The motorsport world has always had relationships with alcohol, from champagne on the podium to beer sponsorships that fund an entire series. Now drivers are moving from the passenger side of those partnerships into ownership, bringing the same passion and ambition that defines their racing careers to building spirits brands.
Ryan Blaney unveiled Ten Runner Bourbon this past summer with a bottle in Victory Lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, two years of work distilled into 103 proof. Ryan is the son of former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dave Blaney and the grandson of Lou Blaney, a modified dirt track racer. The name honors three generations of drivers competing in a 10-car. The “runner” part points further back to the moonshiners who modified cars to outrun federal agents during Prohibition and eventually turned those skills toward organized racing when NASCAR formed in 1948. The brand’s mission statement: “Honoring legends, building legacies,” makes that connection between whiskey and racing’s past and future.
Blaney spent over a year working through tasting sessions with an experienced distiller, crafting a blend of Kentucky straight bourbons until the team narrowed to a single final product. Describing the process, Ryan said, “It was a new experience, a learning process, and a lot of fun.” He noted that Ten Runner is meant to bring people together in the same way whiskey has for generations. “I’ve always enjoyed being a whiskey drinker and a bourbon drinker, and I wanted to do something adventurous outside of my profession, beyond my career.”
The emphasis on identity over endorsement shows up across these ventures. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife Amy knew Sugarlands Distilling Company from its history supporting auto racing. A family vacation to Gatlinburg brought them to the distillery to see how the company operated, and the connection felt natural, built on craft production and family values that aligned with what the Earnhardts wanted in a partnership. Their brand, High Rock Vodka is distilled seven times and triple filtered using the Lincoln County Process, the same method made famous by Tennessee whiskeys, which uses sugar maple charcoal to remove impurities. The proof tells its own story: 88, the number Earnhardt drove for a decade with Hendrick Motorsports and the number his grandfather Ralph drove before him. It’s a number behind some of his biggest moments, including a Daytona 500 win.
Across the pond, former F1 driver David Coulthard carried that same intentionality to Highland Park in 2019. He traveled to the Orkney distillery to work with Master Whiskey Maker, Gordon Motion, and select casks for what would become Saltire Edition 1. The collaboration produced two releases, both 13 years old to represent the 13 Grand Prix wins Coulthard achieved during his Formula 1 career. Saltire Edition 1 was a single cask release that yielded just 734 bottles, each hand-signed by Coulthard. The packaging featured the saltire logo from his racing helmet, based on the national flag of Scotland.
A percentage of profits went to charities in Dumfries and Galloway, where he grew up, turning the project into something that connected success to giving back. “My community helped give me so many great opportunities,” Coulthard said. “I’m proud to be able to support them and share some of my success by providing them with some of the proceeds from the sales of these new whiskies.”
Lewis Hamilton approached spirits from another angle entirely, recognizing that his training schedule as a Formula 1 athlete often meant choosing something other than his preferred tequila. He partnered with Casa Lumbre co-founder and master distiller Iván Saldaña to create Almave, in 2023, as what the company describes as the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic blue agave spirit. Almave uses blue agave from Jalisco and follows the same traditional tequila-making processes, stopping short of fermentation to keep the beverage alcohol-free.
Hamilton launched two expressions: Almave Blanco for mixing and Almave Ámbar for sipping, later adding Almave Humo in August 2025 as a mezcal alternative made with Espadin agave from Puebla. “There’s a huge appetite for quality alternatives for those times when people don’t want to drink alcohol but also don’t want to compromise on flavor,” Hamilton explained.
Two-time Formula E champion, Jean-Eric Vergne, pushed further into functional territory, co-founding the Endorphin Dealer Institute with Alexander Jakobi in 2020 after a conversation by a pool in Santiago. He questioned why a drink needed alcohol to help you unwind, then set out to answer that question by creating what they call “endorphin-led alternatives.”
Spirited Euphoria is distilled from hemp and blended with CBD, nootropics, and adaptogens to create what the brand describes as the “Edi Effect,” a functional sensation without intoxication. The brand enlisted master blender Zak Wilson, who previously worked for Diageo and helped develop Seedlip, to focus on triggering endorphin pleasure using natural uplifting ingredients. The spirit is THC-free, sugar-free, and carb-free, designed for anyone wanting to feel good without becoming intoxicated.
The market is responding. Pernod Ricard saw that clearly enough to invest in a minority stake in Almave in 2024, describing the brand as sitting at “the intersection between three accelerating global trends: tequila, non-alc products, and the desire for authenticity.” Ten Runner sold through initial inventory quickly enough that fans started requesting it at stores where it hadn’t yet arrived. High Rock Vodka expanded from Florida to nationwide distribution within months.
These businesses are built to scale and designed to reach audiences well beyond motorsport communities. The drivers who moved first are establishing what authenticity looks like in this space, setting expectations for craft, quality, and genuine involvement that will shape how the next generation approaches building brands. Each wanted to create something meaningful that would outlast their racing careers and maintain connections to the communities and values that shaped them.
