Lexington’s Fresh Bourbon Prevails In Lawsuit

By Richard Thomas

In my new book Whiskey Stories (due out March 4), I made some observations on the attention given to Nathan Green, the slave (later freedman) who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey, and the rise of African-American distillers before, during and after the spotlight was placed on Green’s story. As part of that, I related how two such companies, Louisville-based Brough Brothers and Lexington-based Fresh Bourbon, were fighting over the title of who the first African-American bourbon company in Kentucky actually was.

I am not a lawyer, so I limited my brief commentary to the facts of the two companies and the cultural aspects as a whiskey enthusiast would see them, but there was a very real lawsuit in progress at the time: Brough Brothers was suing Fresh Bourbon over their claim of being first, which underscores how valuable it is to be able to say “our brand is the first to make whiskey here.” Word came this month that Brough Brothers lost their case.

Brough Brothers bases their claim to be first on the facts that they acquired the necessary licenses and were actually distilling their own whiskey (under their own roof) in 2020, while Fresh Bourbon asserts they started a company and were contract distilling and selling their brand in 2018. Brough Brothers insisted that because Fresh Bourbon didn’t have their own licensing or have their own facility until 2022, that they came first and Fresh Bourbon could not lay claim to being the first “black-owned distillery in Kentucky.”

Ashleigh Brandt breaks down the problems with Brough Brothers’ claims in her article for LibationLaw, and details the legal reasons why they lost their case. But Brough Brother’s lost, and more than just in court. By making and losing a case over the matter, they have now definitively certified Fresh Bourbon’s claim to be the first black-owned, black-made bourbon in Kentucky.