Bill Samuels Sr. was 42 years old when he and his wife Margie began developing Maker's Mark. What started essentially as a hobby exploded in popularity when Wall Street Journal reporter David P. Garino had some time to kill and stopped by the Brown Hotel bar. During the evening news there was a brief mention of Maker's Mark and the little distillery.

That might make an interesting A-hed, the off-beat story featured daily on the front page of the national business daily, Garino thought. It is called the A-hed because the headline is surrounded by some rules that sort of look like an A.

As I tell in my book, The Maker's Mark Story: From Hobby from Hobby to Major Brand in Two Generations, when the Journal published Garino's story on its Aug. 1, 1980, front page, Maker's Mark was no longer a hobby. The small small Loretto, Ky., received 30,000 letters from potential customers asking where they could buy a bottle. The Samuels ran ads in major newspapers, including the Journal, explaining that they were stepping up production to meet demand, but it would be a few years before everyone could be satified. Samuels said his hobby became a company that day.

Samuels Sr. had distilled the first batch of Maker's Mark in February 1954 and the first bottle was sold in 1958. When he was 48 years old. The Journal story ran when Samuels was 70. No one in his family had ever anticipated the how large the brand would become.

In 1980, when the Journal story ran, the federal estate tax rate was a maximum of 70%, with an exemption of $161.563. The initial rate above that exemption was 32%. When Samuels died in 1992, at age 82, was 55% for estates exceeding $3 million, with a $600,000 exemption.

Because Samuels was 70 when the brand exploded onto the national scene, the family had never been able to afford enough life insurance to pay the federal and state death taxes, and so the business was sold to Hiram Walker & Sons.

Now, independent business owners in the UK fear something similar could happen to their firms.

Beginning next month, for the first time in a generation, family business owners will have to pay inheritance tax based on the value of their business and business assets.

Berry Bros. & Rudd,'s chair, Lizzy Rudd, has warned changes to UK inheritance tax risk undermining the long-term future of family-owned businesses. including those in the drinks sector.

“As a 327-year-old family business, we have always strived to be stewards for future generations,” she said. “As a B Corp, we also place great value on employing people, considering the wider community and the environment in all that we do.

"How are we expected to continue to build value for the long term when our children will one day have to pay inheritance tax on this value – a value which is on paper and not in our pockets unless business assets or the business itself is sold?”

She added, “Changes to inheritance tax are a very real threat to the future success of the business. In addition to the higher costs of operating right now, these changes are an additional burden for family businesses at the very time the Government should be encouraging us to invest. 

Despite amendments to the government's proposal, 90% of family businesses expect to be hurt by the changes.

Family Business UK chief executive Neil Davy said the policy is already influencing decision-making across the sector. “Since the change was first announced in October 2024, we have seen significant numbers of family businesses cut investment and jobs. Many owners have also told me that they are openly questioning the long-term future of their business. For a government committed to growing the economy, this can’t be the outcome it envisaged.”

“At a time when the UK desperately needs the economy to grow, this is the wrong policy at the wrong time.