It’s hard to imagine there are still firsts in an industry as old as the Kentucky bourbon industry, but for Brittany Penny, learning that she was the first-ever African-American woman to become CEO of a Kentucky bourbon brand only motivated her to make sure she isn’t the last. Her story is inspirational: she started her business when her first daughter was a newborn because, as she often recounts, she wasn’t sleeping anyway. The genesis of The IX Bourbon (pronounced “the nine”) is stamped on Kentucky bourbon’s history forever.
“I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and I’ve always loved bourbon,” Penny recounts. “I mean, my dad was a huge bourbon drinker, so I grew up around bourbon. I was that
