The Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame announced that Mary Dowling, the first woman to run a major distillery in 1903, will be posthumously inducted into the prestigious 2025 class. This recognition celebrates the trailblazing entrepreneur, whose remarkable life is chronicled in the new novel “Mother of Bourbon: The Greatest American Whiskey Story Never Told.” Co-authored by Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Famer Kaveh Zamanian and Eric Goodman, the story reveals how Dowling achieved immense success and preserved the art of bourbon distilling, becoming an influential community leader at a time when women didn’t even have the right to vote. The Kentucky Distillers’ Association noted Dowling was “clearly ahead of her time,” building churches, championing immigrant and women’s rights, and opening a free hospital before her death in 1930. Today, Zamanian’s Mary Dowling Whiskey Co. continues to uphold her pioneering legacy.