Steven Thompson

Steve Thompson, founder of the Kentucky Artisan Distillery passed away on September 6th, 2021 at the age of 79. Steve was President of Brown-Forman Distilleries and led its distilling operations from 1987 to 1995. After retiring from Brown-Forman, Steve started RF Industries, a railroad and food industries company that created pumps, filters and steel fabrications. 

He moved to Hawaii to create Hawaii Island Spirits Inc. in 2007, a micro distillery making rums, vodkas and Okolehao-Hawaiian whisky.  Steve moved back to Kentucky and founded Kentucky Artisan Distillery 2012.

Throughout his career, Steve Thompson consulted with many distilleries and brands to help educate owners on how to be successful. Co-Founder of Kentucky Artisan, Chris Miller, met Thompson in 2005 when both were working at Brown-Forman and in 2010 the two of them, and third co-founder Mike Loring, began seriously discussing opening their own distillery.

The original plan for what would become Kentucky Artisan Distillery was to create and open a distillery that would specialize in helping other people pursue their own dreams of opening a small distillery or a bourbon brand themselves.

Thompson was able to tell people if a brand would thrive or fail, Miller said, and he’d always give people an honest critique of it regardless if it’s what they wanted to hear. It could hurt people sometimes, but it saved them a lot of money and hassle in the long run.