How Maker's made its Mark
When TW Samuels VI first produced Maker’s Mark he was dismissed as a crackpot. But he succeeded in changing the image of bourbon forever, and the sector is still benefiting Dominic Roskrow reports
To fully understand just how revolutionary Makerâs Mark was when it was launched you have to go back not just 50 years to that time, but further back still. To 1946, in fact, when the classic film Itâs A Wonderful Life was released.
âThereâs a scene in that movie when George goes with Clarence in to Nickâs bar,â says Makerâs Markâs vice-president for production Dave Pickerell. âGeorge orders whiskey and Nick takes the bottle â there is only one bottle â from the shelf and pours him a whiskey.
âThen Clarence asks for a mulled wine and the atmosphere in the bar changes. He changes his mind and asks for a flaming rum punch instead. The piano player stops playing and the crowd parts to let men through to remove him.
âThen Nick leans across scowling and says âlisten, we sell hard liquor here to men who want to get drunk quick.â
âThat was the image of bourbon back then. It was manâs drink for drinking in bars. And it was a sector in serious decline. âAt that time there were about 200 distilleries but they were closing at a rate of about one every six months. Bourbon sold about 19 million bottles but it was falling away at a rate. We now sell about nine million. And in these circumstances Bill Samuels decided he wanted to launch a new whiskey.â
Bill Samuels Junior takes up the story.
âTruth be told if it had been good times dad would not have been able to buy the distillery. It cost him $36,000. He had sold TW Samuels Distillery and then.....
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By Dominic Roskrow
Section : Special Report
Page number : 28
