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Gary Gayheart
Gary attended college at the University of Louisville and during that time he became interested in the distilling process, having visited several distilleries during his schooling. In 1961 Gary earned a degree in chemistry from U of L and after graduation, joined Fleishmann Distilling Corp. in Owensboro, Kentucky. Gary worked at the Owensboro plant for eighteen months and then was transferred to a new plant in Plainfield, Illinois, where he developed and supervised the plant’s quality control program. In 1969, Gary joined Schenley Distillers Frankfort, Kentucky plant as a replacement for the soon to retire master distiller. Gary worked in distilling, quality control and barrel warehousing to gain the necessary experience and expertise to insure continuity and quality of the plant’s products. Upon Al Geiser’s retirement in 1972, Gary became the plant’s new Master Distiller and in early 1980, he assumed Distiller’s responsibility for Schenley’s Bernheim plant in Louisville, dividing his time between the two plants. In 1983, Schenley sold the George T. Stagg Distillery, its whiskey and a number of brands to a group of private investors. This new company retained Gary as distiller and he participated in the introduction of Blanton’s, the world’s first single barrel Bourbon. In 1992, the distillery and its whiskey were sold, this time to the Sazerac Company, Inc. of New Orleans. All of the employees were retained, and the distillery began a program of brand expansions and new product introductions, such as Rain Vodka, is the only vodka distilled from organic corn. In 1999, the distillery was renamed Buffalo Trace and with Gary as Master Distiller has garnered many awards, such as Distillery of the Year in 2000 and Whiskey of the Year in 2001 and 2002. |
Gary was born in Floyd County Kentucky in 1939, the oldest of three children. At the age of eight Gary and his family moved to Louisville where he spent the remainder of his youth.
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