Old Forester is a Louisville tradition, and so is the company's 62-foot-tall bottle-shape water tower that looms 218 feet above ground at Brown-Forman's 18th Street distillery. It is easily visible from downtown. (Brown-Forman photo on X)
Commentary

We love Old Forester, but it made us big mad

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Even in this age of bourbonism and pricy trophy labels, Louisville still loves Old Forester, the locally made, affordable Bourbon with its signature caramel and brown sugar flavors. 

Or at least we used to love it. But then we got big mad last week after news broke that OldFo’s creator, Brown-Forman Corp., the lovable, liberal old local firm had suddenly abandoned its long-term commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and its support for the LGBTQ+ community.

The news hit heavily in drinks-industry publications and right-wing journals. “Brown-Forman drops diversity and inclusion programmes, leaves LGBTQ equity index,” the British publication JustDrinks reported August 23. “The web pages on Brown-Forman’s site that listed its diversity and inclusion policies have been removed.”

What the holy hell? That was easy to check, and sure enough, Brown-Forman’s supplier diversity statement had disappeared from the corporate website, leaving behind a nicely styled yet untidy 404 error.

Social media blew into an uproar when Brown-Forman's DEI commitment page disappeared from its website on August 23.
Social media blew into an uproar when Brown-Forman’s DEI commitment page disappeared from its website on August 23.

Naturally local social media blew right up with threats of angry letters to management, boycotts, maybe even parades and other forms of peaceful demonstration.  

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was among them. “Well, hell, now I have to stop drinking Old Forester,” I wrote on Facebook. This was not an easy threat, as like many of our Louisville neighbors, Old Fo had been my standard bar bourbon choice and a family tradition at least as far back as my grandfather and probably before.

I wasn’t kidding, either. I soon followed with a crowd-sourcing plea: “All right, let’s get serious. What bourbon should I choose in place of Old Forester 86? Similar price and flavor profile preferred.” That thread soon had 180 comments, many of them offering good advice, much of it useful and some, of course, suggesting pricey options like gin, tequila, or even cannabis-based alternatives.

Angry, I looked for an Old Forester substitute and found one in Evan Williams Black Label. I'm softening toward my old friend Old Fo, though.
Angry, I looked for an Old Forester substitute and found one in Evan Williams Black Label. I’m softening toward my old friend Old Fo, though.

By the time I got back from the liquor store with a modestly priced bottle of Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon, another corn-forward, 86-proof bourbon from another old Louisville firm, Heaven Hill, I was already starting to calm down a little. (The Evan Williams was good, though, even if I did feel a little unfaithful sipping it.)

There had to be some reason for this startling reversal, but what was it? Nobody at Brown-Forman was talking, but a deeper dive into media, then and over the next few days, started to sketch a picture … and it was not a pretty one.

Brown-Forman, it seemed, had been targeted by a right-wing attack on its Jack Daniel’s property in Tennessee  that had previously excised DEI commitments from other corporations: Harley-Davidson, John Deere, and Tractor Supply Co. 

Let me think. What do Jack Daniel’s and those three businesses have in common? Oh, yeah: They are all beloved by rural, conservative audiences in bright-red, GOP-led Southern states where opposition to DEI and fear of “woke corporations” makes it easy for bad actors to mobilize them into an anti-corporate army.

And that, apparently, is just what had happened , as a bragging post on X by a pudgy podcaster, right-wing extremist, and failed congressional candidate from Nashville named Robby Starbuck made clear. 

Posting an apparently leaked letter to employees from Brown-Forman’s executive leadership team, Starbuck wrote, “Big news: The next company we were set to expose was @JackDaniels_US. … They just preemptively announced that they’ll be making these changes.”

“The world has evolved, our business has changed, and the legal and external landscape has shifted dramatically, particularly within the United States,” Brown-Forman’s executive team wrote in the leaked memo. “With these new dynamics at play, we must adjust our work to ensure it continues to drive business results while appropriately recognizing the current environment in which we find ourselves.”

Robby Starbuck posted a leaked copy of Brown-Forman's letter to employees about DEI and LGBTQ+ changes on his X page.
Robby Starbuck posted a leaked copy of Brown-Forman’s letter to employees about DEI and LGBTQ+ changes on his X page.

Specifically, the firm pledged to discontinue linking exexutive bonuses and pay to DEI progress. It agreed to stop taking part in an annual ranking of companies on the basis of their LGBTQ-friendly environment. And it canceled plans to push for a more diverse group of suppliers.

Most of us would view this as a terrible loss, but Starbuck, needless to say, was quick to take a victory lap. “We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose,” he wrote in the X post. “We are winning and one by one we will bring sanity back to corporate America.”

Why did Brown-Forman, along with Harley, Deere, Tractor Supply, and as of yesterday, Lowe’s, give up so easily in the face of a wingnut podcaster who looks like a 15-year-old version of JD Vance without the face foliage? 

As best I can determine in the absence of explanations from the corporations, the MBAs in expensive suits in the corporate suites are unused to the kind of below-the-belt attack that the MAGA hordes like to deliver.  Lawsuits and news releases are easy. The potential of doxxing, leaked reports on youthful indiscretions,  and, even worse, threats against executives and their families from arms-bearing yokels represents a concern that’s most simply addressed by giving in and waiting it out.

No one is happy about this, certainly not me. I feel a pang at the possible loss of an old family friend, and I wonder if giving up is really the right thing to do.

In this politically charged era when an old friend has been injured by “anti-woke” forces blowing this racist dog whistle, perhaps it’s better to stand with this old Louisville firm and shout back, hoping that eventually the voices at Brown-Forman will join this chorus again.

Let’s remember that “woke” has deep roots in the black community, and expresses its understanding of racism and its long-term impact in good African-American vernacular English. When people use it as an insulting term and fight against it, they’re exposing their racism as clearly as Birmingham sheriff “Bull” Connors did with his police dogs. We don’t need that. We don’t have to stand for that.

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