Medium & Craft Distillery Founders
The Whiskey Row Region
(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
1
Joseph L. Beam,
Heaven Hill Distillery
Joseph L. Beam, better known as "Mr. Joe" Beam, was born in December 1868 in Washington County, Kentucky. Mr. Joe was the son of Joseph M. Beam, a distiller, he was the great grandson of the Patriarch of the family Jacob Beam and Jim Beam’s first cousin. Joe entered the family distilling business at a very young age and learned the trade working at four different Bardstown distilleries between the age of thirteen and thirty. In 1887 he married a local Bardstown girl named Katherine McGill, they had their first child in 1893 but went on to have a total of nine boys and no girls.
2
Edwin Foote,
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2008, Edwin Foote began his post-college life as a teacher in 1961, but needed more money to raise his family. Fortunately for the bourbon world, Foote answered an advertisement for the Henry McKenna Distillery in Fairfield, Ky.
“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.
2
Dee Ford
Angel’s Envy
THIS FOUNDERS HISTORY WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON
4
Pam Heilmann,
Michter‘s Distillery
When Joseph Magliocco, of Michter’s, came to her 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.”
5
Wes Henderson is the co-founder of Louisville Distilling Company, the producer of Angel’s Envy. In 2010, Wes convinced his late father, Master Distiller Lincoln Henderson, to come out of retirement and collaborate on a long-time idea that Lincoln had never had the chance to explore previously. The father and son team worked together to create Angel’s Envy. Wes’ son Kyle joined shortly after to learn side-by-side with his grandfather.
Wes Henderson,
Angels Envy Distillery
4
Keith Hazelbaker,
Prohibition Craft Spirits
In 2015, the old Derby City Spirits distillery in the Phoenix Hill area of downtown Louisville was in serious litigation that culminated in 2,000 gallons of alcohol being poured down the drain by Kentucky ABC officials. To help mitigate their problems, Derby City’s then-owners asked Certified Financial Planner Keith Hazelbaker to assist in putting together a long-term financial solution to ease the distillery’s woes.
8
Daniel Linde,
Whiskey House Kentucky
By 2019, Bardstown Bourbon Company had burgeoned explosively, released its own unique Fusion Series of bourbon, a source for many well-established bourbon brands. In 2022, Kentucky again beckoned, so Linde, still in his 40’s at the time and unwilling to retire, unexpectedly resigned from Northeast and rejoined with Mandell, as well as industry veteran John Hargrove to found Elizabethtown’s Whiskey House distillery.
9
Joe Magliocco,
Michter’s Distillery
TJoseph 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, mini gold-plated King Tut decanters. As he worked to clear out the Michter’s decanters, he developed an affinity for the brand.
Henry H. Kraver,
Kentucky Peerless Distilling
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Yearning to grow his business empire Henry bought the Worsham distillery in Henderson, KY. At the time the Worsham distillery was a small distillery. Henry then bought 19 acres of land and built Kentucky Peerless, DSP-KY-50, to be one of the largest producing distilleries in the state of Kentucky. By 1900, production of Peerless Whiskey had risen from eight to two hundred barrels a day.
11
Frederick Stizel,
Stizel Weller
Frederick Stitzel was born in Germany to Dominick and Magdelena Stitzel. Frederick came to the U.S. at age 14 with his father and two brothers, Philip and Jacob. The family emigrated to the United States was recorded living in Louisville, Kentucky in 1855.
12
Harry Shapira,
Heaven Hill
Harry Spapira was the Executive Vice President at Heaven Hill's and led the creation and design the company's two new modern attraction centers: the Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown and the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in the Louisville on the city's historic "Whiskey Row."
10
Joyce Nethery,
Jeptha Creed
Joyce Nethery is the co-founder, co-owner, and master distiller for the Jeptha Creed Distillery located in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Joyce has a love and background for chemical engineering, holding a Master’s Degree from the University of Louisville’s Speed Scientific School.
