Maker’s Mark reveals design of its commemorative Rick Pitino bottles
In case capturing a national championship, putting a horse in the Kentucky Derby and seeing his son land a Big Ten coaching job weren't enough, here's further proof that it's pretty good to be Rick Pitino these days.
The Louisville coach will now be able to pour from a bottle of bourbon with his own image on the front of it.
Kentucky-based Maker's Mark announced last month it will honor Pitino by producing 12,600 commemorative bottles of bourbon with the Louisville coach's likeness on them. The company revealed the design of the bottle Tuesday and announced that $500,000 worth of proceeds from the sales of the bourbon will go to Louisville's Academic Center of Excellence.
"We couldn't do what we're doing from an academic standpoint without sponsors like Maker's Mark," Pitino told reporters. "We're going to raise a lot of money from this."
Of course, Pitino isn't the first Kentucky sporting luminary to have his likeness appear on a bottle of Maker's Mark. Kentucky fans lined up by the dozen at stores to purchase John Calipari bottles after his first Final Four appearance two years ago, and Louisville fans quickly snapped up Charlie Strong bottles last year.
