This weekend, Bob and I made a special trip to Loretto to visit the Maker’s Mark Distillery to pick up a collectible bottle. Now, y’all know that we love bourbon at HerKentucky HQ, but we aren’t big on collector’s bottles. Our attitude has always been that we don’t see the point of a bottle of bourbon that you can’t drink. This bottle, however, was so special that I had to have one to keep in my collection. This bottle commemorates Mrs. Margie Samuels.

Paintings commemorating Maker’s Mark Founders Bill Samuels, Sr., and Margie Samuels, Maker’s Mark Distillery

Mrs. Samuels was, of course, the wife of Maker’s Mark founder Bill Samuels, Sr. and the mother of Maker’s chairman emeritus Bill Samuels, Jr. While Mrs. Samuels never held an official title at the distillery, she came up with the iconic red wax seal, hand-lettered label, and bottle shape that sets Maker’s Mark apart. She also came up with the name “Maker’s Mark”, derived from the term for the markings that identified the creators on her collection of fine English pewter. In helping her husband create the brand for his new bourbon in the 1950s, Mrs. Samuels quietly revolutionized bourbon branding and marketing.

Mrs. Samuels’s ideas about historic preservation and distillery hospitality are the basis of the modern bourbon tourism industry. When Bill Sr. purchased an abandoned, pre-Prohibition distillery in Marion County, KY, Margie, by all accounts, “pestered him” about renovating the Victorian-style buildings on the site. Of course, she persevered. A few years later, we’re told, she decided that the distillery site shouldn’t just be a factory — it should be a welcoming spot where bourbon lovers could visit. With Kentucky’s bourbon distilleries receiving over a million visits in 2019 alone, it’s safe to say Margie was onto something with this idea.

I love that Mrs. Samuels’s legacy has been celebrated so much in recent years. She was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2014, one of the first women to attain that status. Her presence is felt in so many ways at the distillery — there are many photos of her around the Maker’s campus, and her beloved historic buildings still stand. You can even buy t-shirts with her imaged emblazoned on the front. (Of course, I had to have one of these.) Every year, Maker’s Mark celebrates International Women’s Day with tributes to Margie Samuels, recognizing her incredible contributions to the modern bourbon industry.

Mrs. Samuels has been a professional inspiration to me as well. Several years ago, Bob and I toured Maker’s Mark when I found myself particularly drawn to the display of Margie’s photo and notebook. I’d heard parts of her story before, but in that moment I was so taken aback by her impact on the Maker’s Mark brand. It was the first step of realizing that, as a writer, I wanted to help tell Kentucky women’s stories and that I wanted to write about bourbon. It’s one more reason that I’m celebrating Mrs. Margie Samuels today.

The Margie Samuels Founders’ Series Bottle is available only at the Maker’s Mark Distillery. $25 of the purchase price of every Margie Samuels Bottle will be donated to Bellarmine University’s Rubel School of Business to fund scholarships for entrepreneurs who are women of color.