14
Steven Thompson,
Kentucky Artisan Distillery
Stephen Thompson has had a distinguished and fulfilling career in the distilling and spirits industry. He was a bourbon enthusiast, an incredible resource and knew his craft. Distilling was his life and passion. Stephen was a creative thinker, innovator and pioneer has multiple degrees from Cali Poly, Stanford and University of Hartford.
15
Corky Taylor,
Kentucky Peerless Distilling
13
Carson Taylor,
Peerless Distilling Distilling
Corky Taylor is the Chairman & Founder of the modern Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company. In 2008, Corky Taylor retired to the beaches of Sarasota, Florida, following an illustrious career in business.
Corky grew up as an army brat in Hawaii. Corky was regaled in his youth with colorful tales of his great-grandfather, Henry Kraver, the self-made entrepreneur who founded Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company.
In 2010, Carson Taylor’s recently retired and restless father phoned his youngest son and proposed reopening a distillery that had been out of operation since the 1930s. The plan was to revive a site initially founded as Worsham Distilling and founded by Carson’s great-grandfather, Henry Kraver, in 1889. Worsham was at one time a highly respected spirit but had not survived Prohibition.
Julian P. Van Winkle, Jr,
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Julian Van Winkle Jr. the son of the legendary Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle was born in Louisville, Kentucky on February 3, 1914. In 1964, upon the death of his father Pappy, he would run the distillery his father owned, Stitzel-Weller until it was sold in 1972. He began J.P. Van Winkle and Son a bottling and decanter plant. After his son Julian III joined the company in 1977, Old Rip Van Winkle was begun as a side venture for his son.
17
Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle, Sr.
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Julian Proctor "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr. was born in Danville, Kentucky in 1874. The Van Winkle family was a very affluent clan that emigrated from Holland to America along with the very first Governor of New York Peter Stuyvesant in 1647. Pappy’s grandfather, Abraham Van Winkle, moved to Kentucky during the late 18th Century. His father John Van Winkle, a lawyer with considerable assets married Louise Dillion in January 1867
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16
Julian Van Winkle, III
Stizel-Weller Distillery
Julian P. Van Winkle III is the third generation of distillers from the Van Winkle family. At the time he joined the family business in 1977 with his father Julian Jr. they were producing only two wheated whiskies. 90 proof 10 year old and 107 proof Old Rip Van Winkle. Since then they have added 12, 15, 20 and 23 year old labels to their bourbon line. They also have a 13 year old premium rye that was introduced to their whiskey line.
20
Andrea Marie Wilson,
Michter’s
In 2014, her job at Diageo was dissolved and she began at Michter’s the next day. Literally, the next day, July 1, 2014. 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 there.
21
Kaveh Zamanian,
Rabbit Hole
Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame inductee (2022) Kaveh Zamanian’s route to founding one of America’s fastest-growing whiskey brands is uncommon, to say the least. Born in Iran in 1964, Zamanian emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of 14. Landing in California, his family settled near San Francisco, where the youngster finished his formative high school years and began college. In 1992,
William Larue Weller,
Stizel Weller
William Larue Weller was born in July of 1825, he was the grandson of German immigrants that moved to Central Kentucky on a flatboat in 1794. They first place his grandparents bought a home was in 1800 near Bardstown, Kentucky when his father Samuel Weller was just 13 years-old.
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23
Trey Zoeller,
Jefferson’s
rey “Mad Scientist” Zoeller and his father Charles ‘Chet’ Zoeller founded Jefferson’s Bourbon in 1997. Their family whiskey tradition can be traced to Zoeller’s 8th generation grandmother Marian McLain who was arrested in 1799 for the ‘production and sales of spirituous liquors.’
22
Chet Zoeller,
Jefferson’s
Charles “Chet” Franklin Zoeller was born February 24, 1941 in Louisville, Kentucky. Chet lived within the shadows of Churchhill Downs and just a few short blocks from the premier distilleries of the day: Yellowstone, Seagram’s, Hill & Hill and Stitzel-Weller, all within distance of inhaling vanilla, caramel and smoke aromas.