Michter’s Distillery has a rich heritage. The original Distillery was founded in 1753 by Swiss Mennonite brothers, John and Michael, on their farm on Snitzel Creek, near Philadelphia. They were making rye whiskey for the local market. In the 1780s they enlarged the distillery and Rudolph Meyer, Michael’s son-in-law, became director of operations at the distillery. In 1827, Elizabeth Shenk Kratzer inherited the distillery and her husband, John, managed the distillery until 1860. Elizabeth then sold the distillery in 1861 to Abe Bomberger, a descendant of the Shenk family. The distillery then became known as the Bomberger Distillery. The Bomberger family ran the distillery until Prohibition forced them to close.
After the repeal of Prohibition, the distillery re-opened under various owners, including Lebanon Valley, Schenley and Pennso. They specialized in making bulk whiskey to be sold to other distilleries. It was reorganized in 1975 and renamed Michter’s Distillery (pronounced “Mick-ters “) under the guidance of Louis Forman, the president of the company and Charles Romito as General Manager. The name came from combining the names of two of Forman’s sons, Michael and Peter. The distillery purchased a couple of pot stills and started making a premium brand under the Michter’s name. In 1989, the company became victim of the declining sales of whiskey and filed for bankruptcy.
In the 1990s, Joseph Magliocco, with his consultant and mentor, Richard Newman, purchased the abandoned trademark. Magliocco had entered the spirits industry after attending Yale University and Harvard Law School. He had fond memories of selling Michter’s whiskey while working his way through school. Newman was already in the business, first working for National Distillers as General Manager for Old Grand Dad, Old Crow and Old Taylor Distilleries, and then as President and CEO for Wild Turkey. They decided to honor the rich heritage of Michter’s by making quality whiskey at any cost. To do this, they decided that they would move operations from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, because Kentucky was where they could find the expertise and resources to make great whiskey. In the 1990s, Kentucky was about the only game in town when it came to making whiskey.
They started by purchasing barrels of whiskey from other distilleries. Whiskey was readily available at that time and they picked the finest whiskey barrels available. They hired Willie Pratt, a former Brown-Forman employee, to be their Master Distiller. Pratt had worked in the barrel aging and processing department at Brown-Forman and specialized in the filtering of whiskey. He then studied the best way to filter the whiskey the company had purchased, to take out any unpleasant flavors while leaving the best flavors in the whiskey. Pratt did not believe in the “one size fits all” philosophy of filtering whiskey and the company uses multiple filtration processes, depending upon the whiskey, to filter their brands.
The next stage was to have their whiskey contract distilled for them. This gave them control of the mash bills, the barrel entry proof and even the type of barrels that their whiskey went into. They decided early on that the barrel entry proof would be 103 proof because that would make a better whiskey, even though it would cost more to make. The final stage for the company was to build their own distillery. This finally happened in 2016 when the company opened the distillery in Shively, Kentucky. Willie Pratt retired about that same time and Michter’s hired Pam Heilmann as the Master Distiller from Jim Beam where she had been working in whiskey production for over fifteen years. Pam retired after a few years and Dan McKee, who came with Pam Heilmann from Jim Beam, is now their Master Distiller. About the same time, Michter’s hired Andrea Wilson from Diageo as Chief Operations Officer and Master of Maturation.
In the early 2000s, Michter’s was the first company to announce that they were bringing distilling back to Main Street Louisville. They had purchased the old Fort Nelson building on the north side of Main Street and planned on building a small, artisan distillery and visitor center in the building. Unfortunately, the building had many more structural problems than they realized and it took many years to complete the renovations at a much greater cost. But Michter’s philosophy of doing whatever it takes to make great whiskey, damned the cost, carried over to this project. Magliocco had also managed to purchase the original pot stills and fermenters used in the Pennsylvania distillery and placed them in the Fort Nelson building. They are making whiskey at the Fort Nelson building, and run tours there as part of their Bourbon Tourism plan. They operate a top notch cocktail bar on the second floor and often offer instructional programs there for the bar industry.
Michter’s has a rich heritage, first in Pennsylvania and now in Kentucky. They make great whiskey at any cost. They make Michter’s Bourbon, Rye, Sour Mash and American whiskeys. They are known for innovative finishing of these brands, as well as, fully mature, older versions of the brands. They also release the Shenk’s and Bomberger brands to honor their heritage.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller
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