Eric LeGrand will not stop. The former Rutgers football player, who was paralyzed, recently launched his Kentucky Bourbon, LeGrand Whiskey.
According to TMZ, LeGrand linked up with Brian Axelord, who has worked with Conor McGregor on McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve. LeGrand and Axelord found a distillery in Kentucky, and as the cliche goes: the rest is history.
“I’m thinking this is about to taste like rubbing alcohol; it’s gonna be terrible. I took a sip, and I’m like, hold up, let me get a little bit more,” LeGrand said to TMZ. “I took another sample, and I’m like, whoa,” he said, describing his first time tasting the product.”
LeGrand added: “I’m like, we got something special here. This is perfect.”
The former tackle also spoke about resilience and not allowing his disability to limit his visions.
“A lot of times people see someone in a wheelchair with a disability, they think they can’t enjoy alcohol and other things, and I’m like, that’s totally not true, and I wanted to end that stigma.”
“I wanted to create a brand of something that represents me, which I feel like whiskey is the perfect thing that represents me,” LeGrand said. “It takes patience; it is something that’s tough, strong, and something that you celebrate life to.”
A portion of profits from LeGrand Whiskey will go to research centered on paralysis.
“We have a purpose behind this. We want to raise money for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to help us find a cure for paralysis,” LeGrand said. “Every case that we sell, $5.20 will go back to the foundation, because 52 was my number.”
LeGrand also owns LeGrand Coffee House, located in Woodbridge, New Jersey. LeGrand Coffee House includes a variety of signature and specialty coffees, pastries, and monkey bread from Balthazar Bakery in Englewood.
