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On March 3, 2025, we are celebrating 128 years of Bottled-in-Bond whiskey. On March 3, 1897, The Bottled-in-Bond Act was signed by President Grover Cleveland. The Act was pushed for by the straight whiskey distillers in Kentucky and is considered the first consumer protection act in the United States. The Act of Congress guaranteed that every bottle of whiskey bottled-in-bond would be at least four years old, made in the same season, by the same distillery, with nothing added to it except water to lower the proof to 100 proof. It did not guarantee that it was good whiskey, but it did assure the consumer that they had straight whiskey.

Bottled-in-Bond whiskey sales declined starting in the 1950s because of the changing taste of consumers. They had been drinking a lot of Scotch whisky during Prohibition and the years afterwards and had gotten used to 80 proof whiskey. The distilleries started selling lower proof products at 86 and 80 proofs. The decline in bonded whiskey continued as whiskey sales continued to decline in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The deregulation of the whiskey industry in 1984 weakened the Bottle-in-Bond Act and consumers saw the loss of the green tax stamp with the year when the whiskey was made and the year when the whiskey was bottled. Bonded whiskey was still being sold, but to a much smaller market. 

This changed when whiskey sales started to soar in the 21st century. Consumers started looking for the bonded whiskey and its higher proof. As the industry expanded, new distilleries were being opened. As these distilleries reached four or more years of production, they started looking at bottling a bonded product. Many of these distilleries had been selling whiskey sourced from larger distilleries and wanted the consumer to know that the whiskey they were now selling was made by them and bonded whiskey still had that guarantee of straight whiskey made by them. Bonded whiskey sales continued to grow and the consumers learned to appreciate the Bottled-in-Bond products. 

Bottled-in-Bond whiskey is still an important part of the distilling industry. It still has the government’s assurance that the whiskey in the bottle meets the standards set in 1897. It will remain an important part of the industry as long as these guarantees are enforced by the government.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller