Hunter Chavanne: From Baton Rouge to a Kentucky bourbon distillery

Hunter Chavanne outside the Willett Distillery. Photos courtesy Hunter Chavanne

Age: 37
Here: LSU Manship School of Mass Communication student and graduate
There: Marketing director at Willett Distillery

Why and when did you decide to move to Bardstown, Kentucky?
My wife would mention in casual conversation about home and [having] four very distinct seasons. Her mom, dad and brother were in Kentucky. Her father, I knew from some of the “special deliveries” we would get around Christmastime, was aging some very nice bourbon and rye whiskey in Kentucky on the family property. There’s a tremendous amount of history with the Willett family and distilling that goes back to right after the Civil War. We joined the family business in 2005.

What’s a typical day at the distillery?
I’ll have a two- or three-day stretch on the road, working with distributors and educating them, as well as [visiting] accounts around whatever city I am in. When I stay at the office, I am in touch with distributors or working on a new label. At times I am showing distributors, bartenders, beverage directors and others around the distillery and educating them on what makes our place so unique within the Kentucky bourbon landscape.

What’s the best thing about living in Bardstown?
Being in the center of the bourbon universe.

You live in a house built in 1825. Tell us about it.
It was built by a pretty famous architect, John Rogers, who helped build St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Bardstown—the first Catholic church west of the Allegheny Mountains. We just love these old houses. The rumor is that the house next door served as a hospital during the Civil War. The [home from the famous song] “My Old Kentucky Home” is almost across the street, and like ours, it is done in the Federalist style.

What Baton Rouge touches are in the house?
My home office is LSU-centric. I’ve got a framed photo of the “Bluegrass Miracle” (a 74-yard winning LSU touchdown pass with no time left in the 2002 game against Kentucky). I was in Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington when it happened. I don’t think anyone else in the Commonwealth appreciates it.

What do you miss most about Baton Rouge?
First would have to be my family. I’ve got one sister who lives a couple of hundred yards from the University Lakes. I’ve got another sister and my mom and dad who live in New Roads. So I miss family, but gosh, I miss the food and proximity to LSU sporting venues. Watching LSU and Alabama in Death Valley at night from 700 miles away is not the same as being in Death Valley.

How often do you get back to Baton Rouge?
I’ve got to get back pretty darned often or I start having withdrawals. I’m blessed in two regards. First, all of my family is still down there. Second, we have distribution in Louisiana (and 36 other states), so I get back quite often—a minimum of three times a year, and if I can, half a dozen.

—As told to Jerry Ceppos