By Kevin Gibson

Kaveh Zamanian, CEO of Rabbit Hole, unveiled a new whiskey brand: Mary Dowling Whiskey Co., named for the pioneering “Mother of Bourbon.” The initial rollout includes two products: a high-rye bourbon finished in tequila barrels and a double-oaked wheated bourbon.

But Dowling’s story goes much deeper than these two bourbon releases.

Born Mary Murphy in 1858 in Kentucky, she would at age 17 marry a man 20 years her senior in John Dowling. He was a partner in the Waterfill & Frazier whiskey brand, and over the years became sole owner of the company, after which Mary would ultimately become a partner.

When John died in 1905, Mary Dowling was left to not only care for their eight children, but also run the whiskey business they’d built. Her path led her to essentially snub her nose at the federal government over its adoption of Prohibition, all while asserting herself as a civic leader. Settling in Lawrenceburg, she also purchased a farm, purchased other businesses and was known for her charitable causes.

Meanwhile, she continued to flourish in the male-dominated bourbon industry. And then Prohibition came with the adoption of the Volstead Act in 1920. In 1925, Dowling and four of her grown children were charged with violation of the Dry Laws, which kicked off a legal battle.

The Dowlings were convicted, and Mary appealed, which gave her time to set another plan in motion – she hired Joe I. Beam (yes, of that Beam family) to disassemble her distillery and move it to Juarez, Mexico, where she could continue to distill whiskey legally. She partnered there with Antonio Bermudez to form the D & W Distillery and began selling it legally there – and of course, at least some of it was smuggled by other parties into the U.S.

Unfortunately, Dowling died Feb. 18, 1930, just a few weeks before Prohibition was repealed. But her legacy lives on in the new bourbon brand bearing her name. At a kickoff event recently in the downtown area of Dowling’s adopted hometown of Lawrencburg, Zamanian and great-grandchildren of Dowling paid tribute to her legacy.

“I was really taken by her story,” Zamanian said, and releasing a bourbon bearing her name is intended to “give her the top-billing she deserves. History indeed contains many people – half of them women.”

“This is crazy to me,” her great-grandson, Bland Byrne, said. “But it’s a pleasant kind of crazy, and I’m glad it’s happening.”

Meanwhile, great-granddaughter Cathy Brown said of Dowling, “She was a pioneer in the world of spirits. She taught us that gender and talent know no bounds.”

As for the new bourbons, one (the blue-label release) is, as noted, finished in reposado tequila barrels. The base bourbon is aged an undisclosed amount of time in a #3 wood-fired, toasted and charred new American Oak barrel. With a mashbill of 70% corn, 25% malted rye and 5% barley, it is bottled at 90 proof.

The second is distilled with a mashbill of 65% corn, 25% wheat and 10% malted barley, then aged in a #4 barrel before being transferred to a #1 barrel for secondary aging. It is bottled at a cask proof of 110.

Photos by Kevin Gibson