Michter’s Whiskey Founders
(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
1
Pam Heilmann
When Joseph Magliocco, of Michter’s, came to Pam Hellman 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.” In 2016, Heilmann became the first female Master Distiller in Kentucky since Prohibition.
2
Joe Magliocco
Joseph Magliocco’s earliest link to Michter’s came in the late 1970s, when he took his very first sales job at his family’s wine and spirits business. His first task in the job was offloading the poorly selling Michter’s, then a Pennsylvania brand. As he worked to clear out the Michter’s decanters, he developed an affinity for the brand.
3
Abraham Bomberger
Abraham Shenk Bomberger was a descendant of the Shenk family,the first Swiss Mennonite settlers in Pennsylvania. The Shenk brothers, John & Michael, were in the farming and milling business and began distilling rye whiskey in Schaefferstown in 1753. He rebuilt and expanded the still house, warehouse, and jug house and significantly increased production. By all accounts, Bomberger’s rye whiskey was considered first class.
5
Willie Pratt
When Willie Pratt joined Michter's, the company did not yet possess its own distillery. Instead, production initially took place under contract at another Kentucky facility using Michter's proprietary mash bills, yeast strains, and production specifications. Yet Pratt supervised every important technical detail.
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4
Dick Newman
Dick Newman and Joseph Magliocco acquired the dormant Michter’s trademark for only a few hundred dollars, little more than the filing fees required to register it. Few observers could have imagined that that transaction would become the foundation of one of the most celebrated revivals in modern American whiskey.
Johann (John) Shenk
The Shenk family immigrated from Switzerland to colonial Pennsylvania in the early 1700’s, starting out as farmers and later distilling excess grain into whiskey. The distillery focused on producing rye whiskey. During the Revolutionary War, the distillery earned the moniker “the whiskey that warmed the American Revolution.” Eventually changing hands to a family member, Shenk’s became Bomberger’s, and eventually closed in 1989. Both brands were revived by Michter’s in 1997.
7
Andrea Marie Wilson
In 2014, her job at Diageo was dissolved and she began at Michter’s the next day. From a giant in the industry to a family-owned business, which has brought a new list of opportunities for Wilson. From then to now, she has become the Master of Maturation and Chief Operating Officer.