V
Victor Yarbrough
CEO · Co-Founder
The strategist. Brought the brothers together around a single idea: open a distillery, and own it.
Three brothers from Louisville with a shared question — and a shared answer in a glass.
Victor, Bryson, and Christian Yarbrough grew up in Louisville, raised on Kentucky pride and the smell of oak. The bourbon industry was on every billboard but rarely had people who looked like them on the still.
So they built one. What began as an import/export business in 2012 became a working craft distillery in 2020 — and a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey poured under their own name.
The Yarbroughs distill, age, and bottle every barrel themselves. The brand carries their name because the work carries their hands.
The strategist. Brought the brothers together around a single idea: open a distillery, and own it.
The builder. Oversees the rickhouse, the bottling line, and every barrel that leaves the warehouse.
The closer. Keeps the books straight so the bourbon can stay slow.
So did this.
Brough Brothers begins in the United Kingdom as a bourbon import/export business.
The brothers establish a U.S. presence and start planning the distillery.
The Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approves Brough Brothers Distillery.
The Kentucky Senate recognizes Brough Brothers as the first African American-owned distillery in the state's 228-year history.
Brough Brothers distills and fills its first barrel of bourbon — on New Year's Eve.
The distillery opens its doors. Production scales from one barrel a week toward ten.
The bourbon is on shelves in 90+ locations. The brothers are still on the floor.
Everything we make starts with these three rules. They're why our bourbon tastes the way it does.
Five-day open fermentation. Copper pot still. Time in oak that can't be hurried. We let the bourbon decide when it's ready.
Small batches mean we can taste every barrel before it goes out. If it doesn't measure up, it doesn't carry our name.
We fill, age, and bottle every barrel ourselves. No co-packing. No outsourcing. The label says it because we did it.