Elijah Craig

The Rev. Elijah Craig was a Baptist preacher, educator, and entrepreneur who built the first paper and wool mills in Georgetown, Kentucky. However, it is not his activities, his gift as a distiller and innovator, that make him famous and truly great. In 1789, he was the first distiller to mature his whiskey in new toasted oak barrels. It is unclear whether the discovery was due to an accidental fire that burned his barrels or he simply used former sugar barrels to age and was impressed with how his whiskey tasted better. However, the facts are there, he became Bourbon's Father and 250 years later he is still known as such.