You could say Tom Lix reinvented the whiskey business — and himself — thanks in part to a stint in the Navy and a 70s sitcom.
Fueled by endless cups of black coffee, Lix, 64, is an energetic booster for his growing Cleveland Whiskey company. He’s understandably enthusiastic about his distillery, housed in the MAGNET business on East 25th St., creating a label that’s available from New England to Georgia, to Europe and now into Japan.
With his growing business, Lix seems to be headed in one direction — forward. He’s embracing the adventure, in fact, seems to revel in it. Lix may have landed in Cleveland through an unexpected yet all-too-familiar family situation, but his business success has been deliberate and thoughtful. He saw an opportunity, created a solution and dove in.
EARLY ADVENTURES, LATER SUCCESS
Before Lix’s latest incarnation, he spent time fighting forest fires in Alaska as a teenager and went to Penn State. As a student activist he protested for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. He bounced around and kept his eyes open.
Whiskey entered his life when he joined the Navy, where he served for six years. He learned distilling basics from a chief petty officer who fashioned a still in the galley of the Navy ship Lix was assigned. He tucked the knowledge in the back of his mind.
Lix ended back in college, picking up degrees in biology and chemistry before heading to Boston University where he earned a doctorate in marketing. A born entrepreneur, Lix owned or operated software, technology and other companies, creating a host of successful enterprises that had nothing to do with bourbon making but everything to do with business acumen.
Then a family crisis intervened. His mother, MaryAnn, was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s and needed care. Lix, the oldest of five siblings, was in the best position to step in.
Nine years ago he and his wife, Anita, moved into his mother’s Parma home to help. He credits Anita for making the decision and readily admits the bulk of the day-to-day care fell to her.
“We moved in with my mom and expected to move back to Boston,” Lix says, adding they kept her home as long as they could. His mother passed away two years ago.
Lix, while taking care of his mother’s needs, also took time to get to know his adopted city Cleveland. He liked what he saw. People were friendly, traffic was reasonable, and the business climate was ripe for a new venture.
He was hired at Lake Erie College in Painesville as its first professor of entrepreneurship. While there he began researching the affordable luxury market. Whiskey and high-quality bourbons were exploding in popularity. However, the long distilling process, which could take a decade or more and hadn’t changed in hundreds of years, couldn’t meet the demand.
“As a business person I’ve always been interested in areas of disruptive innovation. When demand changes so rapidly, the techniques need to change,” Lix says.
He tinkered for several years to get just the right technique for his speed distillation. It’s worked, and Cleveland Whiskey hit the market two years ago. The bourbon, naturally infused with a variety of woods is flavorful and a bit pricey — perfect as an “affordable luxury.”
Remember the curmudgeonly Lou Grant from the 70s Mary Tyler Moore Show who occasionally sipped whiskey from an office stash? Lix asks. “I used to think how cool it would be to keep a bottle of whiskey in my drawer at work. I’m living my dream.”
MORE THAN THE BARREL
Lix moves through the 2,600 square-foot distillery with calm deliberation. The production area is noisy. Only a faint aroma of alcohol is noticeable. Sporting tennis shoes and carrying a cup of black coffee, Lix explains the operations, using a calming, DJ voice that seems a natural fit for both a classroom and a whiskey-making business.
The oak barrels stacked among the production tanks look appealing, but they’re a small part of the process — a technicality, Lix says. To earn the “bourbon” label, whiskey has to spend time in a new American oak barrel.
The real magic that creates Cleveland Whiskey’s high-end bourbon takes place in metal tanks that look like R2-D2 from Star Wars. Through a carefully guarded process, Lix uses hickory, maple, honey locust, apple and black cherry wood in the tanks, forcing the liquid through the wood. The fast-track distilling is followed by a short stint in the oak barrels. The result: smooth, naturally flavored bourbon made in days, not years.
GROWING NICHE
To be sure, Lix is having fun but he’s also a deliberate business person who has carefully crafted space in a niche market.
In 2015, Lix sold close to 100,000 bottles. His growing company has attracted widespread attention. President Barack Obama stopped by in March for a tour. It was the first distillery visit during his presidency and a highlight for Lix and his six full-time employees (including son, Andrew). A daughter, Moira, is a nurse-practitioner in Boston. This past November, Lix had another first as he shipped his first batch of Cleveland Whiskey to Japan.
Lix’s interests go beyond the distillery; he enjoys metal sculpture and woodworking. A sailor, he also wants to make his way across the Atlantic in a boat he builds himself.
“Making the decision to come here and care for my mom — and my wife is the real saint in this story — is absolutely the best thing I could have done in my life, no question, but also the hardest work I’ve ever done. It’s definitely a new beginning. I’m fully engaged in this, it’s a lot of fun. But it’s not my last rodeo by any stretch of the imagination.”
