It's hard to walk down the aisle of a liquor store without running across a bottle bearing someone's name but how well do we know them? Here are the bios on the men behind your favorite alcoholic beverages. Captain Morgan:Captain Morgan is a brand of rum produced by alcohol conglomerate Diageo. It is named after the 17th-century Welsh privateer of the Caribbean, Sir Henry Morgan who died on 26 August 1688. Since 2011, the label has used the slogan "To Life, Love and Loot." Sir Henry Morgan (Henry Morgan, ca. 1635 – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, buccaneer, and admiral of the Royal Navy. He made himself famous during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements. He earned a reputation as one of the most notorious and successful privateers in history, and one of the most ruthless among those active along the Spanish Main. Henry Morgan was the eldest son of Robert Morgan, a farmer living in the locality of Rhymney Wales. Robert Morgan (born c.1615) was a descendant from a cadet branch of the ‘Tredegar Morgans’ and had two brothers, Thomas and Edward. Major-General Sir Thomas Morgan (1st Baronet 1604-79) served in the Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War from 1642 to 1649, was Governor of Gloucester in 1645, fought in Flanders and was wounded; in 1661, he retired to his estate in Kinnersley, Herefordshire. He was married on 10 September 1632, and had nine sons. The eldest, Sir John Morgan followed in his father's profession. He also had a sister, Catherine. An entry in the Bristol Apprentice Books showing "Servants to Foreign Plantations" 9 February 1655, included "Henry Morgan of Abergavenny, Labourer, Bound to Timothy Tounsend of Bristol, Cutler, for three years, to serve in Barbados on the like Condiciouns." Thomas was recalled in 1665 to become Governor of Jersey, and died in St. Helier in April 1679. Colonel Edward Morgan (c. 1616- after 1665) was a Royalist during the Civil War, Captain General of the King's forces in South Wales, escaped to the continent, and married Anna Petronilla, the daughter of Baron von Pollnitz, Westphalia, (governor of Lippstadt, a city 20 miles east of Dortmund, Germany). They had six children, two sons, and four daughters (including Anna Petronilla and Johanna). He was appointed Lt-Gov. of Jamaica, 1664-65. There is no record of Morgan before 1655. He later said that he left school early, and was "more used to the pike than the book." Alexandre Exquemelin, Morgan's surgeon at Panama, says that he was indentured in Barbados. After Morgan sued the publishers for libel and was awarded £200, Exquemelin was forced to retract his statement. Subsequent editions of his book were amended. Exquemelin said that Morgan came to Jamaica in 1658 as a young man, and raised himself to "fame and fortune by his valour". Recent versions of his life claim that, despite having had little experience as a sailor, Morgan sailed to the Caribbean to take part in the Western Design, Cromwell's plan to invade Hispaniola. His first battle at Santo Domingo failed to take the island. The fleet moved on to Jamaica, which the English force invaded successfully, and occupied. His uncle Edward Morgan was Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica after the Restoration of Charles II of England in 1660. Henry Morgan married his uncle's daughter Mary, a cousin. Morgan was reportedly the "Captain Morgan" who joined the fleet of Christopher Myngs in 1663. He was part of the expedition of John Morris and Jackmann when they took the Spanish settlements at Vildemos, Mexico (on the Tabasco river); Trujillo, (Honduras) and Granada, Nicaragua. In late 1665 Morgan commanded a ship in the old privateer Edward Mansfield's expedition sent by Sir Thomas Modyford, the governor of Jamaica. They seized the islands of Providencia and Santa Catalina Island, Colombia. When Mansfield was captured by the Spanish and executed shortly afterward, the privateers elected Morgan as their admiral. Johnnie Walker:Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky owned by Diageo that originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country, with annual sales of over 130 million bottles. John (Johnnie) Walker (1805–1857) was a Scottish grocer, who originated what would become one of the world's most famous whisky brand names, Johnnie Walker, despite the fact he was himself a teetotaler. Walker was born near Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, Scotland. When his father Alexander died in 1820 he was left £417 in trust. In 1820 the trustees invested in an Italian warehouse, grocery, and wine and spirits shop on the High Street in Kilmarnock. In 1833 John married Elizabeth Purves. He was a respected businessman, leader of the local trade association, and a Freemason. His store's stock was almost entirely destroyed in an 1852 flood, but the business recovered within a couple of years. His own whisky brand, then known as "Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky" was popular locally, although John Walker himself was a teetotaler. John's son Alexander Walker (named after John's father) had apprenticed with a tea merchant in Glasgow, and there learned the art of blending tea. When he returned to take over the business from his ailing father, he used those skills to create Old Highland Whisky, (eventually renamed Johnnie Walker Black Label) the blend that made Johnnie Walker whisky famous. Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey:Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey and the top selling American whiskey in the world. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee, by the Jack Daniel Distillery, which has been owned by the Brown-Forman Corporation since 1956. Despite being the location of a major operational distillery, Jack Daniel's home county of Moore is a dry county, so the product is not available for consumption at stores or restaurants within the county. Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel (c. January 1849 – October 10, 1911) was an American distiller and businessman, the founder of the Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distillery. Daniel was the youngest of ten children born to Calaway and Lucinda Matilda (née Cook) Daniel. His paternal grandparents immigrated to America in the late 18th century. His grandfather Joseph "Job" Daniel was born in Wales, while his grandmother, Elizabeth Calaway, was born in Scotland. He was of Welsh, Scots-Irish and Scottish descent. According to one source, Daniel was born in January 1849, in or around Lynchburg, Tennessee. A town fire had destroyed the courthouse records, and, because his mother died shortly after his birth, conflicting dates on his and his mother's headstones have left his date of birth in question. On June 26, 1851, his father remarried and then had another three children with his stepmother Matilda Vanzant. Daniel was raised in the Primitive Baptist church. The company that now owns the distillery claims that it was first licensed in 1866. However, in the 2004 biography Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel author Peter Krass maintains that land and deed records show that the distillery was actually not founded until 1875. Daniel never married and did not have any children. However, he took his nephews under his wing – one of whom was Lemuel "Lem" Motlow (1869–1947). Motlow, a son of Jack's sister, Finetta, was skilled with numbers, and was soon doing all of the distillery's bookkeeping. In 1907, due to failing health, Daniel gave the distillery to two of his nephews. Motlow soon bought out the other nephew and went on to operate the distillery for about forty years (interrupted between 1942 and 1946 when the U.S. government banned the manufacture of whiskey due to World War II). He died in 1947. Daniel died from blood poisoning in Lynchburg in 1911. An oft-told tall tale is that the infection began in one of his toes, which Daniel injured one early morning at work by kicking his safe in anger when he could not get it open (he was said to always have had trouble remembering the combination). However, Daniel's modern biographer has asserted that the story is not true. Jose Cuervo:Jose Cuervo is a brand of tequila that was founded in 1795 by Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo. It is the best selling tequila in the world, with 35.1% market share of the tequila category worldwide and 33.66% share of the US tequila category as of July 2013, nearly twice the share of the second-leading brand. As of 2012, Jose Cuervo sells 3.5 million cases of tequila in the US annually, and a fifth of the world's tequila by volume. Jose Cuervo has always been family-owned and is run today by the Beckmann family of Mexico, direct descendants of Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo. Juan-Domingo "Dobel" Beckmann, son of Don Juan Beckmann, is the sixth-generation leader of the company. In July 2013 Proximo Spirits took over US distribution of Jose Cuervo from Diageo, who had managed it since 1997. Agave's use as a flavoring and sweetener dates back at least 2,000 years. Shortly after the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico in the early 1500's, they applied their knowledge of the distillation process to pulque, an old Mexican drink made from fermented agave, to create a mezcal. This was a precursor to tequila, which is a form of mezcal. In 1758, Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo was issued a land grant by King Ferdinand VI of Spain in the town of Tequila, Jalisco. Here his family founded the Taberna de Cuervo, the farm where they would cultivate and harvest the flowering blue agave plant, a water-retaining plant found in central Mexico, that is distilled to create tequila. The first Vino Mezcal de Tequila de Jose Cuervo was made in 1795, after Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo's son Jose María Guadalupe de Cuervo was granted a permit from King Carlos IV of Spain to produce tequila commercially, following a time of prohibition under King Carlos III. This was the birth of the tequila industry. By 1880, the Cuervo family had begun individually bottling tequila for commercial distribution. Cuervo was the first distiller to bottle tequila, at a time when other distillers were still using barrels. Tequila was known as "mezcal de tequila" until 1893, when tequila makers and the Mexican government dropped "mezcal" from the name. Cuervo's first bottled tequila was sold in 1906. Upon the death of Don Jesus, his wife, Ana Gonzalez Rubio, inherited La Rojeña and in 1900 married Jose Cuervo Labastida, head of La Constancia. From then on, the brand became Jose Cuervo Tequila. After Ana Gonzalez Rubio's death in 1934, the estate was left to her niece Guadalupe Gallardo, who died in 1966 and left the estate to her sister, Virginia Gallardo. One of her sons, Juan Beckmann Gallardo, would manage the business. Part of Cuervo was owned by