The Whiskey Row Region
Downtown Craft
Distillery Founders
(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
1
Rudolph Balke
Mellwood Distillery
Rudolph Balke entered the Mellwood Distillery enterprise in 1887. By 1890, Balke had become vice president of the Mellwood Distillery Company while George Swearingen remained president. The promotion reflected both confidence in Balke’s business abilities and the growing scale of the operation.
2
Joe Beatrice
Barrell Craft
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.
3
Andrew Biggs
Mellwood Distillery
In about 1865, Andrew Biggs joined with George W. Swearingen to construct what would become the Mellwood Distillery. Swearingen supplied much of the original vision and financing, while Biggs quickly established himself as indispensable, owing to his natural, easy leadership and sharp business acumen.
4
Jason Brauner
Buzzard’s Roost
In 2005, Brauner opened Bourbons Bistro in northeast Louisville’s Clifton neighborhood. The restaurant quickly became a destination for bourbon drinkers and industry veterans alike. There, Brauner’s palate became the stuff of local legend; he recalls that he could identify three bourbons by smell alone.
5
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 and price points typically run above $400 per bottle at a minimum, and can reach many times that.
6
Ryan Cecil
Pursuit Spirits
Ryan Cecil grew up in Bardstown, Kentucky, the spiritual center of American whiskey, but his path to becoming a whiskey maker was anything but traditional. Instead of beginning in a rickhouse or on a bottling line, he entered the industry through curiosity and conversation as a well-regarded bourbon podcaster.
7
Edwin Foote
Stitzel-Weller
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.
8
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 her philosophy of how a distillery is run.
9
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.
10
Dr. Patrick Heist
Wilderness Trail
In February 2013, Dr. Heist, once again with partner Shane Baker, founded Wilderness Trail distillery. 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.
11
Henry H. Kraver
Kentucky Peerless Distillery
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
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
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.
14
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.
15
Frederick Stitzel
Stitzel-Weller
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.
16
George Swearingen
Mellwood Distillery
George George began his working life as a farmer on his father’s land. Agriculture remained his principal occupation through the years immediately preceding the Civil War. According to later accounts, he also operated a small distillery on the family property, producing whiskey under the name “Millwood.”
17
Carson Taylor
Kentucky Peerless Distilling
In 2010, Carson Taylor’s 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.
18
Corky Taylor
Kentucky Peerless Distilling
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
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
Lisa Wicker
Whiskey Thief
When Lisa Wicker stepped into whiskey, she proved to possess an instinct for flavor and production constraints, and soon helped put the young Limestone Branch Distillery on the map with her locally famous “MoonPie Moonshine,” a hit that kept the lights on while her barreled whiskey aged.