Maker’s Mark Racism Suit Quietly Dismissed

By Richard Thomas

Maker’s Mark Bourbon House,
Louisville, KY
(Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Remember when left-wing blog Alternet dubbed Louisville’s Maker’s Mark Bourbon House the “most racist restaurant in America,” and then called for a boycott of Maker’s Mark bourbon? In the August 2012 incident, one Andre Mulligan alleged that the downtown Louisville restaurant turned him away when he tried to book a party there because he estimated the attendees would be entirely black. Mulligan went on to allege that when he and his friends turned up at the restaurant as normal patrons, they were turned away and even threatened off a public sidewalk by Maker’s Mark Bourbon House bouncers.

In the news stories that followed, it was revealed that not only did the restaurant already have a history of race-related incidents, but that Andre Mulligan himself had a few blemishes stemming from a litigious past. Maker’s Mark denied any responsibility for what a licensee of its brand name did, and everyone except The Whiskey Reviewer missed the irony of such an ugly incident occurring just around the corner from the Muhammad Ali Center.

Now the whole thing is over, and it ended rather quietly at that. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, the lawsuit was dismissed in March 2013 with the consent of both parties, with each side liable for their own court costs. No word has come yet from Alternet on how their proposed boycott of Maker’s Mark went, but judging from the Maker’s Mark 86 proof fracas and subsequent sales boost, it likely did not go well.