Brian C aka @Bookersbrye aka my unicorn. This interview took almost 1.5 years in the making. Every day I would ask Brian, for 5 minutes of his time and every day he thought that balancing whisky glencairns and some bottles for the Instagram crowd was more important. Well you know what Brian… you were right, it is more important and a hell of a lot more comical than this interview. But we’re not here for comedy ladies and gentleman. We are here to Hold the Door.. wait the wrong article.
We are here to share the story of Brian who has grown into quite an Instagram “Influencer”. In Brian’s case influencer refers to that one person that unites the community together, with one common goal, to watch him in a comedy sketch.. nominated for 5 Golden Globes in 2026. All jokes aside, Brian is a down to earth humble guy, with a wife, kids, 2 alcoholic unicorn horse statues (that seem to always have a bottle down their throat) and a pretty great sense of humor. I hope you enjoy his story as much as I did.
Brian, some of us know you, some of us do not. Let’s start from the beginning. Who are you and what were you doing before jumping on Instagram and becoming Instafamous?
BC: I would hardly consider myself “Instafamous”, but I am very thankful for the loyal following that I have.
Before joining Instagram I worked in the golf industry. From 2005 to 2018, I was the Head Golf Professional/Director of Golf at a public golf course in South Jersey.
Your first couple of posts on Instagram were all about whisky, and then later you began making videos. What was responsible for this change?
BC: I realized fairly early on that I wanted to offer more than just pictures of bottles to the Instagram community. With help and encouragement from a few of my Instagram friends, I decided to start showing more of my personality on my page. When you have a dry and sarcastic sense of humor like mine, it doesn’t always translate well into written form. Videos seemed to be the best way to show that side of myself.
A simple search of engagement rate on Instagram, your account has a whopping 10.55% engagement rate. Which is considered very high. What do you think is responsible for people engaging with your content so well?
BC: It’s probably because I give them a free porn subscription for every 10 comments they make on my posts.
Seriously though, you would have to ask my followers to be sure, but I believe that it is a combination of things. Whether I’m making a sarcastic video review, a bottle breaking video, an ice tossing video, a balancing video or even an edgy caption on a picture… I always try very hard to give my audience something that they haven’t seen before. I don’t ask questions in my captions in an effort to get comments. I try to create something intriguing enough for someone to feel compelled to comment on their own.
Also, I interact with the Instagram community as much as humanly possible. I believe it’s important to always be genuine within those interactions. Sure, it takes more time to actually read someone’s post and make a comment relevant to what they wrote. But if that’s what you want people to do for you, then shouldn’t you provide the same courtesy to them? People will often treat you the same way you treat them. If you engage with them in a real way and treat them with respect, you can expect that in return.
Lastly, I credit my high engagement rate to the incredible sense of humor that the members of the whiskey community on Instagram have. I am a comedy, trickshot and variety show page masquerading as a whiskey page. The comments section of my posts is often more entertaining than the posts themselves. That is a credit to my followers and their incredible sense of humor.
Brian your videos have a great sense of humor, have you always been funny and this is something that came naturally on video? Or does it take some script writing on your end before putting it all together? Walk us through the process.
BC: If you ask my wife, I’ve never been funny.
Trying to create a video that people will find funny is certainly a process. I come up with a general idea for a video, think about it for a day or two, then write down some talking points. I rehearse those in my head a number of times before turning the camera on. I turn the camera on, film my first take, and it’s almost always a disaster. I do anywhere from 5 – 47 million takes until I feel that it is just right. I gain confidence in the material each take, so I tend to do a better job of keeping a straight face as I go along. I don’t mind it, because all of the mistakes provide some pretty funny outtakes.
Besides the great videos, we know you have quite a whisky collection. What are some unicorns in your collection? Do you buy to save or do you drink everything you buy?
BC: I buy all of my whiskey with the intention of drinking it. There are a couple of special bottles in my cabinet that I haven’t opened yet. I am waiting for the right occasion to open my bottle of Hibiki 21, and I haven’t quite figured out when that will be. I plan on opening my Chivas Regal Royal Salute 38yr on my 38th birthday, which occurs in July of 2019. And then there’s Bookers Rye, my favorite whiskey. I split the cost of a bottle with a couple of friends and we shared it back in 2017. I was fortunate enough to pick up a second bottle at close to MSRP a couple of years ago. Given the fact that I will likely never be able to replace that bottle, I will probably wait until my boys are old enough to share a drink with me before I open that one.
Give us your top 5 list of favorite Whisky/Whiskey:
BC: My favorite whiskies change over time and I fully expect that to continue. As of right now, some whiskies that I really enjoy are Ichiros “On The Way” 2013 bottling, Yellowstone Limited Edition 2017, Macallan Cask Strength, Lock Stock and Barrel 13yr Rye and Hibiki 12.
Brian recently you told your loyal followers that you were going to start a Patreon. Tell us a little about that.
BC: I’ll just put it all out there. I recently found myself unemployed for the first time in my life. I had spent the past few years at a job that I’d lost the passion for long ago. While considering what the next phase of my working career was going to be, I was spending 40-60 hours (probably 70-80 if you count thinking about posts) a week working on my Instagram page.
I realized during that time that I had a real passion for trying to make people laugh and all of the time spent working toward that goal didn’t feel as much like work as what I’d been doing in the golf industry. So, I tried to figure out how I could monetize my page without compromising what has made it so successful. As I saw it, I had a few options.
I could leave Instagram for a platform better suited for videos and comedy, like YouTube, and monetize through ads. I chose not to do that because I did not want to leave the people on Instagram that had supported me from the beginning.
I could reach out to corporate sponsors and run ads in my posts and stories to make money. I didn’t think that any of my followers wanted that, and quite frankly I didn’t either. I think my followers appreciate how genuine I am and that would change if I was making posts saying things like “I use Old Spice, so should you!”
Then there was Patreon. It seemed to be the only option that wouldn’t compromise my ability to continue to entertain my followers any way I saw fit while maintaining the ability to give honest and unbiased opinions. Patreon gives my followers an opportunity to support my dream of continuing to my Instagram page, while also providing them with real and tangible benefits for their contributions. I set a goal that certainly won’t make me rich, but that would help in supporting my passion for making people laugh.
I love trying to brighten people’s day and I hope to garner enough support through Patreon to keep doing that. At the end of the day, I must provide for my family. If I find that I’m not entertaining enough for a couple hundred people to give up their $5 cup of Starbucks coffee, in exchange for my brand of entertainment, then that’s ok. This is the first time in my life that I really chased a dream and I’m so fortunate to have a family that supports me in this. If it doesn’t work out, I will thank everyone for their support, and I’ll make one last epic Instagram video!
Brian I think you can relate because a lot of us suffer from stage fright or public speaking or just being in a social environment. What has helped you personally to overcome these fears?
BC: I haven’t overcome those fears. Anxiety over social situations is an everyday part of my life. If I know that I have to be in a social environment a week or a month from now… It will consume my thoughts every day until it is over.
I’m able to do the videos that I do because I’m in a room, alone, and I can do as many takes as I want until I feel it’s good enough to post. All of that being said, I am trying to make a real effort to overcome these fears because I don’t want my children to grow up being scared of living. It’s been a painful and lonely life and it is the last thing I want for my kids.
Best piece of advice someone ever gave you?
BC: “Change? I guess change is good for any of us.” – Tupac .
Anything else you’d like to share with the readers?
BC: Yes. I just read this whole interview back to myself and this shit isn’t funny at all. You want funny, go to my Instagram page, apparently, I’m not very funny in written interviews.
