The Historical Murray's Fools and the MFD Co. Brand

The story of Murray's Fools Distilling Co. (MFD Co.) is based on our co-founder, Randall Beach’s, great-great-grandfather W.H.H. Murray (Adirondack Murray), and his advocacy of the Adirondacks and outdoor life. Considered by many to be the “Father of the Outdoor Movement,” Murray wrote and published Adventures in the Wilderness in 1869. This book brought huge, adventure seeking crowds into the Adirondacks, creating what the media of the time dubbed 'The Murray Rush'. So many people arrived after the book was published that there weren't enough accommodations, guides, etc.; hence these crowds were called 'Murray's Fools'. Later, these ‘Murray's Fools’ built hundreds of 'Great Camps', hotels, vacation homes and clubs in the Adirondacks, making the Adirondack Mountains the destination place of the privileged, as well as the growing urban class.

Murray believed in protecting and conserving the Adirondacks, and often spoke about the “Ownership of the Adirondacks.”  He believed no one state or individual owned the wilderness, but rather that it existed in trust. Murray said the Adirondacks stood for forces that affect the mind, body and spirit of men to such a degree and so salutarily that they are lifted above monetary classment.

Murray's belief was that to be a full person one must combine intimate knowledge of nature with a civilized education. It was Murray who brought laughter to the Adirondack scene, and it was the kind of laughter which he brought that filled (and still fills) his book with vitality. Murray's laugh is that of the involved participant, and its outcome is a distillation of a sense of warm humility in the face of nature.

Murray’s Fools Distillery Co. seeks to create and provide fine spirits to those who, just as the original Murray’s Fools, have independent streaks, courage, adventurous souls and live for nature’s quiet moments.

“I wish that you may find, in excursions which you may make into the wilderness, the health and happiness which have, upon its waters and upon its softly murmuring pines, come to me.”  - W.H.H. Murray

W.H.H. Murray

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