LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Maker’s Mark distillery has a rich history dating back to the 1950s, and a good chunk of what they still do today, the very things that have made them famous, can be traced to the founder’s wife.
“She was adamant that every label would be printed by hand,” said Rob Samuels, the grandson of Maker’s founders, T. William and Margie Samuels. “And every single bottle, what better way to finish the hand-made process than to hand-dip every bottle in the red sealing wax? That was my grandmother, Margie Samuels,” he explained of her idea before the first bottles were distributed in 1958.
March is Women’s History Month, and Maker’s Mark is marking the occasion by allowing anyone to order a customized bottle label to honor a significant woman in their lives.
This person needn’t be famous or incredibly accomplished in business or some other industry. As Rob said, it can be a spouse, mother, or grandmother who greatly impacted you or others.
Tuesday night, the bottle we debuted on LEX 18 News featured a Sue Wylie label. Mrs. Wylie was Kentucky’s first female news anchor. Sadly, she passed away last fall in a car crash in Lexington. Maker’s Mark was excited to do this label in her honor.
“To honor her legacy, in parallel with my grandmother,” Samuels said. “Two spirited female leaders that, while they’re no longer with us, their legacy carries on,” he added.
Samuels said that his grandmother was also instrumental in marking the bottles to make them unique and played a big role in designing the distillery for visitors.
