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The original “Burk’s Distillery” was built in 1885 just outside of Loretto, Kentucky. T. William “Bill” Samuels bought the operation in 1953 for $35,000. Samuels wanted to make quality, so he used the sales of the existing stockpiles to finance a revamp. The first bottle of the new flagship brand “Makers Mark” was bottled in 1958 and dipped into the red sealing wax that has become the company’s trademark — making them one of the first to carve out a space in what we now call the “premium Bourbon” market. Currently owned by Beam-Suntory, members of the Samuels family still work at the company.