Hall of Fame

Joseph J. Magliocco is president of Louisville-based Michter’s Distillery, as well as its parent company Chatham Imports, a supplier of imported wines and niche spirits. Upon completing his studies, he immediately began his full-time work in the spirits industry, with one of his first bosses being R.C. Wells, who had previously served as president of Four Roses. In the 1990s, working with his consultant and mentor Dick Newman, former president of Wild Turkey maker Austin Nichols, he restarted the Michter’s brand which had been abandoned after the Pennsylvania company’s 1989 bankruptcy. Magliocco has served as vice chairman and is one of the 15 founding members of the Order of the Writ, “the fraternal and charitable organization that embraces the spirit of Kentucky Bourbon education, responsibility, environmental stewardship, history, scholarship and unwavering commitment to the furtherance of America’s only native spirit”. Additionally, he has served on the board of directors of the Kentucky Distillers Association, where he was treasurer and later on vice chair. Inducted in Bordeaux as a Commandeur de L’Ordre du Bontemps de Medoc et de Graves, he has considerable experience working with not just spirits, but wines as well. Joseph graduated from Yale College, where he majored in religious studies and did some bartending, and he earned his law degree at Harvard Law School. He has done and continues to do charitable work volunteering for not-for-profits.