Medium & Craft Distillery Founders
The Whiskey Row Region
(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
1
Joseph L. Beam,
Heaven Hill Distillery
Joseph L. Beam, better known as "Mr. Joe" Beam, was born in December 1868 in Washington County, Kentucky. Mr. Joe was the son of Joseph M. Beam, a distiller; he was the great-grandson of the Patriarch of the family, Jacob Beam. Joe learned the trade working at four different Bardstown distilleries. In 1887, he married Katherine McGill. They had their first child in 1893 and went on to have a total of nine boys and no girls.
3
Mark Carter
Old Carter Distillery
Headquartered on historic Whiskey Row, Old Carter sources high‑quality barrels from across Kentucky, blending and bottling them themselves. The blend usually includes some of Old Carter’s own distillate. The Carters’ strategy was deliberately super‑premium: batches rarely exceed a few thousand bottles, and price points typically run above $400 per bottle at a minimum, and can reach many times that.
2
Joe Beatrice,
Barrell Craft Spirits
In 2013, Joe Beatrice founded Barrell Craft Spirits in Louisville, Kentucky, not with a shiny new still, but with a plan to source high-quality whiskey from established distilleries across the country. From the outset, Barrell’s approach was radically different: cask strength releases only, no chill filtration, and full transparency.
4
Edwin Foote,
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2008, Edwin Foote began his post-college life as a teacher in 1961, but he needed more money to raise his family. Fortunately for the bourbon world, Foote answered an advertisement for the Henry McKenna Distillery in Fairfield, Ky.
“I think of the Hall of Fame people I worked with over the years…” Ed trails off wistfully, yet proudly, remembering his friend Julian Van Winkle II.
5
Dee Ford
Angel’s Envy
In the world of Kentucky bourbon tourism, few names evoke as much admiration as Dee Ford. At 60, she stands as one of that field’s most influential figures, having transformed the way people experience the spirit, not just in a glass, but in every welcoming moment that surrounds it. To Dee Ford, hospitality isn’t a buzzword or a job description; it’s a calling. “What is hospitality?” she often asks.ancial solution to ease the distillery’s woes.
6
Keith Hazelbaker,
Prohibition Craft Spirits
In 2015, the old Derby City Spirits distillery in the Phoenix Hill area of downtown Louisville was in serious litigation that culminated in 2,000 gallons of alcohol being poured down the drain by Kentucky ABC officials. To help mitigate their problems, Derby City’s then-owners asked Certified Financial Planner Keith Hazelbaker to assist in putting together a long-term financial solution to ease the distillery’s woes.
7
Pam Heilmann,
Michter‘s Distillery
When Joseph Magliocco, of Michter’s, came to her with the opportunity to start a distillery, this challenge was truly intriguing. She would have her hands in everything, from personnel to equipment. This was exciting! She couldn’t say no. Heilmann’s philosophy is “the best of everything.”
In 2016, Pam Heilmann became the first female Master Distiller in Kentucky since Prohibition.
8
Dr. Patrick Heist,
Wilderness Trail
In February 2013 Dr. Heist once again with partner Shane Baker founded Wilderness Trail distillery which has become one of the fastest growing bourbon distilleries in the world. Wilderness Trail distillery produces numerous bourbons including both high rye and wheated bourbons and rye whiskey using their own proprietary yeast strains. They use an infusion mashing process that is proprietary to Wilderness Trail.
9
Henry H. Kraver,
Kentucky Peerless Distilling
Yearning to grow his business empire Henry bought the Worsham distillery in Henderson, KY. At the time the Worsham distillery was a small distillery. Henry then bought 19 acres of land and built Kentucky Peerless, DSP-KY-50, to be one of the largest producing distilleries in the state of Kentucky.
10
Joe Magliocco,
Michter’s Distillery
Joseph Magliocco’s earliest link to Michter’s came in the late 1970s, when he took his very first sales job at his family’s wine and spirits business. His first task in the job was offloading the poorly selling Michter’s, then a Pennsylvania brand. As he worked to clear out the Michter’s decanters, he developed an affinity for the brand.
11
Joyce Nethery,
Jeptha Creed
Joyce Nethery is the co-founder, co-owner, and master distiller for the Jeptha Creed Distillery located in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Joyce has a love and background for chemical engineering, holding a Master’s Degree from the University of Louisville’s Speed Scientific School.
12
Owen Martin,
Angel’s Envy
Born in 1990 and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Martin was not descended from bourbon royalty, nor did he grow up surrounded by stills and rickhouses. But he did inherit a different kind of legacy: one of precision, process, and problem-solving. After graduating from high school, Martin pursued a B.S. in Engineering and began homebrewing.
13
Denny Potter
Potter Jane
A bourbon lover might reckon that Denny Potter has, to this point, lived an occupational dream life. In moving about the distilleries of the Bluegrass State with a tenacity that could exhaust a Wildcat basketball scout, Potter’s expertise in spirit-making has been showcased at several major bourbon blue-blood brands.
