Shawn McCormick
Michael Shawn McCormick was born in 1969 in Russellville, Kentucky, to his parents Mike and Lucy McCormick. Growing up, he always enjoyed cooking; however, as a high school graduate, he didn’t know what he wanted to do for a profession. Following a passion, McCormick attended the prestigious Johnson & Wales University and received degrees in Culinary Arts and Foodservice Management. Shawn then finished his college career at the University of Georgia with a Master’s degree in Food Science.
Though he hadn’t lived there since childhood, McCormick has always considered the tiny community of Adairville, Kentucky “home.” After all, his family's roots in Logan County extend back to at least the opening years of the twentieth century, and for generations his relatives had lived, farmed, worked, and served the community there. Frequent visits to the McCormick family farm created an attachment that endured, and those experiences later influenced one of the most important decisions of his career. Still, after graduating college in 1998, Shawn made a successful career as a food scientist and settled down in greater Chicago. There, he worked on the development of a number of common, but interesting foods such as breakfast cereal, mustard, macaroni & cheese, gummies, steak sauce, pudding, nacho cheese sauce, and several other products. It was a job he later described as “always fun.”
Once McCormick’s professional career had concluded, however, the idea of opening a distillery came to him during a tour of Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries in 2012. At that time, Kentucky whiskey was enjoying unprecedented growth, with new craft distilleries appearing throughout the Commonwealth. Rather than simply joining the movement wherever commercial opportunities seemed greatest, McCormick envisioned bringing whiskey production back to Logan County. The goal was ambitious. Adairville had no modern distilling industry, and to complicate matters further, the town remained dry, making any such legal enterprise impossible at the time. Nevertheless, McCormick continued planning while determining how he could get those circumstances to change. The opportunity came in the form of a petition, circulated to members of the community, and requiring a vote that would allow the opening of a distillery in the conservative, rural county. Surprisingly, backed by nearly all local politicians, the charter required to change the law passed easily, and McCormick was put on the fast track to start on the construction of his new distillery in 2018.
An equally important opportunity arrived when the former Adairville Fire Department building became available. McCormick purchased the old fire station in 2019, recognizing that the historic structure could become far more than a production facility. It would serve as a visible symbol of reinvestment in the town's historic center while giving visitors an unmistakable destination. Phase One focused on creating bottling operations and a retail bottle shop, while later construction added distilling equipment, visitor experiences, and a tasting room. By locating the business within an existing landmark rather than constructing an industrial facility outside town, McCormick helped reinforce the connection between the distillery and the community it was intended to serve.
The inspiration behind the distillery’s name reaches back to McCormick's great-grandfather, Burton Hulon "B.H." James. Born in 1884, James enjoyed a successful professional baseball career between 1908 and 1919, playing throughout the South before settling permanently in Adairville following his marriage to Shawn’s great-grandmother, Estelle. After retiring from baseball, James then built an impressive second career as a merchant, tobacco executive, banker, and Logan County magistrate. His reputation for civic leadership endured long after his death in 1959, leaving behind a family legacy centered not just on baseball and business success but also on community service. McCormick eventually chose to honor that legacy by naming both his distillery and its flagship whiskey after his great-grandfather rather than after himself.
B.H. James Distillers officially opened in the autumn of 2022, marking the culmination of approximately a decade of planning. The opening represented more than the launch of another Kentucky distillery. It fulfilled McCormick's long-held ambition to return permanently to his ancestral hometown while contributing to its economic future. Community leaders, neighbors, family members, and local officials joined him for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, reflecting the degree to which the project had become a shared source of local pride.
McCormick then faced a challenge familiar to virtually every new craft whiskey producer. Bourbon requires years of maturation before it can legally and practically become the centerpiece of a distillery's portfolio. Rather than waiting several years before offering customers a whiskey, he adopted an approach that has become one of the defining characteristics of B.H. James Distillers. The company began by carefully sourcing mature American whiskeys from established local Kentucky producers and blending them into distinctive small-batch expressions marketed as Burton James Uniquely American Whiskey. Each release combined five to seven selected barrels, allowing McCormick to establish a recognizable house style while his own whiskey quietly matured in the warehouse.
That strategy proved remarkably successful. Early releases quickly earned medals in prestigious competitions including the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the ASCOT Awards, the American Distilling Institute International Spirits Competition, the John Barleycorn Awards, and the New Orleans Spirits Competition. Those honors demonstrated that thoughtful blending could distinguish a young craft distillery even before its own bourbon reached maturity. Rather than treating sourced whiskey as merely a temporary necessity, McCormick transformed it into a defining feature of the Burton James brand. At the same time, work proceeded toward McCormick's longer-term objective of producing whiskey entirely in-house. Under the Kentucky Grit label, the distillery began making unaged corn whiskey using grain grown in Logan County whenever possible. Local corn and rye formed the foundation of mash bills that emphasized both regional agriculture and small-scale craftsmanship. In November 2022 the distillery produced its first legally distilled whiskey in Adairville since Prohibition, an achievement that connected modern craft distilling with the town's earlier history while signaling the beginning of a new chapter for western Kentucky whiskey.
The years following the opening have been marked by steady progress rather than rapid expansion. Additional bottlings, continued awards, contract production relationships, increasing tourism, and eventually the release of the first bourbon distilled entirely in Adairville have demonstrated that McCormick's long-term vision has remained firmly on course. Every milestone has reinforced the original purpose behind the enterprise: honoring family history while contributing to the future of a small but beloved Kentucky community.
For all the attention given to bourbon's largest producers, Shawn McCormick reminds us that Kentucky whiskey has always depended upon individuals willing to invest time, energy, and money in places that larger companies often overlook. His greatest accomplishment may not ultimately be the medals won by Burton James Whiskey or the release of Kentucky Grit Bourbon. Rather, it is the successful revival of whiskey-making in Adairville after generations without legal distilling and the creation of a destination that celebrates both family heritage and local pride. In naming his company after Burton Hulon James instead of himself, McCormick ensured that every bottle tells two stories simultaneously: one honoring a remarkable ancestor and another documenting the continuing renewal of western Kentucky's whiskey tradition.
Sources:
B.H. James Distillers, "The Story of B.H. James Distillers”, www.bhjamesdistillers.com
News, Democrat & Leader (Franklin, Ky), “McCormick’s Dream Closer to Reality”, Denise Shoulders, October 25, 2022, franklinfavorite.com
Breaking Bourbon, "B.H. James Distillers to Open Distillery…”, October 25, 2022, breakingbourbon.com
Queer Kentucky, "Big Dreams in a Small Town: Burton James Whiskey Puts Adairville on the Map”, Sarah Havens, September 4, 2024, queerkentucky.com
Kentucky Distillers' Association, "Casey Jones Distillery Secures First Contract as Bourbon Producer for B.H. James Distillers”, kybourbon.com
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
