Let’s stop with the fiction. If you hear one more bourbon marketing pamphlet about a 'secret' recipe found in a dusty attic, or how a creek was 'blessed by a moonshining monk,' you're going to lose it. We get it. The whole industry is built on tall tales, ghost stories, and a lot of marketing fluff. You need to know if the people actually making your booze are competent.
That brings us to Indianapolis, specifically to the near east side, where the team at 8th Day Distillery is doing something radically different: they are being normal, competent human beings who just happen to be obsessed with making good spirits. When we talk about the 8th Day master distillers, we aren’t talking about seventh-generation heirs to a corn empire. We are talking about guys who escaped corporate America and guys who can do the splits on command.
Yes, really.
If you are researching new bourbons to try, you need to look past the label and look at the hands running the still. Here is the lowdown on the crew turning grain into gold at 8th Day, without the unnecessary adjectives or romanticized nonsense.
First up in the lineup of 8th Day Distillery distillers is Matt. He’s the co-founder, owner, and the brains behind the operation.
Matt’s backstory is a true ‘re-skilled professional’ story. He wasn’t born in a barrelhouse; he was an engineer, a math guy obsessed with systems. He spent years in corporate America, staring at spreadsheets, until he decided trading a retirement at 65 for sweating over fermentation tanks right now sounded miserable. So, he leveraged that engineering degree, partnered with his wife, Jaime, wrote a business plan, and started distilling in 2015. He worked two jobs for five years, finally telling corporate America to kick rocks in 2020 and went full-time at 8th Day.
Why does this matter to your palate? Because engineers are obsessive. They like precision. You want a math guy making your bourbon because he measures things. He doesn’t ‘feel’ the spirit; he calculates it. Matt is the business integrator, ensuring the liquid in your glass is consistent, not a happy accident. Also, he grills. If your bourbon tastes like it was made by a guy who knows exactly how long to sear a steak, now you know why.
If Matt is the calculated brain, Phil is the hands, the muscle, and apparently, the gymnast.
Phil joined the ranks of the 8th Day’s distillers in 2021 as the Distiller and Barrel/Warehouse Manager. This is the job that actually matters most to the flavor. Phil oversees the barrel inventory and the entire maturation process. Distilling isn’t just watching liquid drip. It’s heavy lifting, managing casks, and having a maniacal attention to detail, which is exactly what you want from the guy deciding a barrel is ready to bottle.
But this is where the ‘stoic artisan’ mold breaks. Phil is a genuinely good guy, known for his humor, and he’s a family man obsessed with home improvement. The real kicker: he can do the splits on command. We’re not saying flexibility makes better bourbon, but it suggests good balance. And in this business, balance is everything. If he can manage that level of dexterity, you can probably trust him not to drop a cask of the good stuff.
So, you have an engineer and a flexible warehouse manager. Why should you care?
Because instead of a secret, here is the exact recipe. They trust you to realize that execution is harder than a list of ingredients. 8th Day’s master distillers represent a shift. They aren’t bound by “how we’ve always done it.” Matt’s engineering background makes the production efficient and precise. Phil’s dedication means the barrels are watched like hawks. They are enthusiasts who went pro, so they’re still chasing the perfect flavor profile, not just satisfying shareholders.
They aren’t scientists in lab coats, and they aren’t hillbillies in the woods. They are relatable, hardworking guys who built a brand around “living without regrets.” That philosophy bleeds into the bottle. The spirits they produce, whether it’s their whiskey, gin, or rum, are clean, intentional, and lack the pretension that plagues so many other craft distilleries.
When you drink 8th Day, you aren’t drinking a marketing budget. You’re drinking Matt’s escape from corporate drudgery and Phil’s hard work.
Now, let’s address the elephant in the tasting room. You can read about Matt’s grilling habits and Phil’s gymnastics all day, but that doesn’t tell you exactly what the bourbon tastes like to you.
Everyone’s palate is different. You might taste caramel and vanilla, while your friend tastes oak and… is that leather? Who knows. The subjectivity of tasting is why buying a new bottle based solely on a blog post (even a really good one like this) is a gamble.
This is where OAKR comes in.
OAKR is the best bourbon sommelier app on the market today, and it cuts through the noise. Instead of relying on the distillery’s marketing notes (which always claim the bourbon tastes like “victory” and “sunshine”), OAKR does the actual leg work. The app aggregates tasting data from blind tasting panelists, people who don’t know if they are drinking a $20 bottle or a $200 bottle, to showcase the real flavors.
Everyone has a unique tasting experience, and you will notice nuances that others won’t. But OAKR gives you a baseline of truth. It allows you to explore in-depth flavor profiles about spirits and get personalized recommendations just for you. It’s like having a cheat sheet for your liquor cabinet.
Before you rush out to buy a bottle of 8th Day (which you should), download OAKR. Check the profile. See how the data stacks up against what you like. It saves you money and saves you from the disappointment of buying a bottle that doesn’t match your palate.
8th Day Distillery isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It’s a place built by an engineer and run by a team that includes a guy who does the splits. It’s authentic, it’s local to Indy, and it’s devoid of the fake heritage nonsense that clogs up the shelves.
8th Day’s master distillers are making products for people who want quality without the lecture. So, go try a bottle. Support the guys who escaped the cubicle. And while you’re at it, download OAKR so you can actually understand what you’re drinking. Cheers to living without regrets, and without bad bourbon.
Login to OAKR for spirit profile flavor data, create your own lists and customize your palate to get custom somm recommendations on whiskey you’ll love.
