Daniel “Danny” Kahn

“The Extreme Master Distiller”

Daniel “Danny” Kahn was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Growing up he lived near a brewery and a bakery, and always loved the smell of both businesses and once able he started to work in the brewery in Venice California.

During his college years at the University of California, Davis in Fermentation Science in Chemical Engineering, he brewed beer with friends to avoid buying beer to save money and loved the process of developing flavor during fermentation. He was also on the Lacrosse team. Also during his college years he worked at a number of wineries in California.

After college he worked for Anheuser-Busch in many locations from 1996 to 2014, and before leaving was the Senior Brewmaster. Along the way he also earned his MBA at the University of Georgia-Terry in their College of Business.

During his life he has been into several extreme hobbies and sports including vertical skateboarding which he did for 14 years during the famous Dogtown days from the famous documentary and movie. He also was heavily into white water rafting and racing mountain bikes. Along the way gathered quite a number of bumps and bruises and close calls with danger.

After leaving Anheuser-Busch he joined Sierra Nevada Brewing as their Brewery Technical Director from 2014 to 2018.

All throughout his life and career he has followed his passions. During these years he started buying and enjoying bourbon more and more, and at one point counted 80 open bottles. This lead him to his next career move when he joined Sazerac as their Master Distiller at their Barton 1792 distillery. He joined the distillery in June of 2018 and carried the title of Master Distiller until October of 2021 when he became their Master Distiller and Distilling and Aging Operations Manager which is the position he remains in today.

On podcasts he is quoted as saying “Beer is for quitters” as he says that if you distilled the beer you would have whiskey. Also he is quoted as saying “Beer wants to be bourbon when it grows up.” This shows his passion for bourbon and whiskey as he says he just likes bourbon better.

Today as the Master Distiller and Distilling and Aging Operations Manger he leads the distilleries building of flavor at every level, and has been instrumental in developing several 1792 special releases and their Thomas Moore line including helping to develop their finishing processes.

Contributed by Daniel Snyder, Whiskey Founders Committee Chair, Champaign, Illinois