Cost be-damned is an unusual perspective for any company, but for Michter’s Bourbon, it’s the motto.
Joe Magliocco bought a bankrupt bourbon name for a few hundred dollars in the 1990s and, along with partner Dan McKee, over time built Michter’s into American whiskey’s best-selling at the world’s top bars three years running, and the World’s Most Admired Whiskey for the same stretch.
Drinks International, which surveys bartenders at the world’s top bars using real sales data, ranked Michter’s the best-selling American whiskey for three straight years, 2023 through 2025. The same panel named it the World’s Most Admired Whiskey for that same stretch, the first American brand ever to hold that title.
Joe and Dan now run a distillery that willingly spends more than competitors at nearly every step of production, from the wood to the warehouse, chasing quality over efficiency.
George Washington Drank Here
The Michter’s brand goes back to 1753, when a Swiss Mennonite farmer named John Shenk founded America’s first whiskey company in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. Local legend holds that George Washington’s troops stopped there for whiskey on their way to Valley Forge.
The distillery later became Bomberger’s. It took the name Michter’s in the 1950s. “Despite sounding German, Michter’s” has no European origin,” Dan said. Pennsylvania distillery owner Lou Foreman created the name in the 1950s by combining Michael and Peter, his two sons’ first names.
Joe Magliocco grew up in the wine and spirits trade through his father’s importing business. He earned degrees from Yale and Harvard Law School, then chose the liquor industry over practicing law. “I learned two important things in law school is that I diet want to practice law, which meant long hours of dull, repetitive work with little room for creativity,” he said.
Dan McKee spent nearly twenty years at Jim Beam. He rose from distillery operator to supervisor before Michter’s recruited him to help build its new Kentucky distillery. “Every distiller dreams of being part of a distillery from the ground up,” he said. “It was an amazing opportunity.”
When Michter’s needed someone to run its new Kentucky distillery, Dan brought his experience and the conviction that whiskey done right needs to prioritize excellence. Joe and Dan’s shared belief in quality and merit what made the partnership work.
Spending More on Purpose
Michter’s runs on six signature production techniques, and most cost more than industry standard. According to Dan, “If a choice makes the whiskey better, it gets made, regardless of what it costs or how much time it adds.”
The first spend is wood. “We air-dry and season our barrel staves a minimum of eighteen months, sometimes up to sixty,” Dan said. “Kiln-drying takes days and costs a fraction as much, but it leaves harsher tannins behind.”
Second, every barrel gets toasted at a low temperature before it’s charred, a slower step that many distilleries don’t take. However, for Michter’s this process caramelizes sugars deeper into the wood for a richer, more complex flavor.
Third is entry proof. “Barrels are one of the biggest costs in making whiskey,” said Joe. “Most distillers fill them near the legal limit of 125 proof. Less water at entry means more actual spirit fits in each barrel, so a distillery needs fewer barrels and less warehouse space to hold the same volume.” Michter’s fills at just 103 proof instead, which means more water and less spirit per barrel. That forces them to buy and store far more barrels than they need to. The tradeoff is that lower proof interacts more effectively with the wood, pulling extra character out of it.
Fourth, heat-cycled warehouses speed up maturity, and that speed costs money. “Warming and cooling the buildings by hand each winter takes labor, and angel’s share rises to around four percent instead of the usual two and a half, so less whiskey survives to bottling,” said Joe.
Fifth, every whiskey gets its own not-inexpensive custom-chilled filtration. This process strips unwanted compounds while keeping the fruitiness that give each recipe its character.
Sixth, Michter’s caps every batch at roughly twenty barrels. “One bad barrel will throw off that whole batch,” Dan said. “We don’t try to mask it.” A bigger operation could blend a flawed barrel away. Michter’s would rather lose it.
A Reason to Celebrate
In 2014, Michter’s became the first American producer to finish a whiskey in a toasted barrel that skipped charring entirely. “We had no idea we were creating a category,” Dan said.
The whiskey, called Celebration, drew skepticism early and often. “One of our biggest distributors wouldn’t buy a bottle,” Joe said. “They told us this isn’t going to sell at all.”
Celebration sold out anyway. “So many other companies have since come out with a toasted barrel finish whiskey,” Dan said. Toasted barrel finishing is now its own recognized category in American whiskey, and Michter’s coined the phrase that describes it.
Andrea Wilson Broke a Glass Ceiling in Bourbon
Andrea Wilson is Michter’s chief operating officer and master of maturation. “Andrea is a master chemical engineer,” Dan said, and he credits Andrea with managing one of the distillery’s most demanding projects, a whiskey called Bomberger’s PFG, finished in barrels built from French oak sourced from four forests.
Wilson traveled to France to inspect the wood grain with calipers before it reached a cooperage. “She wanted the wood air-dried by a certain section of the Charente River,” Dan said, “because the natural climate there was going to be perfect for it.”
“In over a hundred years, the Kentucky Distillers Association never had a female chair until Andrea,” said Dan. “She broke the glass ceiling.”
Frequently Asked Questions of Michter’s
What is Michter’s Fort Nelson Distillery?
Fort Nelson is Michter’s visitor center and innovation hub in downtown Louisville, opened in 2019 inside a building more than 100 years old. The visitor center houses copper pot stills and cypress fermenters originally built in 1976 for the brand’s Pennsylvania distillery, now used to test new grain and yeast combinations on a small scale.
How is Michter’s rated compared to other whiskey brands?
Drinks International, which surveys bartenders at top venues worldwide using real sales data, named Michter’s the best-selling American whiskey for three straight years, 2023 through 2025. The same panel also named it the World’s Most Admired Whiskey during that span, a rare combination of sales and reputation.
What counts as a small batch at Michter’s?
There’s no legal definition of small batch whiskey in the US. Michter’s sizes its own batches to roughly twenty barrels, small enough that one substandard barrel would noticeably impact the final blend rather than disappear into a much larger volume of whiskey.
Does Michter’s grow its own grain?
Michter’s operates a 205-acre estate farm growing non-GMO corn, rye, and barley. Grain that doesn’t meet the distillery’s standards gets rejected, even when it comes from their own harvest, a costly standard for a company that could simply buy elsewhere.
Why does barrel entry proof matter for whiskey flavor?
Lower entry proof means more water content when the spirit goes into the barrel. That water interacts more effectively with the wood. It pulls out sugars and compounds that create a richer, smoother whiskey. The tradeoff is more barrels and warehouse space to produce the same volume.
The Michter’s Bottom Line
Michter’s built its reputation by spending more at each step, not less, than many other distillers. In an industry built on efficiency, Michter’s refusal to compromise has become their competitive edge.
For more insights from Joe and Dan, listen in on the complete conversation on the Whiskey Shenanigans podcast.
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