Brown–Forman
The Brown-Forman Corporation 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, Korbel champagnes, Fetzer wines, and Bolla wines.
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, Kentucky, 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 2004 had sales of $2.5 billion, of which $1.9 billion was accounted for by sales of wines and spirits.