Elmer T. Lee

Elmer T. Lee (1919–2013) was an American bourbon distiller born in Franklin County, Kentucky, who joined the George T. Stagg Distillery in Frankfort in 1949 after serving in World War II and earning an engineering degree from the University of Kentucky. He rose through plant engineer, plant superintendent, plant manager, and master distiller, retiring in 1985 but continuing as Master Distiller Emeritus and an ambassador for Buffalo Trace. He introduced Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon, widely credited as the first commercially released single-barrel bourbon, and later received major industry honors including induction into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame and lifetime achievement awards from Whisky Advocate and Whisky Magazine.