The practice of using an assumed business name or “Doing Business As” (DBA) has been used by the distilling industry for over 150 years. This term describes when a company uses a different name in the marketplace usually after it purchases another distillery and their brands, or when they are contract distilling for another company.
For example, when the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery was making Bourbon for W. L Weller and Sons in 1913, before they became the same company, Stitzel would “hang a sign” on the distillery and the whiskey made that day would be made at the W. L. Weller and Sons Distillery. Stitzel did not actually have to hang a sign, but there was paperwork involved, filed with the government gauger, that made the distillery the W.L Weller and Sons Distillery while they were making their whiskey. This allowed W. L. Weller and Sons to use their name as distiller on the label of the whiskey they made. It also allowed W. L. Weller and Sons to create the image of them being the distiller of the Bourbon.
DBAs are still being used today as companies with several old, historic brands use a different company name to create their brands. There is no Old Grand Dad Distillery, but the Jim Beam Distillery uses a DBA to label Old Grand Dad as being made at the Old Grand Dad Distillery on the label. Heaven Hill, with its many historic labels used to use DBAs for many of its brands, but has moved away from that practice and labels their brands such as Pikesville Rye and Henry McKenna as being made at the Heaven Hill Distillery.
Many non-producing whiskey merchants are still using the DBA when they contract with a distillery to have their whiskey made. There is nothing wrong with this as it is a traditional practice in the business. Contract Distilling is a way for a new distillery, or a company wishing to create a brand, to have whiskey made to their specifications. More often than not, the distillery making a whiskey for someone else will have a non-disclosure agreement with the company they are making their whiskey for, and the DBA is a way to hide the distillery of origin.
The DBA is a historical practice with many years of use. It is less common today than in the past, but you’ll still see it in the modern distilling industry.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller