Edwin S. Foote

Kentucky Hall of Fame class of 2008 inductee Edwin S. “Ed” Foote knows that he was born in 1935, but he is not sure exactly where. “I always thought I was born in Stith Valley, Kentucky,” Ed recalls, “but someone told me later that I was born in my grandmother’s house in Brandenburg. Early on, we moved to Hardinsburg, then Ross, then back to Hardinsburg”. Finally, Foote’s family settled down long enough for him to graduate from a one-room schoolhouse with no electricity or running water in Irvington, Kentucky. After a stint in the Army, Foote went back to Western Kentucky University to major in mathematics, determined to set about a career teaching high school. Soon though, following a tough year as an educator, and needing more money than that job could provide for his young but growing family, Foote answered an ad for the Henry McKenna distillery (which was then owned by Seagram’s).

Unfortunately, some of the darkest days for bourbon since Prohibition were soon upon the industry as drinkers flocked to clear spirits, and after Foote had put in about 20 years at McKenna, Seagrams abruptly shuttered the McKenna distillery. Ultimately, the rights to McKenna were sold to Heaven Hill, but by then, Ed Foote had moved on to become the distiller at Old Fitzgerald (then owned by Stitzel-Weller) in Shively, Kentucky, where he produced Rebel Yell, Weller, and the Van Winkle lines of whiskey. “It was a wonderful time, though,” recalls Foote. “Between Seagrams and Stitzel, I think they trained half the industry.”

Because of his association with Weller, Old Fitz, and Pappy, over time, Ed came to be known specifically for his famous wheated bourbons, which whiskey geeks still refer to lovingly as “Stitzel-Weller juice.”  Bourbon expert and author Fred Minnick recently proclaimed, “Ed Foote was doing it before the internet, before certain brands were wildly popular, even before bourbon itself was popular, and certainly before it was ‘cool.’ In fact, much of what happened at his distillery remains a mystery.” But Ed Foote never sought to be famous, or acknowledged, or respected, or even recognized for his work. “Back then, there was no master distiller,” explains Foote. Today, every master distiller is a rock star. But when I was working, the distiller stayed there and watched me. If you had the right crew, they were interested in the product and proud of it. It was a piece of cake.”

“I think of the Hall of Fame people I worked with over the years…” Ed trails off wistfully, yet proudly, remembering his friend Julian Van Winkle II, whose namesake whiskey Ed helped popularize. Julian III, Pappy’s grandson, recently said of Ed Foote, “The Pappy Van Winkle label rose to admiration during the time we were bottling whiskey that Ed made. Some still say it is the best juice ever created.” 

Edwin Foote retired in the 1990s and has remained out of the spotlight as much as possible since.

Resource: University of Kentucky Library (Mike Veach), 2013

Contributed by: Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee