I first met Joe Heron in 2016, a couple of years after he opened Copper & Kings distillery with his wife Lesley in the hip Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. They founded it after a successful venture with Crispin Cider, and before that they were in the soda business. 

Friends in the area had told me what a cool guy he was, and said that if I ever came to town, I should prioritize a visit with him. What, meet the crazy South African dude who opened a freakin’ brandy distillery in the middle of bourbon country? Oh yeah, that’s happening! 

I had just wrapped up a bourbon press trip, and being the mensch that he is, Joe offered to pick me (and my heavy luggage) up at my hotel to drive me to the distillery. Within minutes I could tell we were going to be friends—informative conversations about the booze business, music, art, architecture, flowed easily as he treated me to a mini driving tour of parts of the city I hadn’t been to yet.