I have picked this bar tray because it represents an interesting period in whiskey history. The bar tray is from the 1960s, a period where the whiskey industry was in decline. There was an over production problem. This is also the period where consumers started to see an increase in whiskey over eight years old.
It started in the late 1950s. Schenley had over-produced their whiskeys because of the fear that the Korean War would develop into another World War and the distilleries would have to shut down production of beverage spirits in order to produce alcohol for the war effort, like they did during the Second World War. That did not happen and Schenley found that they had over-produced and would go bankrupt if they had to pay the taxes on their whiskey after the eight year bonding period ended. Schenley’s response was to go to Congress and get the bonding period increased from eight years to twenty years. The increase took effect in 1958.
Schenley quickly had whiskey that was over eight years old and started introducing ten and twelve year old whiskeys to the market. This took some time to become popular. The eight year old whiskey had been the maximum that consumers had seen since the end of Prohibition. They remembered the older whiskeys from that period and did not care for them as they were most often too tannic and bitter. Taste had also changed over the years and consumers wanted a lighter tasting whiskey. They had gotten used to Scotch whisky being considered the good whiskey and Scotch was lighter in flavor than Bourbon or Rye whiskeys and usually bottled at 80 proof, meaning you got more bottles of whiskey from the barrel, leading to distilleries selling fewer barrels of whiskey.
Schenley flooded the market with inexpensive whiskey, often over eight years of age. This cheapened the reputation of American whiskey and more consumers saw Scotch as the “good stuff.” People also started drinking vodka and tequila, which also cut into American whiskey sales. Distilleries were closed down and the remaining distilleries cut back on production. The whiskey glut would last for decades.
Consumers did eventually develop a taste for older whiskey as they realized that extra-aging could produce very good whiskey when done correctly. The bitter, tannic whiskey of Prohibition was bitter and tannic because the whiskey was often stored anywhere in the warehouse and extra-aged whiskey needs to be stored on the lower floors of the warehouse to prevent the tannins from the wood becoming bitter and dominating the flavor of the whiskey.
This bar tray represents Schenley’s efforts to convince consumers to drink extra aged whiskey. Brands like Old Charter ten and twelve year old whiskey slowly grew in popularity. Old Charter even had an advertising campaign with the slogan “The whiskey that did not watch the clock”. Schenley started collecting antique clocks and toured the country with their clock collection. Other brands also created extra aged expressions. Very Old Fitzgerald at ten and twelve years old started appearing on the shelves in the mid-1960s. Distilleries found that they had barrels of older whiskey as sales decreased and had to find a use for these barrels. This bar tray represents this period in whiskey history.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller