Inside a rustic wooden room with barrels, brooms, and hanging kitchen utensils.
A circular logo for Champaign Shave Distillery with a gold background, black text, and border, featuring the letters 'CSD' in the center, established in 2021.

Champaign Shine

Where Business
Meets the Still

Books, stories, lessons, podcasts, and more distilled from leadership, entrepreneurship, and the habit of going against the grain.

Where Business Meets the Still

Pre-Order Against the Grain for Kindle Now

Books, stories, lessons, podcasts, and more distilled from leadership, entrepreneurship, and the habit of going against the grain.

Against the Grain Available at Amazon September 15, 2026 - Paperback and Kindle - Kindle Pre-Order Available Now

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Against the Grain Available at Amazon September 15, 2026 - Paperback and Kindle - Kindle Pre-Order Available Now 〰️

Close-up of a smiling man with gray hair and black glasses, wearing a brown blazer and light blue shirt, standing in a room with books and a wooden barrel in the background.
Close-up of a smiling man with gray hair and black glasses, wearing a brown blazer and light blue shirt, standing in a room with books and a wooden barrel in the background.

A Businessman
and a Moonshiner
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For more than thirty years, Jon Umstead has held senior leadership roles in organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He has led teams of more than 700 people, contributed to teams securing over a billion dollars in contract awards, and earned an Executive MBA from The Ohio State University.

Jon’s first book, Business is ART, established his conversational approach to sharing practical business lessons that extend beyond the workplace and into everyday life.

His latest book, Against the Grain, continues that tradition, using the world of moonshining and bootlegging to explore leadership, entrepreneurship, risk-taking, resilience, and the habit of going against the grain.

“It sounds like the perfect blend of sophistication and hillbilly.”
— Former colleague, on Jon's espresso martini made with his own vodka

That blend — boardroom and backwoods, discipline and rebellion — is the DNA of everything Champaign Shine Distillery represents.

Read the Story →

The New Book
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Book cover titled "Against The Grain" by Jon umstead. The cover features a stylized illustration of a whiskey bottle with text about business lessons from the still. The quote says, "Stories like these... are what make bourbon so special," attributed to Harlen Wheatley of Buffalo Trace Distillery.

Against the Grain: Business Lessons From the Still

What Rule-Breakers Already Know

Most business books play it safe. This one doesn’t. Against the Grain draws on the world of moonshiners, bootleggers, and distillers to deliver thirteen chapters of hard-won lessons for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and leaders who’d rather go somewhere new than follow someone else’s path.

"Stories like these featuring the memories of Jon's dad are what make bourbon so special. It's a wonderful reminder that bourbon is often at the center of life's most meaningful moments, and we're honored that Buffalo Trace played a small role in your family's traditions." – Harlen Wheatley, Master Distiller, Buffalo Trace Distillery

Pre-Order Against the Grain for Kindle Now
Infographic titled "Distilling at a Glance" illustrating the process of distillation with a copper still, interconnected pipes, and a jar. The steps include: 1. Go against the grain, 2. Know your mash, 3. Let it ferment, 4. Run it through the still, 5. Proof it, 6. Don't go it alone, and 7. Run it again, emphasizing mastery through repetition.