Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Jeltema and Nick Nguyen.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sarah and Nick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Sarah: I started out my whiskey journey by joining a local club called The San Diego Whiskey Enthusiasts. As I got more into learning, I offered to do photography at tastings in exchange for a free ticket. Eventually, I was running their social media. The club had some internal drama after a few years and broke apart. During that time, I was locked out of the club’s Instagram and lost years’ worth of photos and work. Afterwards, I realized a couple things: 1) I liked documenting my whiskey journey and 2) If I was going to start posting again, I was going to do it on my own terms. I thought a long time about what story I wanted to tell, and decided I wanted to talk about my greatest passions: travel and whiskey. So I created Whisky Nomad.
Nick: I actually used to not like whiskey at all. I thought it was something to just hold your breath and shoot to get it down. I woke up one day though and decided that drinking whiskey was a grown man thing that I had to learn. I started out picking up random bottles here and there from Costco but hadn’t gone to any tastings or bars yet. When I asked Sarah out on our first date, I told her I liked whiskey and wanted to impress her by taking her to a cool whiskey bar. I looked up “best whiskey bar in San Diego” and found Seven Grand. I asked her if she knew the place, and she said she’d been there once or twice. So imagine my surprise (and embarrassment) when we showed up there, and all the bartenders knew her by name!
Since then, I’ve really tried to dive into the whiskey scene by joining clubs, going to tastings, and trying out as many different whiskies as I could get my hands on. It’s definitely a learning process, but a really fun one.
The best part of it is meeting people from all over the world and all walks of life. We’re all connected by the same passion: whiskey.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Sarah: There have definitely been some challenges involved. One thing I really struggled with at the beginning was finding my style. There’s a lot of trial and error when you’re first starting out. I originally just wanted to travel to different countries and showcase whiskies from all over the world, but traveling is expensive and I couldn’t realistically afford it as a hobby. So I branched out into telling stories about whiskies, distillers, bars, and anything else I thought people would want to experience through my eyes.
Another thing was bringing my husband into Instagram. He’s always been a huge supporter and helping out with photography and editing, but officially bringing him into the fold so he could create content as well was more challenging than we both thought. Defining company roles, brand management, and consistency is hard enough solo, but doing that and trying to navigate a relationship is a whole different beast.
Finally, another big challenge I’ve dealt with a lot is being a woman in whiskey and trying to maintain legitimacy in a world that’s often confrontational, especially online. I started into the whiskey Instagram world over five years ago and back then there weren’t as many public whiskey women influencers. I had to deal with people constantly fact-checking me and trying to one-up everything I said. I’d sometimes get people arguing about whiskey facts I’d get directly from a Master Distiller!
One of the first times Nick realized this happens to women was when he started helping out by replying to comments on Instagram. He’s pretty knowledgeable himself and was getting frustrated that people kept challenging him on every single minute detail. He complained to me, and I had to explain to him that people were arguing with him because they thought he was a woman. It was fascinating to see him experience that.
Nick: It’s definitely been a bumpy road, but no more than it’s been for anyone else. When the Instagram was first started, it was a pretty small tight-knit community on for whiskey. Over time, it’s gotten bigger and bigger until it is what it is now. A lot of people are sharing their love for whiskey, but it’s getting harder and harder to stand out. We had the advantage of starting a little earlier than other people, but we’ve really had to focus and double down on what works for us: education and showcasing whiskey and distilleries from around the world. Luckily, it’s something that we love.
Whisky Nomad – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Sarah: We set ourselves apart but focusing on the whiskey culture, history, and education. It’s not enough anymore to just post a picture of an expensive bottle and expect the likes to roll in. We really try to show people the human side of whiskey.
What I’m actually most proud of is the relationships I’ve built through this process. Just churning out the same type of content can make you feel like you’re just spinning on a hamster wheel. I started to obsess over likes and follows and I burned out quickly. Realizing that the Instagram was just a tool to have genuine relationships with people was a defining moment. I got over my introverted insecurities and I started to make meaningful connections and I’ve never been happier. Getting out of the screen and meeting people is the real end goal.
Nick: Whisky Nomad started as a way for us to share our whisky and our travel. What it evolved into overtime was educating and telling stories from the whiskey world. The tricky part is making everything into bite-sized pieces that are easily digestible for Instagram consumption. What sets us apart from others is that we love to travel and are blessed with the means to go out and explore. Curious about the cocktail culture in Dubai? Well, we’ll go explore it and come back and give you a report with pictures and videos.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: whiskynomad
- Facebook: Whisky Nomad
- Other: TikTok: WhiskyNomad
Image Credit:
Mike Regala
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