Kentucky bourbon pioneer who revived Willett family distillery dies
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- Even Kulsveen, who revived Willett Distillery, died Sept. 23 in Bardstown at 79.
- Kulsveen relaunched the Willett brand in 2012 with support from his children.
- He was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2019 for his legacy.
Even Kulsveen, a Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame member who revived Willet Distillery, died Sept. 23 at the age of 79.
Kulsveen remained the executive director of the company until his death, Willet said in a Sept. 24 news release.
In 1972, Kulsveen married Martha Willett, a descendant of the founding Willett family, and in 1984 bought the distillery property in Bardstown and revived it in 2012 under the name Kentucky Bourbon Distillers.
Eventually, they changed the name back to Willett and relaunched the brand to great acclaim.
Kulsveen was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2019. He also has received the Parker Beam Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kentucky Distillers’ Association. His wife, Martha, died in May 2025.
“He established a legacy in American Whiskey after resurrecting the Willett Distillery and became a pioneer in the renaissance of American Whiskey, helping sustain and then grow the category throughout the 1980s and ‘90s,” Willett said in a statement. “In resurrecting the family and distillery legacy, he returned distilling to the family property in 2012, alongside his daughter, Britt, president and chief whiskey officer of Willett Distillery, and his son, Drew, master distiller and chief production officer.”
Kulsveen’s cause of death was not released.
Public visitation will be Friday, Sept. 26 at Houghlin-Greenwell Funeral Home in Bardstown from 5 to 8 p.m. Mass in his honor will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph Cathedral in Bardstown.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made in Even Kulsveen’s honor to the Medicinal Whiskey Charity and the American Cancer Society.
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 5:26 PM.
