Watch as Elizabeth McCall Gives Her 1st Public Toast as the New Woodford Reserve Master Distiller [VIDEO]

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Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky was launched by Brown-Forman in 1996 as the company’s first super-premium Kentucky Bourbon brand.

After just more than a quarter century, Woodford Reserve Bourbon has matured into one of Brown-Forman’s most important brands. From a recent annual report Woodford Reserve is now the world’s top-selling super-premium American whiskey by volume and value, according to IWSR 2021 data.

In its relatively short lifespan the distillery has had only three master distillers. When Brown-Forman launched the brand in ‘96 its first master distiller was the late Lincoln Henderson. In addition to being Master Distiller, Henderson was also part of the 2001 inaugural class to be inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.

When Henderson left the company in 2003 Chris Morris became the second person to take on the role of Woodford Reserve master distiller.

Elizabeth McCall Named Master Distiller

In 2018 Woodford Reserve announced it had promoted Master Taster and Senior Quality Control Specialist to Assistant Master Distiller. Five years later, in February 2023, McCall was named Woodford Reserve’s third Master Distiller and the first women to hold the Master Distiller title of a major national brand of American Whiskey. Morris now serves in the role of Woodford Reserve Master Distiller Emeritus.

During the release of Woodford Reserve’s 2023 Kentucky Derby Bottle we had the pleasure of listening to McCall as she delivered her first toast as Woodford Reserve’s third Master Distiller.

Congrats Elizabeth!

You can get the full story of Woodford Reserve’s 2023 Kentucky Derby Bottle which celebrates the 50thh Anniversary of Secretariat’s Triple Crown win here.

Woodford Reserve’s 2023 Kentucky Derby Bottle Celebrates Secretariat’s 50th Anniversary Triple Crown Win [VIDEO]