Willie Pratt was 78. He joined Michter’s in 2007 after a 40-year career at Brown-Forman where he served on the company’s committee studying distillation, cooperage, and aging conditions.
At the start of his tenure at the company, he oversaw Michter’s production program which was conducted at another Kentucky distillery before Michter’s could afford its own brick and mortar facility. Eventually Pratt oversaw the design and the building of the state-of-the-art Michter’s Shively Distillery. When Pratt decided to work a reduced schedule, he turned over the Michter’s Master Distiller position to Pam Heilmann, who was eventually succeeded by Dan McKee. Willie continued to serve as the company’s Master Distiller Emeritus and remained actively involved in Michter’s production until his passing.