Evan Williams

The Second Best-Selling Bourbon in the United States

Evan Williams

Evan Williams, the namesake of the best-selling bourbon after Jim Beam, was originally from Wales. He came to Virginia and settled in what is now Kentucky around 1780, where he established a small distillery on the Ohio River. According to an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal on April 29, 1889, Williams was a member of the Louisville Town Meeting, and tradition has it that he never attended a meeting without a bottle of whiskey.

Today, the two Master Distillers, Parker and Craig Beam, oversee all distillation and production. Since their family has been involved in bourbon making for generations, knowledge and tools of the trade, including a secret family recipe for the yeast strain, have always been passed down from generation to generation.