Houston White and Brother Justus Collab on Coffee Whiskey

This collab has been years in the making. Phil Steger and Houston White recall sitting together in the Brother Justus distillery when it was just bones with no stills. They can trace their friendship back to the salons White hosted at The Get Down Coffee Co. after the murder of George Floyd, when Steger showed up to listen and learn, and the golf outings they’ve played with family heirloom clubs (and no small amount of flasks.)

I think this is important because the best collabs happen between friends first, and companies second. “This is a bridge, between Camden and Columbia,” White said as we were sipping from the new bottles, which is funny because there is a literal bridge that connects these two North of Minneapolis towns. And it fits perfectly with White’s mission to keep creating cultural collisions.

The new Brother Justus Luxury Coffee Liqueur featuring The Get Down Coffee Co. is a limited release collaboration that you can now purchase at the distillery. It is smoooove. Made from The Get Down’s Turntables roast and Brother Justus single malt silver whiskey, it’s one of the best coffee liqueurs that I’ve tasted. If you need to test-drive it first, there are a few drinks on the menu that use it. I tried The Revolver which was a nuanced roasty sip, a little sexy, a little velvet hammer. I also tried the hot take on Irish Coffee, here called The Camden Coffee, which might have ruined me for others. You know how you get that boozy sharpness right in your face with some hot cocktails? This was all mellow and just sweet enough without being a frappucino poser. Personally, I think of coffee-whiskey as the liquid form of chicken and waffles, perfect for when you’re not really done with the night, but maybe you’re already thinking about breakfast. And yes, there is caffeine in this booze.  

“We both started building our businesses at the same time, and you know there’s no playbook for entrepreneurs,” Steger said. “So we kind of leaned on each other and when you find someone who’s transparent, isn’t cloaking themselves for one reason or another, and is just honest and open with you, that’s a friend you want to be around. A lot.” Steger has been a fan of The Get Down’s coffee since day one. In fact, he was the second merchant to sell the beans. As he fell in love with the Turntables roast, he decided to give it to his distillers to play with. When they thought they had something great, he texted White who had no idea what they were doing. 

“Phil came over with this prototype and we passed it around the family in the shop. It blew us away,” White recounted. His mom, his aunties, the whole family had to approve and boy did they. Steger says he got out with only an ounce or two left in the prototype bottle. 

“You know, there’s so much creativity in this city, it’s dynamic as hell,” says White, “I come from Mississippi and that’s just the other end of the river from Minnesota, it’s the same water. And when you start thinking about making things from the land, to help create community where you live, that’s what’s important. Now, I grew up around a lot of preachers, and when you hear Phil talk about the land and what it means to him, I knew we were going to vibe. Because we’re doing the same things. We want to tell stories and we want to make things with purpose.”

There may only be a few hundred bottles left, so if you want one you should get there this weekend. Of course, there’s a chance they might make more, but your coffee is calling for this.