David Hobbs

Nancy Thornhill Hobbs was raised in Port Gordon, Scotland. When she was a child, her family moved to Sunderland, England, where she grew up with her sister and three brothers. In 1944, Nancy married Vernon Hobbs, an American serviceman. The pair came to the United States after the War in 1946 and settled near Vernon’s hometown of Bardstown, Kentucky. Before long, Vernon’s and Nancy’s family had expanded to three sons and one daughter. One of the sons, born in April of 1949, was future Bourbon Hall-of-Famer David M. Hobbs.

David’s childhood was, by all accounts, ordinary but pleasant. He worked a series of part-time jobs around Bardstown until 1970, when it became clear that the 21-year-old should seek more stable employment. A friend suggested to David that Heaven Hill Distillery was a good place to work. A few months later, David began the only full-time job he would ever have. In 1972, the new Heaven Hill employee married Carole Crume. Soon, the couple was blessed with three daughters, Tammie, Kimberly, and Carly.

When Hobbs first worked at Heaven Hill, there was only a flagship and a single “premium” offering. The company has now grown to market an impressively diverse portfolio of more than 20 universally well-received bourbon brands, including core brands Elijah Craig, Larceny, and Evan Williams. They also offer an extensive Bottled-in-Bond collection and premium, as well as super-premium brands like the Parker's Heritage Collection. Looking back on his career,  contributions that Hobbs is particularly proud of include his role in the development of a team of very skilled management people. He also helped expand facilities to meet the demands of the increased production in distilling, aging, bottling, and distribution. David was also instrumental in developing a group of outside suppliers to help with the ever-increasing demands of production.

After 41 years of working at almost every job proposed to him by Heaven Hill Distilleries, culminating with plant manager and finally VP of production, Hobbs retired in 2011. During his tenure at Heaven Hill, Hobbs had seen the distillery’s barrel production more than triple from 200 to 900 barrels per day; at the same time, case production snowballed from 1 million to nearly 12 million cases annually. His career also witnessed Heaven Hill’s transition from a small, family-owned distillery to the world’s fifth-largest distilled spirits producer.

Hobbs was also instrumental in lobbying the state of Kentucky for tax reform for distillers. The journey started back in 2009 when a group of Kentucky distillers held the “Bourbon Tea Party,” where they boldly poured America’s only Native Spirit on the steps of the Kentucky state Capitol in Frankfort to protest unfair tax increases. That was the shot that was heard around the world and helped begin the state’s $8.6 billion bourbon boom.

Kentucky also levies distillers with a “Barrel Tax”. The only state to do so, it is essentially a tax on unsold barrels of bourbon. Since Kentucky now has about twice as many aging barrels as it has people, distilleries paid $40 million in barrel tax revenue in 2022, according to the Kentucky Distillers' Association. In 2011, Hobbs worked tirelessly with fellow distillers John Rhea of Four Roses, Jeff Conder of Beam Global, Tom Krekeler of Wild Turkey, Chris Morris of Brown-Forman, and Andrea Wilson of Diageo to lobby the state to repeal or alter the barrel tax. While the measure failed at that time, it began an annual grassroots effort toward forcing the state government to look at ways to protect and respect the industry which brings more than $9 billion into Kentucky’s economy each year.

Regrettably, David’s beloved wife, Carole, passed away in 2009 after a long battle with lymphoma. Two years later, upon his well-deserved retirement in 2011, David was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame, the highest honor given by the signature industry.

In 2018, David Hobbs married again, to his current wife, Gayle. The couple enjoys golf, visiting with their family and friends, and traveling abroad, having so far visited all over the United States, as well as Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Mexico.

Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee