Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie May
Hi Leslie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We were just two old research chemists who never thought we would make whiskey, but we became fascinated with the process. Researchers cannot stop researching, and after a few breakthroughs, we now produce smooth, great-tasting whiskeys.
Joe Pelati and I met and married in graduate school at Indiana University, where we each earned a PhD in chemistry. We were in the conventional, corporate chemical industry for many years. Whiskey aficianados, we traveled to Bardstown, KY, in 2021 to visit a variety of whiskey distilleries. We were impressed with the corn mash and distillation process, but began to think we might have a better approach to the aging of whiskey.
I reviewed my wood chemistry, given my background with a startup making transportation fuel from wood. Joe began doing experiments using reclaimed oak whiskey barrels to better understand the pretreatment of wood segments for aging whiskey. Our goal was to make the aging process more sustainable by reusing white oak wood segments from spent barrels.
It took two years until we found a process that generated a smooth, drinkable whiskey, in TWO weeks, much faster than the conventional process. We registered our LLC, DynaBarr, in May 2023. I took over the responsibility of obtaining all the federal, state, county and city licenses to legally age whiskey and obtained all the necessary approvals in late 2023.
Finally, in January 2024, we sold our first bottles of Smiling Oak. In February we launched Paddy O’Barrel, a play on the words “patio” and “barrel”, since Joe flamed our experimental wood segments on the back patio. Paddy is made with oak segments already used to make Smiling Oak. The second flaming generates Paddy, a whiskey with a slightly different flavor palate, with more notes of nutmeg, clove and other spices in the finish.
Smiling Oak is now carried at Spec’s, whereas Longhorn Liquor in Houston carries both Smiling Oak and Paddy.
We attended the Texas Whiskey Festival in Bee Cave in April 2024 to introduce our whiskeys, including our new Smiling Oak Texas Rye. A few weeks later we received an order to stock 17 Total Wine stores in the Austin and Dallas areas with both Smiling Oak Texas Rye and Paddy.
We maintain our production facility in Kefi Spaces just north of IH-10 at 7055 Old Katy Road. Kefi is an entrepreneurial community, and we all work together to support and promote each other’s products. We also source all our raw materials from Texas, partnering with Gulf Coast Distillers located just inside the 610 Loop in East Houston.
Honestly, we are thrilled to be where we are today. It is a lot of work, but we enjoy the process of building on the time-honored whiskey tradition while adding some new twists along the way. We feel that there are many people who have not had the chance to learn about whiskey or to try something smooth at a reasonable price point. You can learn more about us at our web site, www.dynabarr.net.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When we started, there was no accelerated aging process which fit our criteria we could find in the literature or by searching the internet. Our goal was to change the flaming process and thus reclaim spent barrels to make the entire process more sustainable. Especially given our chemistry backgrounds, I’d say one of our assumptions was that nothing worth doing is likely to be easy. We were too old to wait for six to twelve years of aging to make good whiskey.
The first struggle was with the flaming process. We aged small quantities of alcohol with our treated wood, but the results were not very palatable. After about a year we almost gave up. Then Joe discovered a few small changes which made marked improvements, and we had smooth whiskey!
The next struggle was getting all the appropriate licenses. This takes time, effort and money. At times it was very frustrating as the process isn’t always clear as to what to do first, what the rules actually are, and where and when to contact the appropriate agencies. Again, after a few months, we were ready to quit.
We endured. Now we are working as hard as we can to market our whiskey using social media, along with tastings at retail stores like Longhorn Liquors, Spec’s and Total Wine. We also work with a fulfiller in Austin to sell our whiskeys online.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Leslie’s PhD is in analytical chemistry. She worked for more than 16 years at Dow Chemical in a variety of technical and managerial roles. At one point she led all the quality control laboratories in Dow’s Freeport, Texas, facility. She worked as part of the transition team when Dow acquired Union Carbide, moving to West Virginia to lead several research groups in the former Carbide. After that, she moved to Midland, MI, to lead another R&D group, Materials Sciences.
After that, in 2005 she decided to move into consulting, leaving Dow for a boutique work process consultancy, Sinclair Group in the Woodlands, TX. Her last R&D position was as senior analytical scientist with KiOR, a startup focused on converting wood to transportation fuel via a catalytic process. She then began her own consultancy in 2014, working on a variety of applications of technology to business.
Joe’s PhD is in inorganic chemistry. He worked for more than 17 years in Research & Development at Dow Chemical in Freeport, TX, Charleston, West Virginia, and Midland, Michigan. His expertise is the styrene process. He is currently employed at Total Energy Systems R&D in LaPorte, TX.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The most important thing for us has been pursuing research in which we are genuinely interested and we believe has benefits to the wider community. Once that is identified, find like-minded people. One person I encountered was an individual I had worked with at Dow who is now a whiskey connoisseur. The whiskey community, in general, is very helpful and supportive, even though it is so competitive. Find your own niche and stick with it. Forge your own path, but ask others with relevant experience for help. You’ll be surprised how well that works!
Pricing:
- $47 Smiling Oak
- $37 Smiling Oak Texas Rye
- $35 Paddy O’Barrel
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dynabarr.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dynabarr.llc/