Distribuidora Bega, and, starting in 1979, the other part was owned by Grupo Cuervo, made up of Beckmann, his son Juan Beckmann Vidal, Jose Luis Campos, and Heublein Inc. Jim Beam:Jim Beam is a brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have been involved in whiskey production for the company that produces the brand, which was given the name "Jim Beam" in 1933 in honor of James B. Beam, who rebuilt the business after Prohibition ended. The Jim Beam Bourbon brand is now owned and produced by Beam Suntory, which is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings of Osaka, Japan. During the late 18th century, members of the Bohm family, who eventually changed the spelling of their surname to "Beam", emigrated from Germany and settled in Kentucky. Johannes "Reginald" Beam (1770–1834) was a farmer who began producing whiskey in the style that became known as bourbon. Jacob Beam sold his first barrels of corn whiskey around 1795. The whiskey was first called Old Jake Beam, and the distillery was known as Old Tub. David Beam (1802–1854) took on his father's responsibilities in 1820 at the age of 18, expanding distribution of the family's bourbon during a time of industrial revolution. David M. Beam (1833–1913) in 1854 moved the distillery to Nelson County to capitalize on the growing network of railroad lines connecting states. James Beauregard Beam (1864–1947) managed the family business before and after Prohibition, rebuilding the distillery in 1933 in Clermont, Kentucky, near his Bardstown home. James B. Beam Distilling Company was founded in 1935 by Harry L. Homel, Oliver Jacobson, H. Blum and Jerimiah Beam. From this point forward, the bourbon would be called "Jim Beam Bourbon" after James Beauregard Beam, and some of the bottle labels bear the statement, "None Genuine Without My Signature" with the signature James B. Beam. T. Jeremiah Beam (1899–1977) started working at the Clear Springs distillery in 1913, later becoming the master distiller and overseeing operations at the new Clermont facility. Jeremiah Beam eventually gained full ownership and opened a second distillery near Boston, Kentucky, in 1954. Jeremiah later teamed up with childhood friend Jimberlain Joseph Quinn, to expand the enterprise. Booker Noe (1929–2004), birth name Frederick Booker Noe II, grandson of Jim Beam, was the Master Distiller at the Jim Beam Distillery for more than 40 years, working closely with Master Distiller Jerry Dalton (1998–2007). In 1987 Booker introduced his own namesake bourbon, Booker's, the company's first uncut, straight-from-the-barrel bourbon, and the first of the company's "Small Batch Bourbon Collection". Fred Noe (1957–present), birth name Frederick Booker Noe III, became the seventh generation Beam family distiller in 2007 and regularly travels for promotional purposes. The Beam family has also played a major role in the history of the Heaven Hill Distillery. All of the Master Distillers at Heaven Hill since its founding have been members of the Beam family. The original Master Distiller at Heaven Hill was Joseph L. Beam, Jim Beam's first cousin. He was followed by his son, Harry, who was followed by Earl Beam, the son of Jim Beam's brother, Park. Earl Beam was then succeeded by the current Heaven Hill Master Distillers, Parker Beam and his son, Craig Beam. In 1987, Jim Beam purchased National Brands, acquiring brands including Old Crow, Bourbon de Luxe, Old Taylor, Old Grand-Dad, and Sunny Brook. Old Taylor was subsequently sold to the Sazerac Company. On August 4, 2003, a fire destroyed a Jim Beam aging warehouse in Bardstown, Kentucky. It held about 19,000 barrels of bourbon. Flames rose more than 100 feet from the burning structure. Burning bourbon spilled from the warehouse and set a nearby creek on fire. An estimated 19,000 fish died of the bourbon in the creek and a river. For some period of time, Jim Beam was part of the holding company formerly known as Fortune Brands that was dismantled in 2011. Other parts of the remaining company were spun off as an IPO on the NYSE on the same day, as Fortune Brands Home & Security, and the liquor division of the holding company was renamed Beam, Inc. on October 4, 2011. In January 2014, it was announced that Jim Beam would be purchased by Suntory Holdings Ltd., a Japanese group of brewers & distillers known for producing Japan's first whiskey. Suntory agreed to acquire Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Teacher's Highland Cream and Laphroaig distillery Scotch whiskies for approximately $13.62 billion and also take on Beam's debt. This deal is the biggest Suntory has ever agreed to and will elevate them to the third largest maker of distilled drinks in the world. The combined company is expected to have annual sales of spirits products of more than $4.3 billion. Suntory will pay $83.50 per share, a 25 percent premium to Beam's Friday closing price of $66.97. The companies put the deal's value at about $16 billion, including debt. According to press releases regarding the deal, the Illinois-based Jim Beam will continue to be managed by its current leadership. Beam and Suntory unanimously approved the transaction; however, the deal needs to be approved by Beam Inc. stockholders. If approved by its shareholders, the deal is expected to close by June 30, 2014. Jim Beam and Suntory have a previous partnership where they would freely distribute each other's brands in different markets.
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