Michter's

In the 1950s, then owner Lou Forman created the current name Michter's from the contraction of the names of his two sons - Michael and Peter. In 1990, Joseph J. Magliocco and his long-time consultant Dick Newman decided to take on the challenge of acquiring and reopening the distillery, moving production to Louisville, Kentucky, in the heart of the American Bourbon industry.

Master distiller Willie Pratt has worked in the whiskey industry for more than 40 years, mainly for Brown Forman before moving to Michter's. He is nicknamed Dr.No by the Michter's sales force because of his tendency to categorically reject bottlings of young whiskeys. Joining him in production is Pam Heilmann, fifteen years at Beam Global and then Distillery Manager at Booker Noe Distillery in Boston.

The main distinguishing feature of Michter's is that it ages whiskeys at an alcohol content of 51.5°. Therefore, dilution takes place earlier and the whiskey ages already diluted for better results. Another important feature is that bourbon must age at least 4 years and many producers bottle immediately after the fourth year, while Michter's waits at least 6 years. During ageing, Willie Pratt insists on storing the ageing barrels in heat-cycle warehouses to improve the extraction of tannins and aromas.

But maturation is more important and complex. Before bottling, not charcoal filtration, which removes much more flavour, but cold filtration is done, specific and different for each of the whiskies in the range.