Mr. Russell’s two greatest contemporaries — Booker Noe of the Jim Beam family and Elmer T. Lee of the Buffalo Trace distillery, who are credited with inventing small-batch and single-barrel bourbons — are gone now, and Parker Beam of Heaven Hill has retired, leaving Mr. Russell the oldest master distiller still working.

The new masters, including the sons of Mr. Noe and Mr. Beam, along with Chris Morris of Woodford Reserve and Jim Rutledge of Four Roses, have picked up the tradition, and their own fan base. Craig Beam and Denny Potter of Heaven Hill have come in Mr. Beam’s stead, and Greg Davis of Maker’s Mark carries the torch for those bottles sealed in red wax. Tom Bulleit, the founder of Bulleit Bourbon, falls into the category of the modern bourbon baron. Though he is not a master distiller, his name is on the bottle, and bourbon fans gravitate to him. All of these men travel the world touting American whiskey and many times find themselves together, like a band of brothers.

Bourbon distilling has long been a family tradition, said Michael R. Veach, a bourbon historian and author of “Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage.” “It really wasn’t until after Prohibition that you saw an effort to train other people in distilling,” he said. For much of the mid- to late-20th century, it was a sleepy business, though still an important Kentucky craft.

Mr. Russell and his contemporaries continued to teach their children the art of minding the grain mix and yeast mash, the difference among types of barrels used for aging and how a bourbon ought to smell. “Dad taught people how to properly smell bourbon,” Mr. Noe said, which includes inhaling it with the mouth as well as the nose.