grains are from and if they’re farmed locally or organically. She also considered if the grains are formed with regenerative agriculture, which is a process that helps restore the topsoil’s health. She even considered whether the distilling process involves solar energy and so much more.

And in addition to all of this, 1% of New Dawn Distilling’s proceeds go towards environmental organizations.