Major Kentucky Bourbon Brand Gifts Bottles to Donald Trump Inauguration Attendees

President Donald Trump takes the oath of office with First Lady Melanie Trump and Ivanka Trump (right). (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Courier-Journal reported on Tuesday that during Donald Trump’s inauguration to the U.S. presidency, bottles of the Brown-Forman-owned brand, Woodford Reserve, were gifted to attendees witnessing the 47th president of the United States take office. The guest list was a mix of Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and CEOS from major tech companies like Apple and Amazon.

The bottles were provided by the brand’s parent company, Brown-Forman, and reportedly coordinated by Mitch McConnell. Beyond Woodford, Brown-Forman is the company behind brands like Old Forester and Jack Daniel’s. In August, Brown-Forman scrapped its DEI policies. The move raised more than a few eyebrows due to Jack Daniel’s’ complex history with race.

An enslaved man named Nathan “Nearest” Green taught Jasper “Jack” Daniel how to make whiskey and was the first master distiller at the Jack Daniel’s distillery. Yet, for many years, the Tennessee whiskey brand failed to acknowledge Green’s impact on Jack Daniel’s.

Uncle Nearest founder and CEO Fawn Weaver did a great deal of research on Green after his existence was reported by the New York Times in 2016. Weaver never negatively portrayed Daniel and claimed historical accounts show the two men were friends. Nevertheless, the complicated legacy of race has cast a bit of a cloud over the brand. Up until 2023, the Brown-Forman-owned whiskey brand appeared to align itself with progressive causes, leading to backlash from some conservatives.

According to Breaking Bourbon, Log Still Distillery released a commemorative whiskey for the inauguration. Log Still’s America 47 is a bourbon blend made from two high-rye bourbons and one wheated bourbon that were aged between five and seven years.

Make Alcohol Great Again: Donald Trump’s Ventures Into Liquor

If there’s one thing that can be said about the 47th President of the United States and the man partially behind the novel “The Art of the Deal,” it’s that marketing is everything.

Trump (or at least Trump’s people) understands the potentially lucrative nature of the alcohol industry.

In 2006, Trump — who famously doesn’t drink — launched Trump Vodka, which failed to live up to its tagline, “Success Distilled.” Two years later, the brand was defunct.

The president also opened a bar inside Trump Tower in New York, 45 Wine & Whiskey Bar. The bar atop Trump Tower features specialty cocktails like “The Don” a libation with whiskey and Italian liqueur. The wine list features wines from Trump’s winery in Virginia.

The wine bar appeared to have a bit of a difficult start and was reportedly “abandoned” a year after opening in 2021. Culture Writer and contributor to VICE Magazine, and Flaunt Magazine Emily Colucci took a little jaunt to the wine bar and noticed it was closed 40 minutes after its opening time. The writer took photos of the empty space and posted them on social media.

45 Wine & Whiskey Bar appears to be just one of the President’s many attempts at making a buck. The President’s most recent venture into cryptocurrency was met with plenty of backlash, according to The Hill.

The outlet reported on Wednesday that Trump’s launch of two cryptocurrency tokens, one for himself and the other for First Lady Melania Trump was not received well by the digital currency industry and even former fans of the president, like founding partner at Crypto Investment Firm Castle Island Ventures, Nic Carter.

“It undermines the seriousness of any liberalization of regulations that Trump undertakes for the crypto space because it makes it look self-interested,” Carter said, according to The Hill. “It makes the industry look bad and… kind of takes away some of the impact of what Trump was going to do for the crypto industry.”