LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB)-- In the heart of downtown Louisville, a tour begins at Angel's Envy Distillery. It's a chance for the founder to share its relatively new history with bourbon enthusiasts. The crowd is made up of members from the newly formed Kentucky Black Bourbon Guild.
"It's a combination of enjoying the spirit, learning the spirit. It's also about the consumer responsibility of educating our consumers who we know know very little about the spirit," said Robert Beatty, president of KBBG.
He started the group just a few months ago after a visit to a Bardstown distillery left him wondering about minorities involvement in the industry.
"Going through the museum we noticed that there was not any representation of any African-Americans in the building," said Beatty. "What is the story that we're missing?"
It's all things bourbon for this group of about 70 based out of Lexington. Every quarter they tour a local distillery and host educational events and tastings every month. It's a chance to grow their palette and learn more about Kentucky's native spirit while celebrating the role played by minorities.
"It's not exclusive, it's inclusive it's for everyone," said Priscilla Sales, a member who until a few months ago would have called herself a novice. "Generally it would have been I'm just going to put it in some coke."
But after just a little time in the guild, Sales has broadened her horizons and learned so much.
"This teaches you actually how to drink the bourbon, smell it and understand the different fragrances and notes and stuff like that," she said. "I'm slowly baby crawling but i'm learning,"
The guild hopes by bringing black bourbon drinkers directly to distillers, they'll bridge the gap that's existed in the industry.
"We know we love it and now it's a prime-time opportunity for us to jump on this bandwagon and really try to push bourbon, not just in consumer-ship but ownership in the industry," said Gathan Borden, an executive board member of the KBBG.
While the future of Kentucky bourbon is promising, the group is also focused on the history. African-Americans have played a big part in the industry, but it's a history that often goes untold.
"Now you're hearing stories Nearest Green who basically taught Jack Daniel's to make distilled whiskey. So you're hearing his story come about. So now is a good time for African-Americans to hear we did have a strong contribution to the industry and now we want to unfold that history and kind of tell it in a new way," said Borden.
Now members want to tell that story while also bringing more people into the business. The Black Bourbon Guild will launch a scholarship for those wanting to work in whiskey.
"The whole idea is really to honor minorities contributions to the industry as a whole but also to embrace it's future, community building and just improve the overall quality of what bourbon brings to the African-American consumer," said Borden.
To learn more about joining the Black Bourbon Guild, click here.
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