Eric Byford came into the film industry in a roundabout way. After studying broadcast journalism in college he went through a series of career changes and finally landed in film school. One of his assignments was to produce a 5 minute documentary. He decided to produce a film about Tennessee whiskey. It ended up being 37.5 minutes long and has won five awards so far.
Byford was impressed with the passion of the distillers and the openness and history within the industry. After Straight Up: Tennessee Whiskey Byford met Cary Ann Fuller, an event promoter who worked with distillers and beer makers in Tennessee to put together a festival celebrating Tennessee’s beverage alcohol industry.
The pair looked North to their Kentucky neighbors for their next project. What they found was an openness and history within the bourbon industry which they had never seen before. Together they want to educate the public about common misconceptions and little known history in the bourbon industry. Byford says bourbon is one of the most misunderstood products on the market and he wants to help people understand the great significance it has had to our history and economy time and again, pointing out that American whiskey has saved our economy time and time again.
Byford says it has been eye opening and refreshing to see how welcoming and helpful Kentuckians are in regards to bourbon. You can watch the trailer for Straight Up: Tennessee Whiskey here, and there will be a trailer for Straight Up: Kentucky Bourbon soon. They are also crowdfunding their production expenses, so click here to help them spread the word about bourbon.
Photos Courtesy of Beardforce Films
