It’s my turn it seems, to introduce myself, (Mark Propp) to the world, and ramble on a bit in a mildly amusing tone to fill up a page or two – hopefully without boring anyone to sleep. So here goes nothing.
Back in the days of horses and carts, gas lamps and roosters for alarm clocks, near to Colorado Springs in a small town called Green Mountain Falls (see, I knew none of you would have ever heard of it…..not even the 1890 Victorian-style gazebo peering out onto a little lake is enough to make it famous) I was brought into this world and christened Mark Propp.
Propp is actually a name that originates from north Germany and was associated with gardeners and horticulturalists. It’s ranks as the 25,115th most popular name in the USA, and at the last count there were 988 of us living in the USA. How’s that for a bit of onomastic trivia to share with your friends next time you’re sipping whiskey?
It’s Not All Rocket Science
Here’s where I really start to show my age. I did 30 years as an engineer and manager in the aerospace and electronics industry. I worked on space telescopes, some that point at the earth (like the kind that generate imagery for Google Earth), and some that point into deep space (like Kepler and James Webb Space Telescope).
My dream was to be an astronaut and go to the moon, but since nobody has been back to the moon since 1972, I had to settle for sending my software to space. If I wasn’t going to be the next Buzz Lightyear and head into infinity and beyond…….well….it would have to be……
To Chinfinity and Beyond
About 14 years ago, after a number of business trips to China, I decided I’d had enough of the US of A. I’d like to have some really interesting story with some scandal or some politically infused rant, but to be honest, it was mostly about the opportunities for manufacturing engineers, which clearly is better in China than the USA in recent decades. My first 10 years in China I worked as an engineering manager and director in a few electronics factories.
I’d visited Shenzhen a few times before and fell in love with the energy, the pace of life, the buzz of being around so many people that seemed to be so amazing at pretty much everything. With a technology based background, being in Shenzhen was pretty much like being a kid in a sweet shop. All that and being able to live minutes away from the sea and be able to travel anywhere in just a few hours due to an amazing train network that I absolutely love. As an American, I can tell you first hand how terrible trains are in the USA.
I decided to have a career change too. I’d enjoyed some teaching back in the USA (I taught University Computer Science in the early 90’s) so I started off with doing some teaching here in China, first as a high school math teacher, and more recently teaching computer science and astronomy.
I chopped and changed a few times over the last 12 years, and ran a small software company for a while and even started my own craft beer brew pub, before moving out of the hustle and bustle of downtown, and settled out on Silver Beach in Huizhou where I live about 5 minutes walk from the beach and the sea.
China – what’s not to love
For anyone that hasn’t been to China, get on a plane, fly over here, and see it for yourself! It’s so easy to get dragged into the tabloid style journalism “opinions”. Horror stories get clicks and views, its really that simple, but nothing that I’ve ever read is anywhere near the truth.
It’s a beautiful country, with amazing food, friendly people and a ridiculously low cost of living. It has absolutely everything you could ever want from a modern and developed country, but, even with so many cities being so huge and busy, you’re never more than about an hour away from peace and tranquility.
There are massive country parks everywhere. Mountains to climb. Hiking trails. Mountain biking. Amazing coastlines and as for holidays, you can literally go skiing on one day then fly to a tropical paradise beach and never even leave the country.
Nine Rivers Distillery and me
I’m actually one of the more recent investors, despite being aware of this project since inception and a close friend of “the man with the plan” for years. Unfortunately, I had kids to fund through school and college so spare cash wasn’t something I had much of when this project started. But I always knew I’d get involved as soon as I’d got rid of the financial burden of the Rugrat and she was working and independent of my wallet.
The opportunity for whisky in China is huge. I saw that while I was running my own craft beer brew pub. Whisky went from a foreigner only thing, to THE most talked about alcohol in just a couple of years. So commercially, it’s a massive opportunity. This is why there are now 40 or 50 whisky distillery projects either operating or under construction.
The question is, how will we stand out in the crowd because the market is going to get very saturated very quickly.
It’s going to come down to two things. Quality and price points. I think we’ll smash it out of the ball park on both points.
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