We believe that art has the power to convey an idea or emotion that exists beyond the realms of language. Pairing the right wine with a particular food or your favorite song to suit the mood can be transcendental. Taste, like art, is subjective and based on individual experiences and flavor memories.
There is nothing subtle about our spirit, and from the beginning, we knew we had to do it differently. Our spirits aren’t intended to be categorized, they are meant to be experienced. With each release, we capture a place in time, dynamic like the artist whose work is featured on the bottle. Each one is personal to us because they represent real moments or ideas in our life, our story unfolding in real-time.
Much like the alchemists that predated modern chemistry, independent bottlers preceded the rise of large distilling operations. Using their relationships with both distilleries and consumers, they bottled sourced whiskey under their own label. We continue this tradition today with our crafted blends and single cask selections, all produced in infinitesimally small quantities that extend beyond the canvas, glass, and mind.
Joshua Thinnes, Founder
A musician at heart, Joshua founded Subtle Spirits as a way to get back in touch with his desire to create. He spent 11 years as a buyer at a well-known wine and spirits store in San Francisco. He fell in love with wine first, and as a buyer, had the privilege of tasting thousands of wines from top producers around the world. He began traveling frequently to Kentucky to select single casks of bourbon and rye for the stores, and that is where his obsession for spirits really took off. After a three-week pilgrimage to Scotland, he was officially hooked. His passion for immersing himself fully in the experience has led him to wineries and distilleries all over the world.
Always a futurist, in 2021 Joshua was the first to combine spirits and art in a brand new way by creating the first NFT backed limited-edition whiskey on the Ethereum blockchain.
You can follow Joshua on Instagram or read more on his blog.