Brown-Forman Corporation

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The Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE: BFB) is one of the largest American-owned companies in the wine and spirits business, and is a diversified producer and marketer of fine quality consumer products. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Brown-Forman employs 6,400 people in the United States and abroad. Some well-known products of the corporation include Jack Daniels, Canadian Mist, Southern Comfort, Early Times Kentucky Whisky, Old Forester Bourbon whiskey, Korbel champagne, Fetzer wine, Finlandia vodka, and Bolla wine.

Through Lenox, Incorporated, Brown-Forman also manufactures and markets the china, crystal, collectibles, and giftware of Lenox; the contemporary tabletop and giftware designs of Dansk; the silver, crystal, china, and giftware of Gorham; the silver and pewter products of Kirk Stieff; and the luggage and leather goods of Hartmann.

The company was founded in 1870 by George Garvin Brown, a young pharmaceuticals salesman in Louisville, who had the then-novel idea of selling top-grade whiskey in sealed glass bottles. Since then, it has grown into a company that in fiscal 2005 had sales of $2.7 billion, of which $2.1 billion was accounted for by sales of wines and spirits.