T.W. Samuel’s Distillery

The Samuels Distillery, RD#145, 5 th District, Nelson County, KY (1844-1920)

1844: Taylor William Samuels turned his father’s farm distillery into a commercial operation known as T. W. Samuels & Son. The son’s name was W I Samuels.

1892: Insurance underwriter records note that the distillery was of frame construction with a metal or slate roof. The property included two bonded warehouses, both iron-clad with metal or slate roofs:
Warehouse B — located 220 ft north of the still.
Warehouse D — located 220 ft north of the still and 46 ft from Warehouse B.
There was also an old Free warehouse, of frame construction, and there was a detached railroad depot. The insurance records show the distillery was being run as T W Samuels.

1898: T W Samuels and W I Samuels both died, leaving the distillery in the hands of W I Samuels’ son, Leslie B Samuels.

1909: The distillery and six warehouses were destroyed by fire with a loss of $100,000, including 9,000 barrels of whiskey. Their brands were “T. W. Samuels” and “Old Deatsville”.

1913: The Star Distillery Co. of Cincinnati purchased control of the company, buying out the Samuels’ family interest. Leslie retained his share of the company and remained as manager until the plant closed in 1920.

1920-1933: During prohibition most of the buildings were razed for salvage.

1933: The company was reorganized as the T W Samuels Distillery Co. with Robert Block, president, T. W. Samuels, VP, and Leslie B. Samuels, manager. A new plant was built with 600 bu capacity and 19,000 bbl warehouse capacity.

1936: Leslie died and his son, T. W. Samuels (Bill, Sr.) assumed the position of manager until 1943 when he disassociated himself from the firm.

1953: Bill Samuels re-entered the distilling business with the purchase of the former Burks Spring plant near Loretto on Star Hill Farm. He restored this plant to operation as Makers Mark. (History is from the Coyte Papers, cited in OASG)