2023 Meet the Makers to be announced in July
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Exclusive offer for ticket holders only. First come first Served Basis.
This year we will be hosting our third annual "Meet The Maker" event on both Saturday and Sunday. Listen to their story, taste their whiskey, and ask the questions you've always wanted to ask your favorite whiskey brands.
This year's group of Makers will be announced in July.
There will be tastings each day between 2pm and 5pm hosted by select sponsors. There will be a limited number of seats available for each tasting and they are expected to go FAST, so when tickets go live, make your reservations quickly before they're all spoken for. Stay tuned for the updated list of makers! Explore some of our past makers below.
Location: The Rock N Rye Lounge located in the Village picnic area
$25 Presale/Per Session
Note: These tickets are NOT interchangeable. You must purchase your tasting ticket for Rock N Rye and then select the "Meet the Maker" session you wish to attend as an add-on in order to be permitted to join. If you do not have tickets for Rock N Rye, you will not be permitted to join. This event is 21+
Refund Policy for all Rock n Rye tickets: Sorry, event is rain or shine!
Meet some of our past makers
Darryl McNally Founder & Master Distiller, Limavady Single Barrel Irish Whiskey
Darryl is widely recognized as one of the world's best Irish Master Distillers. Few have earned the right to be called a Master, and Darryl has earned it by making some of the best whiskey in the world for well over 20 years. Darryl's wholehearted passion for time-honored traditions and groundbreaking innovation have become legendary.
When Darryl first entered the whiskey world he had no idea his ancestors owned the original Limavady Distillery. This might explain how/why he developed such a passion for whiskey- it's in his DNA. This journey started several miles from his boyhood home at the Old Bushmills Distillery. It was there he learned the traditions and techniques of Irish Single Malt – from the inside out and everything in between.
Flash forward more than two decades and the student has become the master, creating, and celebrating some of the finest whiskeys Ireland has to offer. Since 2010, his brands have been awarded Best in Class at the world's top whiskey awards, over a dozen times.
Today, Ireland's greatest Master Distiller takes his leap. Limavady is reborn and breaking new ground for the fast-growing Irish Whiskey category. Darryl is leading the revival in partnership with WhistlePig Whiskey, declaring a new era of Irish Whiskey with Single Malt quality and Single Barrel distinctiveness. As Ireland's first Single Barrel Single Malt Whiskey, Limavady is now celebrating four Gold Medals from the Beverage Testing Institute, Whiskies of the World, The Drinks Business Awards and John Barleycorn Awards, as well as being named “#1 Irish Single Malt" by the Beverage Testing Institute and 2021's “Best Irish Whiskey" by John Barleycorn. Limavady is expanding across the United States and launching in key
international markets in 2022.
Limavady.com | @limavadyirishwhiskey
Stephen Beam: Founder and Master Distiller of Limestone Branch Distillery
RICH LINEAGE IN THE BOURBON INDUSTRY
Stephen Beam's bourbon roots run deep. Stephen's great-great grandfather was Joseph Washington Dant, an early bourbon pioneer. On the other side of his family tree, he is the great-grandson to Minor Case Beam, the eldest son of Joseph M. Beam, of the legendary Beam lineage.
WHY LIMESTONE BRANCH DISTILLERY?
Since college, it was Stephen's dream to return the Yellowstone brand back to the family. In 2010, together with his brother Paul, they started Limestone Branch Distillery. Shortly thereafter, they brought the Yellowstone back to the family and restored it to its original glory, more than a century after his great-grandfather Minor Case Beam sold his distillery to J. W. Dant. Limestone Branch Distillery today blends the Beam history and heritage with the brothers' passion for making great spirits in small batches.
KENTUCKY CRAFT BOURBON TRAIL
As a founding member of the Kentucky Craft Bourbon Trail, Limestone Branch Distillery is proud to be a craft distillery - filling one barrel per day and using traditional distilling methods. Visitors coming for tours are treated like family and are able to learn about the family heritage, taste some of Kentucky's finest bourbon and enjoy their time relaxing in our beautiful garden or sipping a cocktail in our bar.
