Pam Heilmann

 
 

“The Whiskey Teacher”

Pam Heilmann was born in Pennsylvania, but grew up in Syracuse, NY. Before she got into whiskey, she actually was 1 class away from becoming a school teacher.

“I was going to be a teacher,” she says. “When we left New York I was only lacking one course of being a teacher. I had already taken the National Teacher’s Exam.”

But fate, as it often does, stepped in and moved her in another direction.

The company she was working for was being sold. Since both her and her husband worked there, they thought that it might be a good idea for one of them to find another job. Good call!

She reached out to a friend that had a connection at Jim Beam. With her supervisor experience, she was a natural fit. And so, she found a second love.

She became the Relief Supervisor for the Clairmont AND Booker Noe plants, which was needless to say, chaotic.

“I loved going to work even though I was all over the place, I was half asleep half the time. Couldn’t get a good sleep pattern down … but I loved the job because I got to work on special projects with Jerry Dalton, which was awesome. He taught me so much about the science portion of the process. And then I had a whole lot of mentors—from operators to managers who had been in the industry for 30 years. So I learned about the art of the business as well. So, for me, it married the two together,” she says.

She learned a lot while at Jim Beam from so many persons and her achievements there were quite notable. One of them was increasing the Booker Noe plant by 50%. This 7 year pursuit had many obstacles and challenges, but it was a project that she was able to achieve.

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.”

We wanted to make sure that we had the best equipment that we could. And we did. We went to Vendome for that. And we were very careful about designing and how we designed to ensure that we could get the best quality whiskey. Our system is 100% copper. You can make the purest, cleanest spirit with 100% copper system. Our still is entirely 100% copper, our doubler, all the piping,” she elaborates.

And in 2016, Pam Heilmann became the first female Master Distiller since in Kentucky since Prohibition!

Heilmann is the Master Distiller Emerita at Michter’s and is enjoying her role and the challenges that come with making great bourbon.

In her spare time, Heilmann enjoys riding motorcycles with her husband on their Harley Davidson and fishing.

 

Contributed by: M. J. Jacobs, Knoxville, Tennessee

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