Ancient Age Bourbon has an unusual heritage. It was first distilled in 1932 in Canada when Louis Rosentiel, the President of Schenley decided that Prohibition was going to end after the next presidential election and he contract distilled some Bourbon in Canada. It was legal to call it Bourbon at the time because it was not until the 1964 Act of Congress that made Bourbon solely a product of the United States. In fact, Bourbon was being distilled in Juarez, Mexico by Waterfield & Frazier when Mary Dowling moved her distillery there when Prohibition was passed. In 1936 Schenley created the Ancient Age brand with this Bourbon made in Canada, giving them a four year old Bourbon to bottle when most everyone else was just starting or re-starting their distilleries. For some reason I don’t understand, Schenley waited until 1952 to register the trademark. Ancient Age was not one of their flagship brands, those were I.W. Harper, Old Charter, James E. Pepper and Schenley blended whiskey, so it may have been a low priority to protect the Ancient Age brand. In 1967 Schenley created an Ancient Age Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon, an unusual decision as Bourbon sales were declining and consumer tastes had shifted to lower, 80 proof whiskeys. In1983 Schenley sold the Ancient Age Distillery, now Buffalo Trace Distillery, to a group of Schenley executives and the brand became part of an independent company.
This bar sign is undated, but I believe it is from the 1960s. It features the tag line “If you can find a better Bourbon… buy it!” This is a bold statement that took courage to use. Ancient Age sales were steady when other brands were beginning to decline. The bar sign was created to hang in bars and liquor stores where consumers had a choice as to what Bourbon they were going to purchase. The slogan implied that Ancient Age had no peers and was the best Bourbon you could buy.
Under the new owners, Ancient Age took a back seat to their new product, Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon, and the other single barrel brands they created. The Ancient, Ancient Age Ten Year Old Bourbon was created by the new company but it too fell out of favor and became a very inexpensive brand often relegated to the bottom shelf. With the rebirth of the Bourbon industry, whiskey shortages were created. Ancient Ancient Age lost the ten year old age statement and became “Ten Star”. Buffalo Trace still makes the brand but it is not owned by Sazerac. The brand is owned by Age International, Inc., a subsidiary company of a Japanese company called Takara Shuzo Co.
Photo Courtesy of Michael Veach