Tom Bulleit
Tom Bulleit
There is family history behind Bulleit Whiskey. The Bulleit Distilling Company was a dream hatched by Thomas E. Bulleit Jr., back in 1987. Tom had a successful law practice, but followed in his great-great-grand father’s footsteps, Augustus Bulleit, risking everything to fulfill that dream.
Augustus Bulleit owned a tavern around the 1830s in Louisville, KY. He experimented and finally developed his unique high-rye whiskey between 1830 and 1860 after much experimentation. Its characteristics can be labeled as distinct, bold and lightly spicy.
It is by design that the label is placed on the bottle at an angle. Augustus thought this would provide a bigger front to display the name clearer. Tom Bulleit carried on this tradition. While transporting his whiskey barrels from Kentucky to New Orleans, Augustus disappeared without a trace in 1860 and his whereabouts remain a mystery to this day.
Tom, the son of a preacher and World War II veteran, served in the Marines during the Vietnam War. Taking the Law School Admission Test while still in the service, he later earned law degrees from the University of Louisville as well as Georgetown University.
Tom’s take on Augustus’ creation, Bulleit Bourbon, can be described as a bartender’s brand. Tom started hand-selling his bourbon early on in San Francisco. In that area, there also seemed to be a demand for his spirit from bartenders who tried to serve their customers’ orders for a rye cocktail. Tom listened and thereafter developed Bulleit 95 Rye.
Tom has modified the original mash of 66% corn and 33% rye to today’s mash of 68% corn, 28% rye and 4% malted barley. The high rye (~28% rye) liquid has a clean, smooth finish thanks to Kentucky’s limestone-filtered water. The lengthy aging and proprietary yeast give it a unique and spicy flavor.
When he was relaunching the brand, Tom thought about naming it Thoroughbred bourbon, but was talked out of it by advertising agencies. He eventually settled on Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, with a slogan of “When men were men and whiskey was bourbon”. This was later nixed. The Bulleit Distilling philosophy is simple: wait until the bourbon is ready.
Seagram bought the Bulleit brand in 1997 and began to distill in Lawrenceburg, KY., providing wide distribution across the US at that time. Diageo acquired the brand and eventually opened a new distillery in Shelbyville, KY, in 2017. The current labels of Bulleit include Bulleit bourbon, Barrel Strength, Bulleit 10 year, and Bulleit rye.
Tom Bulleit was elected to the prestigious Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2009.
https://www.bulleit.com/en-gb/the-story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulleit_Bourbon
https://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/bulleit-bourbon-facts-whiskey-fans-should-know
https://www.legion.org/information-center/news/magazine/2011/october/bulleit-proof
Contributed by: Joe Grimoldi, Memphis, TN
