One spring night in 1951, on land leased for horse breeding within Hamburg Place farm near Lexington, a foal was born amidst high hopes. A grandson of Triple Crown winner War Admiral, the newborn struggled after a difficult delivery, and it was feared he might not live to see the morning.
As the story goes, horse owner John Bell retrieved a bottle of bourbon from a nearby tack room and poured some down the colt’s throat in an effort to revive him. It worked, and the horse was named Never Say Die. But the story doesn’t end there, not by a long shot.
The colt began a training regimen and performed admirably in a few early races. Racing as a three-year-old, Never Say Die was listed at 33-to-1 odds for England’s 175th annual Epsom Derby. He ended up passing every one of his more accomplished competitors to win by two lengths, becoming the first Kentucky-bred horse to win the prestigious race.
A British woman named Mona Best was especially glad to hear of the horse’s win, as she’d loved the horse’s name so much that she sold her jewelry to place a sizeable bet on him. She used the winnings for a down payment on a house in Liverpool. Years later, her son, Pete Best, and his friends would meet at the house to practice with their band, the Quarrymen. The band later changed its name to the Beatles.
Never Say Die, a newly launched bourbon named after the first Kentucky-bred Thoroughbred to win the Epsom Derby, is distilled in Kentucky and aged in England.
Today, Patrick Madden, a real estate developer and attorney who developed his family’s Hamburg Place farm into a successful retail shopping area, is taking another kind of gamble — launching his own bourbon label, Never Say Die. Madden recalled a time several years ago when he met with some friends from Cambridge over a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle and shared the vignette about the horse.
“We said, ‘You know what? We ought to do a bourbon in honor of this horse,’” Madden said. “We wanted to make it something special and something different and we weren’t going to sacrifice quality.”
Launched in 2017, the bourbon is distilled in Kentucky from a traditional mashbill of 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and 4 percent malted barley. It’s aged in the state for at least one year to meet the requirements to be labeled as a Kentucky bourbon whiskey. Barrels are then loaded onto ships headed for England, where the bourbon matures for at least another four years.
The idea, Madden said, is that the effects of ocean aging and exposure to two different climates add to the character of the final product. He isn’t just relying on conjecture, as others involved in the venture include bourbon industry veterans Shane Baker and Dr. Pat Heist, who recently sold their popular and fast-growing Danville-based brand, Wilderness Trail, to the Campari Group.
Rounding out the company cohorts are a couple of Madden’s friends from Cambridge and Brian Luftman, a friend from Lexington. Luftman said he’s been convinced by the merits of ocean aging on the bourbon.
“We assumed that the ocean trip would change the profile and quality of the whiskey, but we have been blown away with the noticeable increase in flavor,” he said.
Judges at the fall 2023 Global Spirits Masters agreed, awarding Never Say Die a gold medal. Although the bourbon was judged blind, a cool backstory doesn’t hurt, either.
Its producers say the effects of a transatlantic voyage and years spent aging in England’s temperate climate add to the character of Never Say Die bourbon.
“In a crowded marketplace, it’s fun to give bourbon fans something they have never tried before ... with a story to tell while they share it with friends,” Luftman said.
Some of the bourbon has been released in limited quantities, with more batches to follow, Madden said. What are his impressions of the bourbon thus far?
“Very unique flavor, that’s what everybody says,” Madden said. “It’s very smooth going down and then it has kind of a little bit of a spicy-sweet aftertaste; caramel and leather. Everyone says something different when they try it, but everybody seems to think it’s unique and good.”
Madden said future plans include taking the brand global, and he’s lining up a network of distributors across Europe. While attending Stanford University in the mid-1980s, Madden introduced more than one Californian to the wonders of bourbon, at a time when bourbon wasn’t as popular as it is today.
“Most of my friends [from that time] say, ‘I remember you because you introduced me to bourbon, and you had that bottle of bourbon with the wax on it,’” he said. Now that the Kentucky bourbon industry has worked wonders to make the spirit beloved and renowned, he’s glad to join the party with his own label.