Actor Matthew Lillard Is Launching a New Dungeon & Dragons-Themed Spirits Company

Jonah Flicker
·2 min read
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Actor Matthew Lillard is best known for his roles in films like Scream and Scooby-Doo, but he also happens to be a fantasy-world-obsessed businessman who founded the table top gaming company Beadle & Grimm’s. And now he’s bringing that cosplay sensibility to the whiskey world with Find Familiar Spirits, a booze brand launching this fall with a series of whiskeys matched to specific fantasy characters.

Lillard had some help with this new venture—he was joined by his friend, actor and screenwriter Justin Ware, and Tim Sparapani, cofounder of breakout whiskey brand Blue Run Spirits (which was just recently acquired by Molson Coors). Kate Welch, a certified Dungeon Master and game designer on D&D 5th Edition, is helping out by writing a fantasy series that will be released in chapters along with each new whiskey expression, and D&D artist Tyler Jacobson will design the bottle labels. “I grew up a nerdy kid so I’ve always had a special appreciation for fandoms in general,” said Lillard in a statement. “They’re places where you feel like you belong, worlds that appreciate you and love you for who you are… I’ve learned that true fandom isn’t only about what you love, it’s about the community you build—and no community is more avid and devoted than the fantasy gamer.”

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The first Find Familiar Spirits release is a bourbon called Quest’s End: Paladin, which will be released this October. The whiskey was sourced from Kentucky and Indiana (the latter most likely from MGP), and blended by a team led by Ale Ochoa, who formerly worked at TX Whiskey in Fort Worth. The next three releases will be called Rogue, Warlock, and Dragon, but aside from the fact that each will have a different flavor profile and represent a unique character there’s not much more information about these future expressions. However, Lillard recently told The Hollywood Reporter that Paladin has notes of vanilla and fruit on the palate, and there’s a map on the back of the bottle and hit points on the side that increase as the level of whiskey decreases. That’s some serious gamer talk.

Quest’s End: Paladin will be available to purchase starting October 6 and will ship to consumers in November. The next whiskey comes out in January, followed by the last two in quarterly releases. You can sign up here to get updates on these new whiskeys and access a 48-hour presale that will take place next month. This might be the perfect bourbon to sip on while your hexadin fights a sorcadin using minionmancy techniques with some grognards.

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