Leslie B. Samuels
Leslie B. Samuels was born on January 29th, 1872 to his father William Isaac Samuels and mother Emma Dorcas Samuels in Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky. Leslie was very smart and graduated in the top of his class with distinction from Richmond College in Virginia in 1893. He was responsible for chartering the very first independent school district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in Bardstown after graduation.
In 1898, after Leslie Samuels’ grandfather Taylor Williams Samules (age 77) and his father William Isaac Samuels (age 52) passed away within of a few months of each other, he became the General Manager and Plant Superintendent of what was then known as the T. W. Samuels and Son Distillery located in Deatsville, Kentucky at the age of 26.
In 1909, a fire destroyed the distillery and the entire stock of over 9,000 barrels of Bourbon. Shortly afterwards Starr Distilling Company of Cincinnati, Ohio took over controlling interest and rebuilt the distillery. Leslie was still part owner with a minority stake in the company and they requested that he stay on as General Manager of the distillery until it was shut down permanently during Prohibition in 1920. During Prohibition Leslie purchased an Automobile Dealership and was elected Mayor of Bardstown. After his term ended he was appointed by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as the State Highway Minister. It was Samuels who was directly responsible for creating a local road network that flowed in and out of town to the rest of the state like a spider’s web.
In anticipation of the end of Prohibition in 1933, Samuels rebuilt the distillery and helped reorganize the company for the owners. Leslie located this distillery right on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad line. When reorganized, the Robert L. Block Corporation of Cincinnati had Block as President and Leslie Samuels as Vice President and the distillery General Manager. The new distillery would have six new warehouses with the capacity for 19,000 barrels each along railroad line. The distillery actually helped build the Bardstown-Springfield branch railroad depot.
On February 18, 1936, Leslie passed away and was buried in his hometown of Bardstown. His son T. W. (Bill Sr.) Samuels would become the General Manager after he graduated when he graduated from Speed Engineering school. Being a trained engineer he was neither a distiller or a businessman, but he soon learned both.
They had three brands, T. W. Samuels Bottled in Bond with a black label, T. W. Samuels Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky at 90 proof with a red label and Old Deatsville Whiskey. The T.W. Samuels brand had a strong following in Ohio and Indiana as well as Kentucky. It was the top selling brand of bourbon in Cincinnati as well as some urban Texas markets like Dallas and Houston. It also had some hot spots along the west coast. The 90-proof whiskey proved to be far more popular than they had envisioned and soon shortages developed. The company began purchasing barrels when they were available from the Labrot & Graham distillery in Woodford County until 1940.
In 1943, Block wanted to sell the distillery but Bill Sr. did not want to sell the family business. After all attempts to secure finances failed, Bill had no choice but to hand over the family business to Foster Trading Corporation of New York, which changed the distillery name to Country Distillers making the Samules name disappear from the facility and product. In 1953, Bill Samuels Sr. purchased the Burks Spring Distillery in Loretto, KY and created Maker’s Mark.
The Samuels family line of mercantile bourbon distillers has now been perpetual through eight generations of the family’s sons although it was not as commercial distillers until Ole T. W. began making it the family business in the 1840’s. The Samuels family tradition actually started several generations before T. W. with Robert Samuels (1755-1822) who originally hailed from East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and served in George Washington’s Continental Army. He was commissioned by the General to make whisky for the soldiers of Washington’s Army. Robert was honorably discharged out of the Army once the Revolutionary War was over and moved his family and a 60 gallon copper still to the to Central Kentucky area. Robert had three sons, William Samuels (Ole T. W.’s father), John Samuels, and Rueben Samuels. It was T. W.’s uncle John that continued in the distilling business but his main job was that of a farmer. Like others in the day he turned his corn into whisky as an efficient way and value added way to transport his harvest.
The commercial distilling began with Taylor William (Ole T. W.) Samuels, {1821-1898}, William Isaac Samuels {1845-1898}, Leslie B. Samuels {1871-1936}; Taylor William Samuels, IV (“Bill, Sr.”) {1911-1992}, Taylor William Samuels, V {“Bill, Jr.”}, and Robert Samuels, however Prohibition and separating off to form Maker’s Mark both resulted in some down-time.
Contributed by: Stuart McEnerney, Meriden, Connecticut
