David Hermelin, founder of the St. Louis based Righteous Road® Craft Spirits has recently launched whiskey spirit, with the release of GIBOR™,, an American whiskey liqueur made with straight rye and bourbon whiskeys and the award winning Righteous Seven® Liqueur. It sits at 80 proof.
The Backstory
To better understand the story of this new whiskey, let me get you acquainted with Righteous Road®.
After a career in the pharmaceutical industry, Hermelin was searching for a new challenge in 2015 when he saw the rising popularity and creativity craft spirts, so he set his sights on an untapped market, unique craft kosher spirits that were kosher certified.
“The kosher spirits market was not really that creatively serviced,” said Hermelin, 54.
But by no means does one have to be Jewish or keep kKosher to enjoy these spirits. GIBOR™ (pronounced ‘ghee-bore’), will become the third brand and fourth productspirit in the Righteous
Road® portfolio, which now includes The Original Righteous Seven® liqueur, The Orginal Righteous Seven® Barrel Reserve liqueurd and The Fifth Cup™ liqueur, which debuted just this
past spring.
GIBOR™
The idea for the GIBOR™whiskey came about after Hermelin began to experiment mixing Righteous Seven® with other spirits, and in particular, with rye, bourbon, and single malt whiskeys and other spirits to Rightous Seven as a cocktail.
“One thing I found was it went really nice with a rye whiskeys,” said Hermelin.
After tasting and working with several brands, his favorite spirit for blending Righteous Seven® a spirit called Bourye from the High West Distilling. Bourye is a combination of “Bou” for bourbon and “rye” for..…well, rye whiskey.
“When I first tasted Bouryee, I loved its rye and bourbon blend, it was impressive and then I mixed it with Righthous Seven®, and it became my favorite way to have a drink.
Even before High West discontinued Bourye, Hermelin knew he wanted to develop a product that approached the taste of Bourye with Righteous Seven®. He knew if he could find the right rye and bourbon whiskeys, preferrably aged about 4-years, and work out the right blend with Righteous Seven, he may have a unique product.
About a year ago, Hermelin began sourcing different rye and bourbon whiskeys of varying mash bills and age. He then spent the next few months experimenting with blend ratios at different proofs and the combining them with various levels of R7, eventually settling on the perfect combination and final proof.
“Looking at the flavored and blended whiskey market many products come in at 70 to 75 proof. I experimented with proofs up to 90, but in the end, GIBOR™ was at its best at 80 proof, which is on the high end of the whiskey liqueur market,” said Hermelin.
The Name “GIBOR™”
While working to complete the whiskey recipe, the name GIBOR™ibor came to him while studying a book on the Hebrew letters. The Hebrew word GIBOR is translated as a “strong and mighty one”. It turns out from this ancient book that the Hebrew letter ‘tzadik’ (which also means a righteous person) is made from two other letters and the separate shapes combine to reveal a “GIBOR riding on a horse.” A “GIBOR” was the building block of the letter that meant “righteous,” which fit perfectly as a brand name under his Company Righteous Road®.
On the back label of a bottle of GIBOR™ibor, the story of the brand is given in more color. In the end, a GIBOR and a righteous person are often one and the same, both showing inner and
outer strength to overcome challenge and adversity, and the moral virtue to shine in the most
difficult of circumstances.
Finding GIBOR™ibor
Hermelin is now in the midst of launching GIBOR™ in the various states Righteous Road® sells its products (NY, NJ, CA, FL, IL, and MO). Missouri is the first state to have GIBOR™ on the
shelves. You can now find it at Wine and Cheese in Clayton (shipping as well to other locations), Schnucks Ladue Crossing, and Kohn’s Market. Other MO stores are soon to follow.
Those interested in trying GIBOR™ can come to Wine and Cheese this coming Thursday, July 15th from 4:30-6:00pm where Hermelin will have a tasting of all Righteous Road® products. is
putting the finishing touches on packaging and legal, and if all goes well Gibor will available at Wine and Cheese, Randalls, Schnucks Ladue Crossing, and Kohns Market the week of July 12.
Follow Righteous Road® Craft Spirits on Instagram and Facebook for updates (@righteousroadcraftpsirits) and find locations nationwide
