Commemorative Maker’s Mark® Bourbon bottle partners with Keeneland, benefits LexArts
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- March 29, 2021
The annual release of a commemorative Maker’s Mark® Bourbon bottle in partnership with Keeneland will, for the first time, be three distinct bottles, each with its own label featuring the work of artists Sandra Oppegard, Andre Pater, or Tyler Robertson. The labels depict the pageantry, beauty, and power of Thoroughbred racing, a sport on which Isaac Murphy certainly left an indelible mark.
LexArts has entered into a three-year partnership with Maker’s Mark and Keeneland as the beneficiary of the proceeds from its annual Commemorative Maker’s Mark Bottle release. This year’s proceeds will be used to enhance art and programming in the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden.
Murphy is the only jockey to have won the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, and Clark Handicap in the same year (1884). He was originally buried in the African Cemetery #2 in Lexington but was later moved to the Kentucky Horse Park where he now lies near the legendary Thoroughbred, Man o’ War.
Proceeds from the bottle sales will go to LexArts to support its initiatives at the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden in Lexington. Funds from the 2021 bottle series will provide the remaining funding required to realize a permanent art installation by Lexington folk artist LaVon Van Williams, Jr. as well as future programming within the park with an emphasis on the arts.
The bottles are all pre-signed by the artist who created each label along with Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin, Maker’s Mark Managing Director Rob Samuels, and one of three active Hall of Fame jockeys who have won the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland multiple times: Javier Castellano, Edgar Prado, and John Velazquez.
The three bottles will go on sale Friday, April 2. This begins the three-year series benefiting LexArts initiatives, with the same three artists creating new labels each year for the commemorative release.