Limestone Branch Distillery
1280 Veterans Memorial Hwy. Lebanon, KY 40033
(270) 699-9004
LIMESTONEBRANCH.COM
Ian Stirsman: Founder and Master Distiller of Ross and Squibb Distillery
As master distiller of Lawrenceburg, Indiana-based Ross & Squibb Distillery, lan Stirsman leads all operations for the Ross & Squibb family of brands, including George Remus Bourbon and Rossville Union Rye Whiskey, as well as any future brands released under the Ross & Squibb name.
In this role, Stirsman is responsible for guiding the product-development process for new innovation and annual limited releases, hosting customers for barrel picks and distillery visits, and building brand awareness for the distillery and its brands. Additionally, he serves as a spokesperson for the brands with media and other key stakeholders.
Promoted to this position from his previous role as master distiller at MGP's historic Lawrenceburg, Indiana, distillery, Stirsman will continue to serve as a resource to his MGP colleagues in addition to his new day-to-day responsibilities at Ross & Squibb Distillery.
An MGP employee since 2014, Stirsman has worked as a production shift manager, process engineer, and fermentation/distillation manager before earning the Master Distiller distinction in October 2019. Before joining MGP, he served as a process engineer and shift manager for PH Glatfelter Co., a global manufacturer of engineered materials.
Stirsman graduated in 2010 from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering with a minor in biological sciences.
In his free time, lan enjoys playing sports and traveling.
Benny Hurwitz: National Brand Ambassador for Wild Turkey Distilling, Co
As a Brand Ambassador for Wild Turkey, Benny joins the illustrious ranks of the Russell family to help
spread knowledge, passion, and enthusiasm for this iconic spirit both on-and off-premise. Prior to joining Wild Turkey as National Brand Ambassador, Benny Hurwitz served as Head Bartender at
Washington D.C. hotspot, the Jack Rose Dining Saloon, a high-end American bar known for housing a respected collection of more than 2,700 global whiskies. There, Hurwitz oversaw all bar programs for Jack Rose, including its intimate basement bar, Dram & Grain. As the innovator behind their dynamic cocktails menu, Hurwitz’s creations such as the Banana Bread Old Fashioned and Bourbon-Blackberry cocktail have been featured in Tasting Table, Chilled Magazine, DCist, VH1 and Wine & Spirits, among others.
Hurwitz’s inspiration behind the bar starts in his home town of D.C. as he learned from some of the top bartenders in the city, working alongside James Woods at bar Bourbon and Rachel Sergi, who took Hurwitz from Bourbon to open Jack Rose in 2011. Together, Hurwitz and Rachel, in addition to Rachel’s successor Trevor Frye, transformed the bar into what it is today, building operating systems from the ground up. It was at the Jack Rose Dining Saloon that Hurwitz first met Jimmy Russell, the legend behind one of his all-time favorite Bourbons. According to Hurwitz himself, “I had already enjoyed drinking Wild Turkey, but meeting the man behind the whiskey is when I really connected with the brand.” Upon sitting down with Russell, whose humility for his work and passion for Bourbon were beyond compare, Hurwitz was inspired to join the Wild Turkey family.
At home, Hurwitz’s go-to drink is either Wild Turkey Bourbon or Russell’s Reserve neat. When out, Benny enjoys the oak-y-ness and spice of a Russell’s Reserve 10 year Boulevardier paired with the bitterness of Campari and the sweetness of the Cinzano 1757 Rosso vermouth.
Hurwitz lends his vast bourbon expertise as Brand Ambassador for Wild Turkey Distilling Co., helping to fuel education of the Wild Turkey and Russell’s Reserve Portfolios. Benny lives in Los Angeles and when not preaching the gospel of bourbon you can find him spending time with his wife Denise or brushing up on his skateboarding skills.
Blaine Adams: Special guest from Whistlepig: Head of western brand education and cocktail development
Blaine Adams has been in the liquor industry for over a decade. He got his start running and enjoying dive bars and working his way up to running some of the most impressive liquor programs in Los Angeles. He has been blessed to have met and learned from distillers all across the globe. Whiskey has always been his passion. Blaine left the bar scene to work with WhistlePig Whiskey 5 years ago and never looked back. He is currently the head of western brand education and the head of cocktail development for the company. He loves talking and sharing a dram!