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Woodford Reserve Distiller Chris Morris Gains Legend Status

In the summer of 1976, Chris Morris could be found slipping on a shirt and tie and reporting for his summer internship at Brown-Forman. Not in his remotest, wildest dreams did he imagine that he’d become the master distiller at the spirits giant, yet he was certain of at least one thing: His summer job was cooler than most of his college-age peers’. While they were wearing ratty T-shirts while cutting grass, washing dishes, and bussing restaurant tables, Morris was in the booze business, a trainee in Brown-Forman’s central lab on a staff assisting the master distiller.

When he told friends he worked for the company that made Old Forester bourbon, they agreed that his post was cool, but mostly because “(t)hey probably thought I was sitting around and drinking all day.”

He wasn’t, of course, but he was learning that he liked the business of making whiskey. It was his father, Buddy Morris’s, trade, too, and that led to the younger Morris landing the internship. Years prior to that, the elder Morris took his son to the distillery on weekends to play while he caught up on work in the HR department.

“I guess I was around it so much of my life that I didn’t see the impact it was making,” Morris said of that passive indoctrination. “I mean, how lucky can you get to start out like that and wind up here!”

Chris Morris
A reception at Brown-Forman was given for master distiller Chris Morris after his Hall of Fame induction. He’s flanked here by executive vice president, chief brands and strategy officer, Lawson Whiting, and John Hays, chief marketing officer. (image via Brown-Forman)

Here, specifically, is his role as Brown-Forman’s master distiller, the man overseeing the production and final taste profile of Woodford Reserve’s and Old Forester’s ever-expanding lines, all Jack Daniel’s products, Early Times, and more. His role in ensuring those liquids have remained as good as ever — not to mention successfully morphed into new versions — resulted in his induction to the Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame this spring. The nod placed him among an international cast of distillery characters he said “is humbling to be associated with.”

According to his industry peers, however, the acknowledgement is long overdue.

“I had a lot of calls and emails where people said to me, ‘It’s about time,’ and, ‘Well done,’ and, yes, it makes me proud to be in the hall of fame,” Morris said. But without the groundwork laid before him by others who’ve consistently made and marketed the company’s liquor, he doubts he’d have been invited to New York to receive the crystal Glencarin trophy. “(I)t’s a reflection on our brands. I wouldn’t be in the hall of fame if it wasn’t for our brands.”

After earning his business degree, Morris joined Brown-Forman full time in 1980. There he worked in distilling until 1988, when he transitioned to Glenmore Distilleries, which was bought by United Distillers in 1991. Six years later Morris returned to Brown-Forman, where he began training to become its master distiller under Lincoln Henderson. He achieved that aim in 2003.

In addition to maintaining its heritage lines, Morris became an innovator, developing Old Forester Birthday Bourbon and that brand’s hugely successful Whiskey Row Series. He also developed Woodford Reserve’s Master’s Collection, Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, Rye, and Distillery Series products. In 2015, he added vice president of whiskey innovation for Brown-Forman to his title.

A voracious student of history and the distilling industry, Morris authored the Society of Wine Educator’s Certified Spirits Specialist program, introduced the use of tasting notes for bourbon in 1992, and developed the Bourbon Flavor Wheel in 2004.

Morris said he’s probably accumulated enough outside education in seminars on distilling chemistry, wood and sensory evaluation to account for another degree. The years of hands-on work at Brown-Forman’s whisky distillery in Scotland and tequila distillery in Mexico have also added to that knowledge. Such broad exposure to every level of spirits production inspires him to do more.

“Innovation will never stop for me; we’re in pursuit of it all the time,” he said. “We’ve got so much learning under our belts that it drives us to find more things to do. But the problem is we always have more ideas than we can get to.”

At 58, Morris sees no reason to consider retirement, “Especially when you have guys like Jimmy Russell still around,” he said of Wild Turkey’s distinguished 82-year-old master distiller. A burning passion for the distilling industry is what drives him to remain in his role well into the future. But if that blue flame ever flickers, he said he’ll know it’s time to go.

Meanwhile he’ll continue training 30-year-old quality control specialist and master taster, Elizabeth O’Neill, to succeed him as master distiller. O’Neill’s lengthy list of goals to achieve before taking the master’s mantle is based on the career path laid down for Morris. Knowing what lies ahead for his protégé excites him.

“She’s got a lot of neat things ahead of her to do,” he said.

Until then, Morris plans to enjoy watching the micro-distillery boom unfold and see what challenges those newcomers throw his way. He doesn’t look at new products as too small to harm an industry giant like Brown-Forman; rather, he said seeing and tasting new whiskeys merely stoke his competitive fires.

“There’s so much going on that it makes you want to be the best, to be in the thick of it,” he said.

Meanwhile, his wife is sure to keep him humble, hall of fame induction and all. Despite numerous fans congratulating him on the honor, she’s reminded him that he’s still her ordinary husband.

“I tell her I’m in the hall of fame, and she says to me, ‘You still have to cut the grass, Chris,’” he said.

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