Nathan “Nate” Woodruff may not have been born in Wyoming, but he shares some of the same values, Western attitude and a passion for good whiskey with his Cowboy State neighbors.
Now he’s turned that love of whiskey into the greatest job ever — tasting and reviewing the spirit for his online following.
Woodruff brought his unique social media profile to Pinedale, Wyoming, a few years ago after a yearlong road trip during the pandemic.
He left his Boonton, New Jersey, home behind but brought along his 80,000 Instagram followers. And like his move from 397 feet above sea level to Pinedale’s elevation of 7,175 feet, his opportunities for photographing, marketing, sipping and reviewing whiskey are reaching new heights.
Woodruff, 36, was recently sampling bourbon in a helicopter at 14,000 feet near Mount Sneffels in Colorado for TINCUP Mountain Whiskey.
“They brought me and another reviewer out,” he said. “They have a Fourteener series. They’re naming their higher-end bourbon after each 14,000-foot peak in Colorado. So, this was kind of their latest release, so they took us to fly over that mountain. … It was a really, really, cool experience.”
He characterizes his current calling as his dream job.
About 10 years ago, Woodruff found his niche after admittedly wasting years partying and drinking too much alcohol following his high school graduation. But none of the booze flowed from a whiskey bottle. When he was 23 and working as a bartender, the bar manager offered him a glass of Maker’s Mark over ice.
“And I was like, ‘I don’t drink whiskey.’ I had a bad experience when I was underage with dad’s Jack Daniel’s stash and ended up plugging the porcelain throne for a night when I was a teenager,” he said. “So, I thought I was never going to drink whiskey again.”
He said the manager had him drink a glass of Maker’s Mark “on the rocks” once a night for a week straight and he “got completely hooked.” He became fascinated at the flavor profile and how different whiskeys were made. That sent him on a mission to study whiskey and become an expert on the drink. And his learning has never stopped.
Brand Ambassador
Woodruff said he got his first job with a whiskey company working as a brand ambassador at 24. At that point he also tried doing some whiskey reviews on his own and taking photos of bottles and then posting both on Instagram.
Different brands started reaching out to him and asking for a review of their product. One day he went on a hike and took a bottle with him — snapping a photo of the bottle on a rock in the middle of creek. He wrote his review and posted it with the photo.
“It got a ton of traction. So, I said, ‘I am on to something here.’ I started bringing a bottle everywhere I hiked and taking kind of cool pictures in nature with the bottle,” he said. “It blew up, and for years it was the most followed whiskey account on Instagram and that helped launch me into working with brands and traveling around the world drinking whiskey, which I still do.”
Woodruff said his initial jobs included working with William Grant & Sons which owns Glenfiddich, Tullamore D.E.W., and Balvenie as an associate brand ambassador for three years. At 27, he was offered a job overseeing the bourbon brand nationally for Michter’s Distillery. There was also a couple of years working with WhistlePig, another award-winning whiskey.
Most of those jobs were as a contractor because he said he still wanted to do his own thing. He said those experiences gave him insight into the industry and the “do’s and don’ts” to be successful.
“I am more of a creative, so I really embraced the marketing side,” he said. “So, learning how to get brands to stand out from the thousands of other ones being released is kind of my specialty and what I still do. Now I am working with some venture capitalists to create a brand from the the ground up where I have full control of the marketing and the creative aspects which is really interesting.”
Woodruff said the group has contracts with distilleries around the country that are aging the bourbon, rye and American single malt that will be used to make the product in a few years. They will use a specialist to blend the various liquids to create a “signature flavor profile.”
