Kentucky is well-known for its wide range of bourbons. However, there was no record of a black woman being behind the development of a bourbon company in the area until recently. Brittany Penny, Kentucky’s first Black woman bourbon brand founder and CEO, is the driving force behind 2 Cents Inc., which operates the brand IX Bourbon Whiskey.
Penny’s business began in 2020, when she became pregnant with her first child. According to her, she would take notes on the fragrances of her husband’s bourbon collection. It finally served as a foundation for her to launch her own bourbon company.
“The pregnancy nose is an amazing feature. Throughout my first pregnancy amid the COVID pandemic, I would catch the aromas of my husband’s bourbon collection and pick up different notes of apricot, vanilla, caramel, and many other flavor profiles. Without realizing it, I was doing the research necessary to start my own bourbon brand,” she told Cuisine Noir.
Penny, who was born and bred in Louisville, has always been a bourbon enthusiast. Her father was a bourbon lover, so she inherited a significant collection and understanding of the spirit. And when she grew interested in her husband’s bourbon collection while pregnant, she did not hesitate.
She began her brand with the help of her spouse and has since taken over the sector. Penny, as a trailblazer, is not only becoming powerful in a field where people who look like her are few, but she is also rubbing elbows with the field’s dominant white guys.
Prior to joining the bourbon industry, she worked as an executive assistant, marketing specialist, and social media manager.
“I wanted to do something that made me happy. I was in a job where I wasn’t really being fulfilled, so I wanted to do something that I loved and that I was passionate about. My husband assisted with the operational set-up where I focused on the IX Bourbon experience, crafting aromas and flavor profiles,” she noted.
Penny stated that her new venture has forced her to learn to be at ease in an industry that is outside of her comfort zone. It has, she claims, helped her gain confidence in situations where she is the only person of race. Her goal now is to reach out to more people in Kentucky with her wine before expanding beyond the state in the coming years.
She also expressed her desire for 2 Cents to be the next in a series of family-run bourbon businesses to WHAS11.
“Kind of like Brown-Forman does, Jack Daniels does, Heaven Hill, they have family owned companies and that’s what I was going for too,” she said. “To build that generational wealth.”