When Larry Emdur arrives for our interview, he’s apologizing for the chaos of a long day on set. It’s a familiar rhythm for someone who’s spent more than 40 years in television.

But within minutes, we’re no longer talking about morning-show lattes or studio lights. Instead, eyes bright, the brains behind cult favorite The Ben Buckler whisky is talking about late-night post office runs, hand-delivered bottle shop orders and whisky tastings under fluorescent lights.

One thing’s certain, this chapter of Emdur’s life has nothing to do with TV polish. It’s messier, scrappier and far more personal – and he’s arguably never been happier.

“Someone down the road from me ordered a bottle and a T-shirt from me, so I decided I’d personally walk down and put it in their mailbox,” he tells The CEO Magazine.

“So I’m walking down the street in the dark, and I’m thinking to myself – this is crazy. Someone has latched onto my story, spent some money on the internet and trusts me enough that this whisky’s going to be awesome.”

He laughs at the absurdity. But the pride is unmistakable.

From birthday to brand

The idea was simple; Emdur wanted to create 60 bottles of whisky for 60 friends to celebrate turning 60.

“I’m definitely not a whisky expert,” he muses. “But I thought, I’m getting old and whisky is an old man’s drink, so I have to make an old man’s drink for my now-old friends and me. It was all just a bit of fun.”

So he teamed up with the distillers in Corowa with a goal to make something that was easy and approachable that he could enjoy with anyone – his mother, his friends or his sisters.

“I knew I didn’t want a heavy, smoky, peaty whisky; the kind of whisky you chew,” Emdur explains.

“I wanted a whisky that was Australian, fun and casual. And after some back and forth with Corowa, we finally landed on my taste profile.”

A blend of ex–tawny port and bourbon barrels gives The Ben Buckler its easy sweetness and gentle savoriness, with aromas of raisin toast, floral peat and toasted marshmallow, a palate of pepper, custard and baked apple, and a soft marmalade-almond finish.

Liquid gold

While it was just Emdur having fun, the distillery saw something more. They asked to place a plain bottle, no label, of his whisky on their busy tasting table. A month later, hundreds of people had tried it – and the data was shocking.

“They called me and said that 95 percent of people who tasted it wanted to buy it,” Emdur recalls. “From a branding perspective, that was huge. They’d never had that kind of response before.”

Then came the surprise no-one expected. The whisky was sent to San Francisco’s prestigious World Spirits Competition and won.

“It took home gold in San Francisco,” he says with a grin. “That’s 80 international judges, blind tastings, thousands of whiskies – and we won gold.”

Emdur shared the story in a single Instagram post. By the next morning, his inbox was flooded. Bottle shops, bars, restaurants and even resorts in the South Pacific wanted stock.

“We went from making 60 bottles to 10,000 bottles,” he says.

“My celebrity mates and influencer mates, everyone started sharing pictures and videos of themselves drinking my whisky, holding it up. We’ve made more noise than a lot of other products that have spent millions and millions in marketing.”

Rooted in Bondi

As the business took shape, Emdur reveals he wanted the brand to mean something.

“I wanted the story to be right,” he says. “I wanted the personality of the whisky to be true to me.”

His childhood provided the answer. Ben Buckler – the northern headland of Bondi Beach – is where he grew up, moved between houses, learned to surf, fell in love and raised his firstborn.

“All of the big milestones in my life were there,” he says, adding the name also comes with a colorful side note: Ben Buckler was a bushranger said to live in the cliffs and caves around the headland. “As a whisky origin story, that’s really good.”

Whether buyers prefer the family history or the folklore, the name lands.

“Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels, Ben Buckler – it stacks up as a good whisky name,” Emdur points out.

The reality check

Despite his enthusiasm, he’s candid about the learning curve. Going from a TV personality to founder has been a real shock to the system.

“I’ve realized that TV can be pretty cushy,” he admits. “I go in, someone brings me a latte, and I interview some fabulous people.

“Now, all of a sudden, I come home and I’m in my garage at 10.30 at night packing merch.”

This new gig sees Emdur wearing all the hats – he’s the delivery driver, the merch packer and the storyteller in all the local bottle shops.

“I finished the Morning Show yesterday at 12pm, and I was on the road until 6:30 at night delivering whisky,” he says.

But none of it feels like work.

“It’s so fun,” Emdur says. “I never realized I had this in me at all. But people have just bought whisky from me – a TV guy. And that’s keeping me so energized.”

The business behind the buzz

Emdur never anticipated the minutiae: cork sizes, contracts, accounting, global distribution calls. And he certainly didn’t anticipate the sheer hours.

But he has built a strong advisory board and is now preparing for an investment round early next year.

“Now I understand there’s good money and there’s bad money. And symbiotic partners are good,” he says.

Interest has been pouring in since day one, but he’s taking his time.

“I didn’t want it to be, ‘Hey, I’m a TV guy and I got a whisky,’” he explains.

Instead, he wants aligned partners who recognize the potency of what he’s built – a brand with genuine momentum, a growing fan base and a product that has already won multiple international gold medals.

“We are in a great position to disrupt,” he says. “The serious whiskies of Australia and the serious whiskies of the world would never be having the fun we’re having.”

More than a whisky

And then, almost offhandedly, Emdur mentions something bigger.

“Some of the collabs in front of me have the potential to be bigger than the whisky itself,” he hints.

For now, all he can do is tease. But his smile shows that he can’t wait to share it with the world. And as our conversation comes to a close, almost in disbelief, Emdur says, “How has this business gone from 60 bottles to being on pallets going overseas now? It’s so exciting.”

And in that moment – the boxes stacked in front of him, the sense of possibility stretching out like the Bondi coastline – it’s easy to see why. Emdur isn’t just building a brand. He’s building something that feels like home.