Owen Martin of Angel’s Envy is a Master beyond the Bourbon 🥃

July 17th, 2025

Below you’ll find my Q&A with master distiller of Angel’s Envy, Owen Martin.

(Q) What made you want to get into the bourbon industry?

(A) I love working with a team to create something tangible together. A great bottle of bourbon can bring people together to celebrate an occasion, help break the ice in conversation, or make someone feel truly appreciated as a gift. That was true when I was in the beer industry as well, but bourbon even more so – for example, I know I can open the same celebratory bottle just once a year with my dad when I’m home for the holidays.

I enjoy that I get to work with all the different teams that bring that bottle to life, from our distillers and packaging team to the marketing and strategy folks, planning what’s going on here next week as well as 20 years from now. As an industry, we have to be operating in the past, present, and future at all times – and how fun is that?

(Q) What’s the biggest misconception about the bourbon industry?

(A) I think some folks are prone to believing it’s all fun and games, but I do like to remind people that there is plenty of hard and unflashy work that goes into the day-to-day in this industry. No one is making social media posts about expense reports, hiring/firing, or equipment breaking in the middle of the night. I’ve ground out plenty of overnight and weekend distilling shifts at earlier points in my career. That being said, I don’t want to come across as overly negative or underselling of this industry either – the shiny parts are definitely very shiny and I truly can’t imagine myself anywhere else. 

(Q) How long have you been with Angel’s Envy?

(A) In the scheme of the bourbon industry, not too long at all really. I’ll hit my three-year anniversary this September. I joke that I’ll still be introduced as the “new master distiller of Angel’s Envy” for another decade or so at least.

(Q) When did you become master distiller, and also when did you want to become one?

(A) I’d been pursuing a mechanical engineering degree and bottling part-time at a local brewery. I had no interest in a desk job, and I had this realization that there were “alternative” industries that had engineering applications – so I began looking into pursuing a more formal brewing education after graduation. That led me to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I enrolled in their Master’s program in brewing and distilling science. It didn’t take long for me to switch my focus to distillation after learning more about the craft and discovering the great whiskey bars of Edinburgh. I moved back stateside after graduation and have been working in American whiskey ever since.

I had actually never formally held the title of master distiller until I joined Angel’s Envy. To be completely honest, my goal has never been to achieve that title (I’d prefer to just be called a “whiskey maker” since it encompasses the whole process from front to back). Hopefully folks believe me when I say that my drive has always been to create new, authentic, and meaningful bourbons and whiskeys, and never about what words are on my business cards.

(Q) What is a typical day-to-day like for you?

(A) At the distillery, my time is primarily spent working on the liquid and meeting with various members of the team. I check in with our distilling team every day, and I’m often working with our blending, quality, and marketing folks to ideate, discuss, and evaluate different potential innovations. Procuring, shipping, and managing the filling schedule for our finishing casks is also important for me to be on top of. I try to get out to our barrel warehouses once a week, where I typically work on our single barrel program, pull and assess various samples, or do inventory. Occasionally I’ll also do a tasting, tour, or event in the evenings or weekends. It can be hectic, but it keeps things interesting!

(Q) Beyond the alcohol side, how positively would you say the bourbon industry impacts the world?

(A) Not just for bourbon, but I’m a big believer that any given spirit, wine, etc., is a reflection of the place where it’s made and the people that make it. With that in mind, I think the bourbon industry impacts the world in that it’s a way to show off Kentucky to the rest of the globe.

In the past couple of years, we’ve launched our whiskeys in Singapore, Australia, Mexico, and across Europe, most recently in Poland and the Netherlands. Obviously, I represent Angel’s Envy when we’re doing that, but I think my role encompasses the city and state as well, really – so if I’m abroad representing Angel’s Envy, I can act as an ambassador to all three. When people visit from other countries, they are universally blown away by what Louisville has to offer. My hope is that the bourbon industry can continue that impact, as a handshake and a means of telling all the stories that Kentucky has to offer.

(Q) How has working in the bourbon industry helped you become a better man?

(A) As I mentioned before, working in this industry really forces you to think 5, 10, 20 years from now at all times. With a young daughter, I think that mindset has been very influential on how I operate as a father too. Is what I’m doing today setting her up for success when she’s in elementary school, high school, and when she’s an adult? Am I putting enough money away now for her future activities and education? Is my family feeling loved and appreciated so that they can reflect that later in their lives? My daily work is thinking about the next generation of bourbon, but with a kiddo, it’s now thinking about the next generation quite literally. 

(Q) What makes Angel’s Envy so special?

(A) As a “Finished Bourbon” brand, we take a nod towards European whiskey production practices but apply them to the more traditional bourbon industry. Finished Bourbon just means we’re taking mature bourbon whiskey and then rebarreling it into casks that previously held something else like wine, rum, etc. – and letting those flavors and aromas impart themselves on the base whiskey. That’s special for me because, although it’s become more accepted within the bourbon industry in recent years, finishing still allows me to take flavors and practices from other industries and creatively craft my own spin on innovative new whiskeys.

(Q) What does Owen do in his free time?

(A) That’s a good question – I’ll let you know whenever I finally have some! Only half kidding… I mostly spend my free time exploring new restaurants or outdoor places with my wife and my daughter, who turns 2 in October. I try to play soccer every week at Mockingbird, get nerdy with some board games with friends, and catch the occasional show or Louisville City game whenever I can. Louisville has treated us very well so far!