Martin Wilkes Heron was born in Ireland and migrated to New Orleans in 1870. Working at McCauley's Saloon on St Peter's St in the French quarter, it falls on young Heron to rectift the rough tasting barrel whiskey coming down the Mississippi from Kentucky and Tennessee. Using a secret blend of peach and orange, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon, Heron perfects his liqueur. Heron's concoction was a hit, relegating his competition of the time to a footnote in history, and establishing himself as a legend of local night life.
Seeking greater fortune, M.W. Heron opens a bar near Beale Street in Memphis and begins selling Southern Comfort for $2.50 a bottle. The original labels were signed by Heron himself and carried the phrase "None genuine but mine". In 1904 Southern Comfort won a Gold Medal for quality and taste at the St Louis World's Fair. The St Louis Cocktail was formulated, a glass of Southern Comfort with a twist of lemon. The drink's motto? Limit 2 to a customer, no gentleman would ask for more!
Deep amber colour. This beautifully sun amber liquid is thick, viscous and rich in the glass. It has density and weight and makes graceful shapes and figures as it tumbles and swirls.Powerful vapours of flavoured alcohol, which drive up from the fluid, genie-like anxious to speed away and fill the nostrils. The nuances of fruit, citrus peel, candy and light ginger are head swirling and entrancing. One of America's finest whiskeys and one of the world's most esteemed liqueurs
