She's the 'Mother of Bourbon,' but you've probably never heard of her. Meet Mary Dowling

Among bottles adorned with names like Elijah, Jim, Evan and Pappy, a new one might stick out on the shelf. It goes by the name of Mary.

The bourbon brand, Mary Dowling Whiskey Co., launched in mid-August as a way to honor its namesake, the Kentucky woman with a little-known story and big-time legacy as the “Mother of bourbon.”

The launch comes about 10 years after Kaveh Zamanian first heard of Mary Dowling and her journey as a female distiller in the pre-Prohibition bourbon industry. Details from her life would interest any history buff. Born in Bourbon County and raised in Lexington by Irish immigrants, Dowling overcame the death of her husband/business partner, a distillery fire and fierce legal battles to eventually lead the successful shift of operations to Juarez, Mexico.

Dowling’s story especially interested Zamanian, who has spent the last decade building his own urban distillery, Rabbit Hole.

“She was a very, very successful entrepreneur and a person who fought against all odds, especially as a woman,” Zamanian told the Courier Journal. “Her story resonated with me. I wanted to learn more.”

As he learned more, Zamanian was puzzled by the lack of available information about Dowling.

“Mary’s story literally was a footnote, when you think about what's been written about her,” he said. “There wasn’t a real effort to dig into her life and her story. I’m not sure why, quite honestly.”

Zamanian wanted to correct that. He gathered enough research to put together a book about Dowling, due out in 2024.

And he put the barrels in motion to honor Dowling’s place in the spirit’s history.

“I really want to launch a brand that for the first time has Mary Dowling celebrated on the marquee,” Zamanian said. “She never had her own name as the headline. She was never the leading act. I just thought this was long overdue.”

The whiskey maker and his team at Rabbit Hole, as well as Rabbit Hole’s parent company, Pernod Ricard, joined forces to debut Mary Dowling Whiskey Company, which is being run out of Rabbit Hole's distillery in NuLu.

Starting out, the company will offer two products: Mary Dowling Tequila Barrel and Mary Dowling Double Oak Barrel.

Zamanian hopes these expressions serve as an introduction to Dowling’s story, pieces of which can be found on the company’s website, marydowling.com.

“Mary Dowling was the most successful and influential woman distillery in the male-dominated world of pre-Prohibition bourbon, yet no one knows her name,” states the site. “During Prohibition, she was the only owner to shift production to Mexico to escape the long arm of Dry Laws," which prohibit the sale or purchase of alcoholic beverages during a certain time frame or in a specific area.

The site chronicles Dowling’s life, from her birth in 1859 to her marriage to Irish immigrant John Dowling in 1874 to her death in 1930 at the age of 71, three years before Prohibition ended.

By the 1880s, the Dowlings owned three distilleries, including Waterfill and Frazier, in Anderson County. When her husband died in 1903, Mary Dowling took over the bourbon empire.

“When her line of credit was cut off because a woman-run business was a ‘credit risk,’ she helped recharter a bank, but did not get a seat on the board,” the site states. “Again, she was only a woman.”

This "only a woman" was also actually the wealthiest woman in Lawrenceburg and a do-gooder, bringing health care to the rural poor, as well as, maybe, a bootlegger, according to the online biography.

After Prohibition shut down her distilleries, Dowling hired Joe L. Beam, a familiar name in the bourbon industry, to move operations to Juarez.

The move itself was “audacious,” as Zamanian said. Dowling’s decision continued to make history after her death.

The distillery produced bourbon in Juarez until 1964, the same year Congress passed a certain law that’s a favorite fun fact shared by Kentucky distillery tour guides. That year, Congress passed Resolution 57, designating bourbon whiskey as a “distinctive product of the United States."

What bourbon fans might not know is that the law was targeting Dowling’s descendants and their business.

“Congress was looking to pass a declaration to make bourbon an American spirit and there was only one thing standing in the way,” Zamanian said. “That was Mary Dowling's distillery in Mexico.”

In order for the resolution to be passed and for bourbon to be declared an American spirit, the distillery in Juarez had to shut down.

That’s how, in a roundabout way, Mary Dowling earned her nickname, “Mother of Bourbon.”

About six decades later, the matriarch's story continues with the launch of the Mary Dowling Whiskey Company. Its products are currently available in 12 markets and Zamanian has plans to eventually open a dedicated tasting room for Dowling and add other expressions to the line.

There’s another reason Dowling’s story resonated with Zamanian. At the time in the bourbon world, she was considered an “outsider,” he said, something he understands.

Zamanian was born in Iran and his family immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s. After living in California, New York and Chicago, he met his future wife, Heather, a native of Louisville. He eventually left his 20-year career in psychology to start a craft distillery.

“For me, a guy named Kaveh making bourbon in Kentucky, this is really a personal and wonderful way to connect to my adopted home of America and be able to be part of it in a meaningful way,” he said.

With Mary Dowling Whiskey Company, he hopes to continue to make room for more people to join the bourbon world.

“I hope this brand is able to shed light on Mary’s story and inspire other people, particularly women, to join the industry,” he said. “We’ve made progress, but we have a long way to go.”

Like the bourbon he’s making, and like Mary Dowling’s story being shared, good things take time.

“I’m looking to build a long-time brand with this,” Zamanian said. “We’re in for the long haul.”

Reach food and dining reporter Amanda Hancock at ahancock@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Mary Dowling Whiskey Company launched to honor the 'Mother of Bourbon'