Jonathan Goldsmith, the actor who portrayed the “Most Interesting Man in the World” in a long-running and widely successful advertising campaign for Dos Equis beer, has been named chief storytelling officer at Village Garage Distillery in Bennington.
In this new role, Goldsmith, a Vermont resident, will tell the tales of the Village Garage brand by creating a whole new world of content in online video, audio and more. He will also be in charge of helping the brand and patrons alike create new stories through appearances, hosting events and joining local and nationally recognized artists onstage, around bonfires and more.
“Fellow Vermonter Robert Frost said, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’ Well, great whiskey makes better neighbors,” Goldsmith said. “From the moment I walked into Village Garage, I knew they had bottled the very reason I live in Vermont. It’s an incredibly well-crafted product that lacks pretension. The liquid, the people and the story are genuine and unique. It’s elevated yet down to Earth. I feel good there. So I’m inviting friends I know and friends I don’t to share this with me.
Goldsmith met distillery co-founder Glen Sauer when he visited the Village Green in 2022 for a philanthropic event.
“I went over and introduced myself, and we started talking — about Vermont, philanthropy, whiskey,” said Sauer, who owns the distillery with fellow Benningtonian Matt Cushman. “An hour and a half later, we said a really awkward goodbye with me wondering whether we should hug or handshake, and then the gears started turning. The rest? It’s a whole story.”