Medium & Craft Distillery Founders
Mountain States
(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
2
Brad & Kate Mead,
Wyoming Whiskey
An attorney who shares a practice with his wife, Brad Mead is the grandson of former U.S. Senator and Wyoming Governor Clifford Hansen, and the older brother of Wyoming’s current governor, Matt Mead. He once ran for Justice of the Peace, but today, Brad’s happier to talk about Wyoming Whiskey, the distillery he founded with Kate and fellow Jackson attorney David DeFazio, than politics.
3
Steve Nally,
Wyoming Whiskey
Steve Nally was born in Loretto, Kentucky in, 1950. His family farm joined the Maker’s Mark property. As a young boy he roamed the Maker’s property hunting local game or just hiking the hills owned by the Samuels. He attended Loretto High School. After graduation from high school he bought a small farm.
1
Colby & Ashley Frey,
THIS FOUNDERS HISTORY WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON
In 2002, David, attended a wedding in Kentucky. On a whim, he visited the Maker’s Mark distillery, where the fermentation and aging processes triggered a profound realization. He later recalled the barrel warehouse bathed in vanilla- and caramel-scented air, and it hit him: “I want to make whiskey.”
4
David Perkins,
High West Distillery
5
Dave Pickerell,
Many Distilleries
David Steven Pickerell (August 14, 1956 - November 1, 2018) was an American Chemical Engineer turned Master Distiller. He is credited as the founding father of the craft distilling movement, and helped shape the modern American distilling industry as we know it. He once had the nickname “The Johnny Appleseed of American Whiskey” for the multitude of distilleries whose development he played a role in.
6
George Stranahan,
Stranahan’s Whiskey
An unexpected barn fire in 1998 sparked a new venture: local volunteer firefighter Jess Graber helped George extinguish a blaze on his property. As they conversed afterward, their shared passion for distilled spirits inspired the creation of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey in 2004, in Denver, marking George’s entry into the American single‑malt whiskey category.