Dave Pickerell, Whistlepig Distiller, 54, Dies

He passed away suddenly in San Francisco Wednesday (11/1).  He worked with Maker’s Mark for 14 years, founded his own distilling consultancy, Oak View, and in 2009 helped found Whistlepig, a single estate farm distillery in Vermont where he was master distiller.  Recently he’s been working with Metallica, the heavy metal band, on its own blended whiskey, Blackened.  He hoped to “lift blended American whiskey off the bottom shelf and put it on the top shelf.”

Frank Coleman, senior vp, Distilled Spirits Council called Pickerell “a true icon in the distilling world, and an innovator and mentor to so many.  ‘With Bill Samuels at Maker’s Mark, Dave helped launch the premiumisation of Bourbon, a trend that has swept around the globe.

‘He was a leader of the original team of distillers involved in the restoration of George Washington’s Distillery and the recreation of the first rye whiskey at the site in 200 years. That effort in the early 2000s sparked the revival and subsequent boom in rye whiskey that followed. And, through his teaching, consulting and friendship, he was a founding father of the craft distilling movement that is exploding in the United States.’

Pickerell was born in Fairborn, Ohio. He attended West Point on a football scholarship and earned a B.A. in Chemistry. He then earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Louisville.

His experiments in aging and finishes are legendary. Dave often told people “I’ve failed more times than you’ve tried.” And “I’m ok making mistakes, in my industry you drink your mistakes.”

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