A History Of Mammoth Cave Bourbon

The Mammoth Cave Bourbon Brand has been revived by the Balance Distilling Company in Smiths Grove, Kentucky. I am always happy to see an old brand revived. This brand was one of the brands United Distillers looked at reviving for the Eastern European market back in 1993, but we could not get the trademark because Mammoth Cave National Park owned the name. Balance Distilling Company has worked out an agreement with the park and is selling the brand in the park’s gift shop.

Here is what I learned when I researched the brand for United Distillers back in 1993. In 1899, an article in the Wine and Spirits Bulletin of January 1, 1900, has T.B. Ripy shipping whiskey to Bremen, Germany to avoid the 8 year bonding period and allow it to age longer. The idea originated with W.G. Coldeway who sold a 16 year old Mammoth Cave Bourbon. In 1907, in a promotional pamphlet for the Greater Louisville Exposition of March 18-30, W. L. Weller and Sons advertised the brands Harlem Club, Silas B. Johnson and Mammoth Cave Bourbons. They had purchased the Mammoth Cave brand sometime before that period, probably in 1906 since that was the first year I found them mentioning the brand.

W.L. Weller and Sons sold the brand as medicinal whiskey during Prohibition. It was considered one of their highest quality brands and sold at the top of their pricing for whiskeys. By this time they were operating under A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery’s license and the whiskey was in Stitzel’s warehouse on Story Avenue in Louisville. After the Repeal of Prohibition in December, 1933, W.L. Weller and Sons merged with A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery to form Stitzel-Weller Distillery. The Mammoth Cave brand remained in their portfolio of brands but became a regional brand with a limited market. By the 1960s, the brand was discontinued in favor of promoting Old Fitzgerald. The trademark was abandoned and the brand faded away. United Distillers looked at reviving the brand for the Eastern European market, but quickly discounted the idea because of the trademark issues with the National Park.

Now, in 2024, the brand has been revived by Balance Distilling Company and you can taste this wheat recipe Bourbon at their tasting room and pick up bottles at the distillery or the Lodge at Mammoth Cave.