Four Branches Bourbon was started to remember its founders’ lost comrades-in-arms
The story of Four Branches Bourbon didn’t begin with a whiskey barrel, but with the loss of a brother-in-arms. In the moments of reflection, four men came together to build a business that honored not just him but all the fallen, one sip at a time.
Alfredo “Rick” Franco’s dad was in the oil business so his early years were spent moving all over the world before the family eventually settled in Louisiana. At 18 years old, he left home for the Virginia Military Institute.
“I had no idea what I was getting into. No clue,” Franco laughed.
His mom passed away when he was just 16 and he was the first person in his family to go into the service. To prepare him for the military, his dad handed him a copy of “An Officer and a Gentleman” from Blockbuster.
It’s a moment Franco likes to laugh about now.
“I had a few friends that were Marines and told me I would have a good time if I joined. That summer I enlisted and went to Parris Island,” Franco shared. “But my dad told me he sent me to school to be an officer. Not long after boot camp I went to OCS and ended up having the same exact drill instructor.”
Franco did almost eight years on active duty, deploying to Kosovo and eventually settling in New Orleans running the SOUTHCOM AOR as a captain. It was that role which set the stage for his transition into the CIA.
“I spent a total of 12 years on and off within the agency as a contractor. I saw more during my time in the CIA than I ever did as a Marine,” Franco admitted.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans and he returned home to figure out how to rebuild. In December of that same year, he received a call notifying him that Gregory Wright had died. The two were Marine infantry officers together and Franco had recruited him into the CIA.
“I flew to Germany to escort his body home and he was one of 12 coffins inside that plane. I was the presiding officer for him at Dover to get him home to his mother and father. And that stayed with me,” Franco said.
Wright was the first star as a contractor for his program. Since he died, five more stars have been added.
“Those stars represent the souls given in service to a nation and what we call the unsung shadows,” he explained.
Wanting to find a way to honor his friend and those that followed, Franco joined forces with Mike Trott, Harold Underdown, and RJ Casey to form Four Branches Bourbon. For them, each pour of their bourbon represents veteran and first responder communities and ensures that the legacies, like Wright’s, live on.
The men came together, working through the unique challenges of building an alcohol company. Franco joked that he thought it would be easy but he had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Despite the bumps along the way, the reputation of the company and the taste of the bourbon grew a following.
As they were building it, the men were losing friends to suicide.
“I didn’t want to be looked at as the guy to be pushing something that’s affecting our brothers and sisters in the worst way. I didn’t want to be part of that,” Franco said.
They paused to pray about it and Franco remembered the advice he always gave his kids: don’t come to me to complain, come to me with solutions.
“We decided that the solution was to change the narrative and change the message of how we want alcohol to be perceived in the veteran, military, and first responder community. It started with our tagline,” Franco said.
Sip to remember.
“We say let’s quit drinking to forget and let’s sip to remember and that’s the message that we want people to walk away with,” Frano added. “We are passionate about it and tell people we, we, we have lived what’s in the bottle. That I think makes us different and I think that’s what makes us approachable for every branch of the service.”
Four Branches also gives back to military and first responder nonprofit organizations with every purchase, keeping the commitment to continue serving those who serve. For the WATM readers who are fans of “The Terminal List,” Franco wants you to pay extra attention to episode 8 in season two for a special feature.
As for what Franco hopes to accomplish with Four Branches, his answer was quick and simple.
“The vision is that, you know, that service member, whatever rank, whatever branch walks into the bar and says, ‘Hey, give me a pour of my four branches’, because it’s theirs,” Franco shared. “They’re on the wall now today, standing the watch.”
To learn more about Four Branches Bourbon, head over to the website.
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