With their chometz safely sold, the folks at Buffalo Tracedistillery in Frankfort, Kentucky,gear up to uncork the results
Yet Mark was never anyone’s Shabbos goy and didn’t grow up among Jews. His Welsh roots carried him on a journey from being a door-to-door salesman in London’s East End to moving up the corporate ladder and landing the top spot at Sazerac, where he has grown the company as its CEO for the last 25 years. He may have been born in London’s East End at a time when scotch was the only drink served, but he’s grown his business empire into a conglomerate of 400-plus beverages, spanning several continents. And the crown jewel of Sazerac’s empire and the reason their corporate offices are housed in nearby Louisville is the place we are standing today: Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. These well-worn grounds also make Blanton’s — the bourbon known for its metal horse top of every bottle, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor, and so many others.
So why are Sazerac CEO Mark Brown and master blender Drew Mayville meeting with Rabbi Sholem Fishbane and Rabbi Akiva Niehaus from Chicago’s cRc today?
Thousands of bottles of kosher bourbon are the latest product to emerge from these century-old Kentucky rickhouses, where guests can still walk through the old fermenting rooms (right)
The drive to the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort is a throwback to the American heartland of a bygone era. We pass through quaint small towns, each with its own personality. We pass the general store that sells both guns and milk, and the soda shop where Pop Tate is fixing root beer floats while mellow jazz plays from the jukebox. There is no police station in these parts — the locals know where the sheriff lives by the big Dallas star that prominently adorns his house, signaling to passersby like us to slow down as we peek in.
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