The fantasy-themed spirits company, Find Familiar Spirits releases premium spirits marketed to gaming enthusiasts and fandom communities. First launched in October 2023, Find Familiar Spirits first brand, Quest’s End Whiskey, is inspired by the classic fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Whether your gaming session is to raid the dungeon or slay the dragon, Quest’s End aims to be the bourbon whiskey to enjoy while celebrating the adventuring party’s exploits. This ultimate guide explores the origins, fantasy brand concept, and whiskey bottlings, to see if Find Familiar Spirits has rolled a critical hit with the Quest’s End brand.
Who Are Find Familiar Spirits?
Find Familiar Spirits are the world’s first spirits company dedicated to creating premium themed spirit bottlings for fantasy and gaming fandom communities. Actor Matthew Lillard, best known for his roles in films including Scream (1996) and the Scooby-Doo franchise, is also an avid tabletop gamer–even founding Beadle & Grimm’s, a leading retailer supplying high-end gaming products for Dungeons & Dragons and Magic the Gathering.
The legendary role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was created by Gary Gygax and David Arneson in 1974. It has since become a cultural phenomenon generating products including film franchises, apparel, and video games. This popularity led lifelong D&D player, Lillard, to identify a market for fantasy themed spirits.
The Find Familiar adventuring party consists of Matthew Lillard, screenwriter Justin Ware, and Blue Run Spirits co-founder Tim Sparapani. They named their company after the famous D&D spell ‘Find Familiar’. The company is focused on producing a series of premium spirit brands themed around different gaming fandoms. Their first release is a D&D-themed whiskey named Quest’s End, which launched in October 2023.
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Find Familiar Spirits has also partnered with Critical Role, a D&D-inspired multi-platform fantasy series consisting of web content, comics, and an animated Amazon series set in the world of Exandria. In collaboration with Critical Role, Find Familiar Spirits has released a one-off custom-blended small batch bourbon, ‘Sandkheg’s Hide’ in April 2024. Sandkheg’s Hide small batch bourbon is inspired by a drink from the world of Exandria where its namesake is described as a fierce alcoholic beverage produced from the acidic bile of the 8-foot tall insectoid sandkhegs. The actual bourbon doesn’t include any bile, instead Sandkheg’s Hide blends a base bourbon with bourbons finished in vermouth and sherry casks. The bottle’s label and packaging are designed to invoke Critical Role’s Exandrian fantasy world.
What is Quest’s End Whiskey?
Quest’s End is an ongoing series of fantasy themed blended bourbon whiskies, inspired by the classic fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Each Quest’s End expression is created to reflect a specific character, magical creature, or artifact from the D&D setting. Quest’s End was originally envisioned as a sixteen-bottle whiskey set released across four years following an ongoing fantasy saga storyline.
The inaugural bottling, Quest’s End: Paladin was launched in October 2023. Paladin is a blend of 4, 6, and 7-Year-Old bourbons sourced from undisclosed distilleries in Kentucky and Indiana It was created by Find Familiar Spirits Master Blender / Alchemist, Alé Ochoa, who was previously a whiskey scientist at TX Whiskey.
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Every Quest’s End bottle is accompanied by a booklet chronicling the story of the bottle’s hero. The booklets from each expression create a continuing fantasy saga named Dawn of the Unbound Gods. The storyline for the series was written by Kate Welch, a Dungeon Master and game designer for D&D 5th Edition. Whilst world-renowned fantasy artist Tyler Jacobson created the saga’s artwork. Each bottle incorporates D&D themed art and quirks. For instance the side of the bottle features “HP” markers against the fill level, whilst the stopper is engraved with a D20 dice.
Quest’s End: Paladin focuses on the story of holy warrior, Seron of the Pit. Bottled at 100 Proof it sold out within three weeks of release. A second batch, ‘Paladin +1’ featuring an inverted label color scheme, also sold out within a limited three-week sale. The brand’s second bottling, Quest’s End: Rogue was released in January 2024. Bottled at 98.3 Proof, Quest’s End: Rogue is another 4+ years blend of small batch bourbons from Kentucky and Indiana and is now also sold out.
How Much Is Quest’s End Whiskey?
The second Quest’s End whiskey expression, Rogue, originally retailed for $120. A limited-edition release of only 6,500 bottles, Rogue won a silver medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2024. Inspired by the original character, Yuwe, The White Spider, each Rogue bottling includes the second chapter of Quest’s End Whiskey’s fantasy saga, Dawn of the Unbound Gods.
The sold-out first Quest’s End release, Paladin, a limited-edition of only 5000 bottles, originally retailed for $149.99.
What’s Next From Find Familiar Spirits And Quest’s End Whiskey?
Find Familiar Spirits currently plans to release a further two Quest’s End Whiskey limited-edition bottlings in 2024; “Warlock” and “Dragon.” Due to the sellout demand for inaugural and second releases, Find Familiar Spirits plans to increase the bottling numbers of future expressions. The next release, Warlock, is expected to be a 7,500 edition.
In April 2024 during an interview with popular culture magazine, Bleeding Cool, Matthew Lillard indicated Warlock’s artwork and its chapter of the Dawn of the Unbound Gods saga was mostly complete. Which means the team have begun work on accompanying material for the fourth Quest’s End release, Dragon.
Find Familiar Spirits’ future goals include the creation of three to four flagship brands focusing on different gaming fandom communities. They also plan to create a widely available core range / ‘everyday’ whiskey.
Fans can also look forward to a series of one-off collaborations with brands, like the partnership with Critical Roll to create Sandkheg’s Hide bourbon. Matthew Lillard has also hinted at a big announcement from Find Familiar Spirits in October 2024—The Whiskey Wash will keep you posted.
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