Alumnus Makes His Mark Bill Samuels, Jr. (Case Western) never intended to pursue a career in the family business - the bourbon industry. When he left Kentucky for college in 1958 to pursue an engineering degree, the first bottle of bourbon that would become Maker's Mark was still aging in the barrel. The Making of Maker's Mark It was 1943 when his father, Bill Samuels, Sr., decided he wanted to create a distinguished style of bourbon whiskey, one that would hopefully salvage the floundering bourbon industry. He burned the family recipe that was six generations old and went to work testing different grain combinations. By 1951 he had developed a new recipe made of locally grown corn, malted barley and winter wheat instead of the traditional rye. "I like to say that what Dad was doing during that time was trying to take the bitter taste out of bourbon before he went to the great distillery in the sky," says Samuels, Jr.

Bill Samuels, President of Maker's Mark

"When my parents started working on what would become Maker's Mark, it was just a hobby," says Samuels, Jr. "They had no desire to be entrepreneurs; they just wanted to make a great bourbon." Neither of them ever articulated to their son what they were doing. While his parents were busy working on their "hobby," Samuels, Jr. was struggling through college and attempting to work toward an engineering career.

The Legion of Honor

Samuels left his rural Kentucky high school in 1958 to attend one of the greatest engineering schools in the country, Case Institute of Technology, now known as Case Western University. Samuels says he arrived totally unprepared. "Had it not been for the fraternity, I would not have graduated," he says. Being in the Sigma Nu chapter, he continues, "provided counsel, stabilized my emotions and helped me manage the workload of those first few demanding years of college."

He is grateful for the experience of brotherhood during that challenging time. "They gave us a shoulder to lean on. And it wasn't just me; it was our entire pledge class that really struggled with the academic load. The brothers were really unbelievable. Those are the friends you make for life."

The Family Business

When Samuels realized that he wasn't cut out for engineering, he decided to go to Vanderbilt University where he pursued a law degree. "I never thought about going back into the family business." It was the Chairman of Jack Daniels, Samuels' friend and mentor Mr. Hap Mottlow, who convinced him to go back home and spend one year with his father to learn the family business before pursuing a career as a patent attorney. "He had a great deal to do with the decision to come back and work with my father," says Samuels.

When Samuels, Sr. began working to create a new recipe, the bourbon industry was in serious decline. He wanted to create a "taste-good bourbon" to take the place of the traditionally bitter bourbon that was floundering in the marketplace. But the nature of spirit distillation required that he make and put away his entire inventory without knowing what it was going to taste like. And he wouldn't know for 6 more years. While those first barrels aged, each year, he continued to put new barrels away without knowing what he was making.

Fear, says Samuels, Jr., was a great motivator. There was the fear of running out of cash, because everything was in barrels, and there was the fear that there wouldn't be any bourbon customers when the first batch was finally ready. Then there's the chemistry of the product. Between 6 and 7 ½ years the bourbon has to be removed from the barrels and bottled. Before six years is up, the bourbon is too green. After 7 ½ years it's too bitter. Fortunately, Bill Samuels, Sr. got it right, and Maker's Mark came into being.

Samuels' mother Margie, a fine pewter collector, was always in search of the "mark of the maker" on her collectibles. She coined the name and designed the signature Maker's Mark bottle that is still used today, complete with wax drips down the side of the bottle. Samuels says his mother's involvement softened the traditional image of spirits through the packaging and marketing of this new bourbon.

With the right recipe and the right marketing Maker's Mark began to thrive. "My father signed up to create a great American whiskey," says Samuels, "but you don't do that in New York City, by going to industry meetings or talking to the press. You do that at the distillery." As the company began to grow, his father started handing the business responsibilities over to him. Today Samuels is the longest running President of a major US distillery. It's been thirty and a half years, and he says he's still having as much fun as he did in 1975.

As a result of the hard work his father invested, Maker's Mark created a whole new image for the bourbon industry. "When our brand got a grip in the late 80s and early 90s, that's when the other distilleries started to bring their own best of house product to market and it changed the entire industry." Maker's Mark may have led the way, but in Samuels' own words, "we didn't do it all by ourselves."

Making His Mark

From a company standpoint Samuels has made his mark by taking his father and mother's dream and turning it into a national icon brand. As a company, Maker's Mark has brought notoriety to the craft of bourbon-making and in the process has preserved the craft.

From a personal standpoint Samuels has made his mark in the community. At least 50% of his work-week for the past 30 years has included some level of community involvement. He believes in leaving the world better than it was when he got here and claims that, because of his workaholic personality, exerting energy outside the business has prevented him from over-managing it.

He has enjoyed being involved in education and the community and has served on the boards for the University of Louisville, Clemson University and Belleramine University. He has also chaired the Louisville and the State of Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Boards, the local Boy Scout Board, Louisville's Workforce Board and the Kentucky Derby Museum Board. He has been selected as Kentucky's Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995 and 2005 and was selected as Louisville's Citizen of the Year in 2004.

Although Bill Samuels, Jr. gives his parents all the credit for the creation of Maker's Mark, he is certainly making his own mark in the company, in education and in the community at large.