14
Elmore Sherman
Vendome
During Prohibition, Sherman completely dismantled a distillery in Henderson, Kentucky, and reassembled it 2,500 miles away in Vancouver, British Columbia. In order to accomplish the exploit, Sherman packed his entire family and worked for six months in a place that still required distilling equipment.
15
Fredrick Stitzel
Frederick Stitzel was born in Germany to Dominick and Magdelena Stitzel. He emigrated to the U.S. with his family at the age of 14 with his parents and two brothers, Philip and Jacob. The Stitzel family was first recorded living in the Louisville, Kentucky area in 1855.
The three Stitzel brothers eventually started a distillery in 1872, appropriately naming it Stitzel Brothers Distillery.
17
Corky Taylor,
Corky Taylor is the Chairman & Founder of the modern Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company. In 2008, Corky Taylor retired to the beaches of Sarasota, Florida, following an illustrious career in business. Corky grew up as an army brat in Hawaii. He was regaled in his youth with colorful tales of his great-grandfather, Henry Kraver, the self-made entrepreneur who founded Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company.
16
Carson Taylor
In 2010, Carson Taylor’s recently retired and restless father phoned his youngest son and proposed reopening a distillery that had been out of operation since the 1930s. The plan was to revive a site initially founded as Worsham Distilling and founded by Carson’s great-grandfather, Henry Kraver, in 1889. Worsham was at one time a highly respected spirit but had not survived Prohibition, though it was briefly allowed to exist as a “medicinal” alcohol during those dark days.
18
Colonel E. H. Taylor
"Father of Modern Bourbon”
Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. was born in Columbia, Kentucky in 1832. Taylor was a descendant of two U.S. presidents, James Madison and General Zachary Taylor. Two years after Taylor purchased the Leestown Distillery, just out side Frankfort in 1869 he christened it the, "O.F.C. (Old Fire Copper) Distillery."
19
Julian Van Winkle, Jr.
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Julian Van Winkle Jr., the son of the legendary Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 3, 1914. In 1964, upon the death of his father, Pappy, he would run the distillery his father owned, Stitzel-Weller, until it was sold in 1972. He began J.P. Van Winkle and Son, a bottling and decanter plant. After his son Julian III joined the company in 1977, Old Rip Van Winkle was begun as a side venture for his son.
20
Julian Van Winkle, III
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Julian P. Van Winkle III is the third generation of distillers from the Van Winkle family. At the time he joined the family business in 1977 with his father Julian Jr., they were producing only two wheated whiskies. 90 proof 10 year old and 107 proof Old Rip Van Winkle. Since then they have added 12, 15, 20 and 23 year old labels to their bourbon line. They also have a 13 year old premium rye that was introduced to their whiskey line.
21
Julian Van Winkle, Sr.
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Julian Proctor "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr. was born in Danville, Kentucky, in 1874. The Van Winkle family was a very affluent clan that emigrated from Holland to America along with the very first Governor of New York, Peter Stuyvesant, in 1647. Pappy’s grandfather, Abraham Van Winkle, moved to Kentucky during the late 18th Century. His father John Van Winkle, a lawyer with considerable assets married Louise Dillion in January 1867.
22
Michael Veach
Bourbon Historian
During graduate school, Veach took an internship with United Distillers at the Old Fitzgerald Distillery, working as archivist for North America beginning in 1991. This role exposed him to a trove of historical documents and artifacts, sparking a lifelong focus.
23
Andrea Marie Wilson,
Michter’s
In 2014, her job at Diageo was dissolved and she began at Michter’s the next day. From a giant in the industry to a family-owned business, which has brought a new list of opportunities for Wilson. From then to now, she has become the Master of Maturation and Chief Operating Officer there.
24
Kaveh Zamanian,
Rabbit Hole
Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame inductee (2022) Kaveh Zamanian’s route to founding one of America’s fastest-growing whiskey brands is uncommon. Born in Iran in 1964, Zamanian emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of 14. Landing in California, his family settled near San Francisco, where the youngster finished his formative high school years and began college.
25
Chet Zoeller,
Jefferson’s
Charles “Chet” Franklin Zoeller was born February 24, 1941, in Louisville, Kentucky. Chet lived within the shadows of Churchill Downs and just a few short blocks from the premier distilleries of the day: Yellowstone, Seagram’s, Hill & Hill, and Stitzel-Weller, all within distance of inhaling vanilla, caramel, and smoke aromas.
26
Trey Zoeller
Trey “Mad Scientist” Zoeller and his father Charles ‘Chet’ Zoeller founded Jefferson’s Bourbon in 1997. Their family whiskey tradition can be traced to Zoeller’s 8th generation grandmother Marian McLain who was arrested in 1799 for the ‘production and sales of spirituous liquors.’