Inside Never Say Die: The British Bourbon Backed By America's Whiskey Elite

Forbes

24-06-2025

Never Say Die bourbon
There are worse things to base a whiskey brand on than a horse who refused to die. In the early 1950s, a foal born in Kentucky was declared lifeless after a traumatic birth. He was revived, as legend goes, with a shot of bourbon, and named accordingly: Never Say Die. A few years later, that same horse would be shipped to Britain and, against 33-to-1 odds, win the 1954 Epsom Derby—the first American-born colt to do so in over 70 years. One of the bettors who cashed in was Mona Best, a Liverpudlian mom who used the winnings to open the Casbah Club where The Beatles—then known as the Quarrymen—would play the first show. Her son even became The Beatles' first drummer, preceding Ringo Starr.
So yes, the name comes with baggage, and the bourbon that now bears it leans all the way in. The idea came to life at the Kentucky Derby, where David Wild—one of the brand's seven co-founders—reconnected with Pat Madden, whose family owned the farm where Never Say Die the horse was born. Wild and Madden had known each other since studying together at Cambridge, and this story, shared over a few mint juleps, became the spark. What if a bourbon could follow the same improbable journey? Born in Kentucky. Shipped across the Atlantic. Finished in Britain.
Wild brought in Martha Dalton early on, having worked with her and Fran O'Leary at political consultancy Lodestone. Dalton now leads the UK arm of the business, while Madden brought in Brian Luftman—an agricultural investor with strong ties to Kentucky bourbon—to run operations in the States. On the production side, Pat Heist and Shane Baker of Wilderness Trail were brought in to craft the liquid itself.
Never Say Die founders David, Brian and Martha
That founding legend fast became more than just a name. As the idea developed, the team realised the horse's unlikely voyage across the Atlantic could inform more than the branding. "We realised it would actually shape the whiskey, too," Dalton says. 'It wasn't just a symbolic journey. It would create a genuine difference in the flavour.'
Never Say Die's bourbon now spends at least five years ageing in Kentucky, then six weeks at sea, and is finally finished in England, where the cooler, more consistent conditions slow the ageing. "That combination of three distinct environments creates a flavour profile you don't get with traditional bourbon," Dalton explains. 'It adds complexity and smoothness, and it's something people can genuinely taste in the final product.'
The founding team had much more than the liquid to worry about, of course. They were also building a business from scratch—many of them with limited experience—and designed the early investor model to bring people into the process, not just onto a balance sheet. "One of the things that made our approach stand out was that every early investor was given a barrel of bourbon as part of their investment," Dalton says. 'They could choose to bottle it themselves, let us handle it, or even keep it aging. It meant they weren't just investing in a brand, they were literally getting a piece of its history.'
'Because our investors were whiskey enthusiasts, they were genuinely excited about the opportunity to be part of something from the ground up—especially something as unique as this. The bourbon investment space can sometimes feel like a closed shop, so being able to invest directly—and in such a personal way—really resonated with people.'
The reputation of the production team helped, too, distilled and aged by Shane Baker and Pat Heist of Wilderness Trail, who use a proprietary sweet mash bill unusual in an industry where sour mash is standard. 'It's more effort to produce, but it gives a smoother, higher-quality spirit. That attention to detail is a big part of what makes Never Say Die what it is.'
Yet even with a future award-winning liquid in place, international trade policy nearly killed the project before it began. When the UK placed retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey in response to the Trump administration's own tariffs, Dalton helped launch the Bourbon Alliance—a campaign group that brought together distillers, importers, bars and retailers to support one another and effect real change. 'We successfully campaigned for the tariffs to be removed, building cross-party political support and working with the media to keep up pressure. Eventually the tariffs were dropped in 2022, and within hours the first shipment of Never Say Die was on a ship making its way across the Atlantic.'
"That campaign really felt like a moment where both of my worlds aligned," she says. 'It meant a huge amount to be able to contribute something meaningful to the wider industry, not just our own brand.'
The duality of those two worlds—the private sector and the drinks industry—continues to shape Dalton's personal approach. "It's definitely a bit of a juggling act, but the two roles feed into each other more than people might expect," she says. "I've spent years helping clients understand how government works and how to get things done behind the scenes. That experience really came into its own."
Never Say Die's three expressions
Today, Never Say Die has three expressions: a Small Batch, a Rye, and a UK-exclusive Barrel Strength. The Small Batch and Rye both picked up Double Gold at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and the brand has expanded to nine US states, with Europe and Asia next on the list.
On-trade (and in my own personal, drinks writing experience), it's also rapidly gaining ground among some of the world's best bartenders who, as Dalton puts it, 'love having something with a proper story behind it to share with customers.'
The bottle offers a helping hand, too, packed with references, designed by Stranger & Stranger to reward close inspection. "We wanted the bottle to reflect that full-circle transatlantic journey—from Kentucky to England—and honour both the horse's legacy and our own," Dalton says. Among the visual touches: Lester Piggott's racing silks in magenta and silver, a crest mixing Kentucky grains with ocean waves, and a gold seal bearing an arm and hammer to represent craft. Another seal reads "Matured in England," with a British coat of arms—where the unicorn has been replaced by a horse.
"One of my favourite touches is the perforated edge on the label, which looks like an old bookie's betting slip," Dalton says. "That's a reference to Mona Best. She used her winnings to open the Casbah Club in Liverpool and bought her son, Pete Best, some drums—and from there, the early Beatles story began."
Never Say Die has become a bartender favorite
As one of the few women leading a whiskey brand, Dalton is increasingly vocal about the need for better representation in the industry, as well. 'Whisky has always been seen as quite a male space—both in terms of who drinks it and who works in it—but that perception is really out of date. The audience is far broader now, and the industry needs to reflect that.'
'I'm such a big supporter of what Becky Paskin is doing with OurWhisky. She's done a brilliant job spotlighting women across the industry and pushing for more inclusive representation—not just in leadership, but in how whisky is talked about and marketed.'
Dalton also points to Marianne Barnes and Dawn Davies as important figures. 'Whisky really is for everyone… or at least, it should be. The more we celebrate that diversity and shift the narrative around who whisky is 'for', the stronger the category becomes.'
That sense of collective progress is baked into the brand's ethos. 'Success isn't just about your own brand—it's about the strength of the category as a whole. That's something I've carried with me while building Never Say Die. There's room for all of us, and we're better when we back each other.'
There are collaborations on the horizon, too. A recent tie-up with White Peak Distillery has seen English whisky aged in freshly emptied Never Say Die barrels. "Because it's gone into a freshly emptied, wet barrel—which is pretty rare for Bourbon finishes in the UK—we're hoping you'll actually be able to taste the difference," Dalton says. "That extra layer of character the wet cask might bring."
"We're always on the lookout for partners who share our approach to craft and aren't afraid to try something a bit different," she says. 'When the passion's there on both sides, that's when the good stuff happens.'
And with more than a bit of passion on both sides of the pond now, Never Say Die is, unequivocally, producing the good stuff.