Sazerac announced the retirement of Master Distiller Ken Pierce today.

I’ve always loved talking to Pierce. He’s a throwback to country distillers who tells a good story and makes some good whiskey.

He started with Barton Brands of Georgia (now defunct) where he was Plant Chemist and later Quality Control Manager, the company said. He moved to Bardstown, Ky., six years later to what is now the Barton 1792 Distillery. His titles went from Senior Chemist to Chief Chemist and from Director of Distillation to Master Distiller.

He spent more than 30 years in the beverage industry. His reasons for retiring were not mentioned in the announcement, but his last day is May 13.