Paul Lux

“LuxCo Founder”

Born in 1930, Paul A. Lux reportedly led a happy but uneventful childhood. After high school, he attended and graduated from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  After MIT, he entered the US Air Force and served as a Captain during the Korean War.  Upon discharge from the service, Paul would further his education at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration’s Executive Education program.

In 1958, Paul and his partner, David Sherman, started the David Sherman Corporation (DSC) based in St Louis, Missouri.  DSC was a private bottling company intended to serve local retailers and distributors.  DSC started with 10 people, a 30,000 square ft facility, and a small bottling line.  Over the years, it would grow to become one of the globe’s premier marketers, bottlers, and importers/exporters of alcoholic beverages, today possessing 3% of the global market share in bottling and distribution.

In 1993, DSC acquired the Ezra Brooks Bourbon brand from United Distillers.  They added to their bourbon portfolio in 1999 and 2000 when they purchased the Rebel Yell and David Nicholson brands, respectively.  Both brands had previously been produced by Diageo at the Stitzel-Weller distillery.  When Diageo sold the Bernheim Distillery to Heaven Hill, they also divested in bourbon, selling the two brands to DSC.  DSC and, ultimately, LuxCo would continue to source both Rebel and David Nicholson from Heaven Hill for a time.

In 2004, the Lux family purchased the Sherman family’s 50% stake in DSC to become its sole owner.  To honor its founder, Paul A Lux, DSC was renamed LuxCo in 2006.  In 2018, LuxCo opened a distillery called Lux Row in Bardstown, KY. In 2021, LuxCo was purchased by Midwest Grain Products (MGP) of Indiana. The company has continued to grow its overall spirit portfolio by acquiring such brands as Juarez and El Mayor Tequila, Pearl Vodka, Everclear, and Saint Brendan’s Irish Cream. In 2015, they formed a partnership with the Limestone Branch distillery, maker of Minor Case and Yellowstone bourbon.

Paul had married Ann Sherman in 1955, and the couple had four children: Two sons, Dr Paul Lux, Jr., and Donn Lux, who is the current Chairman and CEO of LuxCo. They also had two daughters, Catherine N. Lux and Caroline Lux Kaplan.  Sadly, Paul A Lux passed away on March 22, 2005, from leukemia.

Paul A Lux was described as a humble, unassuming, caring, and laid-back man.   His former employees loved him and cherished his memory so much that in 2008, the Paul A Lux Award was established, annually honoring a Luxco employee for outstanding achievement, dedication, integrity, and commitment to the Luxco brand.