Andy Rieger ditched spreadsheets for stills in 2014 when he left a career in private equity and investment banking to resurrect his family’s pre-Prohibition distillery. Armed with degrees in math and finance from SMU and a healthy disregard for the safe path, he moved back to Kansas City and poured everything into bringing J. Rieger & Co. back to life.

Since then, he’s helped grow the brand into one of the most recognized names in American craft spirits, all from a historic brick building in the East Bottoms. Along the way, he’s been named a “Next Gen Leader,” a “Power 100” executive, and “Entrepreneur of the Year.” Still, he’s most proud of being Lucy’s husband, Hogan and Harrison’s dad, and personal assistant to Pepper, their four-legged rescue with VIP status at the distillery.

Andy believes whiskey should be bold, brands should be authentic, and every great company should have a dog.

Before co-founding J. Rieger & Co., Ryan Maybee was already a legend behind the bar. A Certified Sommelier and Bar Master (yes, that’s a real title), he’s spent decades obsessing over spirits, cocktails, and the kind of hospitality that turns strangers into regulars.

Named Bartender of the Year by IMBIBE Magazine and featured everywhere from Esquire to Vogue, Ryan’s creations have shaken their way into cocktail history. He’s competed on global stages, launched the Paris of the Plains Cocktail Festival, and helped shape Kansas City’s cocktail culture.

In 2014, he teamed up with Andy Rieger to resurrect the distillery from its century-long slumber. Today, Ryan works closely with our distilling team, guides product innovation, and brings our rich history to life, one story, one sip, and one curious visitor at a time.

Nathan Perry didn’t grow up thinking he’d make whiskey for a living, but once he discovered the science behind fermentation, there was no turning back. After earning a Biology degree from UMKC and spending five years as a microbiologist in the brewing world, he brought his lab coat and love of yeast to the next logical frontier: distillation.

He joined J. Rieger & Co. in 2015, trained under whiskey legend Dave Pickerell and gin icon Tom Nichol, and never looked back. In 2022, he was officially named a Master Distiller by the Gin Guild in London, a fancy way of saying he knows what he’s doing.

Today, Nathan leads our production team with a steady hand and scientific curiosity, turning raw ingredients into award-winning spirits that taste as good as they are technically precise. His fingerprints are on every drop we make, and his lab is where tradition meets experimentation, usually with a clipboard in one hand and a beaker in the other.

Tom Nichol didn’t just make gin, he made history. After 42 years with one of the world’s largest spirits companies, Tom rose to the role of Master Distiller at Tanqueray, where he developed Tanqueray No. Ten, now considered one of the most iconic gins of all time. He also brought several forgotten 19th-century gin styles back to life, helping reshape the modern gin landscape.

In 2015, Tom “retired” at 59… but not for long. That same year, he joined the J. Rieger & Co. family as an operating partner, drawn by the opportunity to help build something meaningful from the ground up. He created the recipe for our Midwestern Dry Gin, and ever since, he’s been mentoring our distilling team, especially Head Distiller Nathan Perry, with the same precision, humility, and dry Scottish wit that earned him global respect.

Tom lives in Alloa, Scotland, with his wife Gillian, but he makes regular pilgrimages to Kansas City to blend, bond, and enjoy a cold Boulevard Tank 7 with the team.

With over 30 years in the spirits and hospitality world, Steve Olson is the kind of beverage expert whose name travels well, whether you're talking to bartenders in Brooklyn, winemakers in Spain, or distillers in Kentucky. He’s taught, written, and spoken around the globe about everything from wine and whiskey to sherry and beer, always with a curiosity that never quits.

Steve met Ryan Maybee back in 2007 at a sherry cocktail competition. From that moment on, he’s played a guiding role in shaping the liquid legacy of J. Rieger & Co. He helped source the 15-year-old Oloroso sherry that gives our Kansas City Whiskey its signature character, refined the profile of our Midwestern Dry Gin, and lent his palate and expertise to countless releases.

Today, Steve remains a trusted partner, mentor, and advocate for the brand, helping J. Rieger & Co. find its voice, and its shelf space, across the country and beyond.

Dave Pickerell was more than a Master Distiller, he was a force of nature in a fedora. A West Point grad with a master’s in chemical engineering, he spent 14 years shaping Maker’s Mark before launching a consulting career that would help redefine American whiskey. From iconic brands to upstart distilleries, if it had Dave’s fingerprint, it had soul.

Dave, known lovingly as “Pick”, was the first person to believe in the rebirth of J. Rieger & Co. He became a partner, a mentor, and a guiding light during our earliest days. He helped us lay the foundation, literally and figuratively, for everything that followed.

We lost Dave in 2018, far too soon. But his legacy lives on in every barrel we fill, every spirit we release, and every lesson passed down to the next generation of distillers.