Nathan Woodruff has found his niche in life as a successful social media promoter of high-end whiskey brands. (Courtesy Nathan Woodruff) 
Nathan Woodruff gained his expertise of the whiskey industry through his own studies and working as a brand ambassador. (Courtesy Nathan Woodruff) 
A marketing shot of Nathan Woodruff marketing a whiskey brand. When he arrived in Pinedale, Wyoming a few years ago he already had 80,000 Instagram followers. (Courtesy Nathan Woodruff) 
Nathan Woodruff said he enjoys coming up with new ideas and ways to set whiskey brands apart in the crowed industry. (Courtesy Nathan Woodruff) 
Nathan Woodruff plans to launch a podcast next year that will include outdoor adventures. (Courtesy Nathan Woodruff) 
In addition to marketing whiskey with his outdoor photography skills, Woodruff enjoys finding scenes to snap, like Flattop. He has traveled to all of the lower 48 states. (Courtesy Nathan Woodruff) 
(Cowboy State Daily Staff)
Signature Profiles
Those signature profiles are something Woodruff writes a lot about on the whiskey he reviews.
On a recent post he reviewed Four Roses bourbon about how the “nose is insanely complex, dark and inviting. Scents of sweet oak, ripe red berries, rich baking spice, brown sugar, tobacco, and creamy vanilla intermingle beautifully.”
There is a photo of the bourbon bottle next to a glass sitting on a deck rail, with a fence and then beautiful mountain scenery behind.
In the review, Woodruff talks about the palate “with more layers of fruit” and other qualities.
“I can smell a whiskey or taste it and figure out the flavor notes and profile and then match that to what someone else likes,” he said.
Woodruff said the flavor notes are developed through a lot of variables that include the type of grain, the charring process on the barrels that are used, type of wood for the barrels, time of aging, elevation of where its aged, humidity, and much more.
After aging, some whiskeys are “finished” by putting them barrels that formerly contained cognac, wine, or some other fermented drink to add qualities to the taste, he said. Distilleries then combine different barrels of product to create something unique.
Woodruff was flown to Scotland by a distillery to be part of a process that blends their “signet release” that occurs once a year. His role was developing content for marketing and taking photos of the process.
People in the general public don’t realize how labor intensive that job is,” he said. “You can have anywhere from a six-barrel blend to some of the big companies use 500 barrels in the blend. They just want to get that unique or signature taste profile.”
Woodruff said he does not get paid for the reviews he posts on his Instagram page @whiskeywithaview. He wants to be free to be honest and ethical. Those brands he does not like are not posted, but Woodruff will respond to the company and offer feedback if they want it.
Bottles In The Mail
Getting the whiskey to review involves going to the mailbox. Woodruff said he does not reach out to brands anymore. A lot of companies just send him bottles. He has no idea how they get his Pinedale address.
“They just kind of show up and I go, OK, I guess we will review this one today,” he said.
Drinking that much whiskey a week poses a risk — and he said he knows the danger.
“When I was in my 20s, I didn’t have any direction until I found whiskey, so all I did was drink,” he said. “I was a borderline, if not a full-blown alcoholic. Ironically, it was whiskey that pulled me out of that. So, I know the dangers. I’ve experienced that form of addiction. So, for me, it’s really just keeping my mental health in check and I’m very healthy in the sense of eating healthy, working out, and hiking outdoors as much as possible.”
As whiskey became his focus and mission in life, Woodruff said he continues to be “very honest with himself” and will take a break from the drink when he understands he may be consuming too much.
As for the future, Woodruff continues to work with the venture capitalists toward the new whiskey brand and also plans a podcast that will feature something outdoors or adventurous that someone has been afraid or unable to do. Whiskey will also be brought into the mix.
“If I want to jump out of a plane with another whiskey enthusiast and document it, a whiskey brand may want to pay us to sponsor that portion of the show,” he said. “That will be coming out next year, we are shooting the pilot in a couple of weeks.”
As someone who has been to all the lower 48 states already on adventures, traveled internationally, and carried a lot of bottles onto many mountain tops, his lifestyle is not lost on him.
“I am very fortunate that I get to dictate what I want to do and what I don’t want to do,” he said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else in my life except for working with whiskey companies.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
