I first started singing the praises of the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 when I gave my first Bourbon history talk in 1993. Back then, people were barely interested in Bourbon, let alone bonded Bourbon. It was considered a dying category... Continue Reading →
The Yellowstone brand of Bourbon was created in 1872 by J.B. Dant to honor the opening of our first National Park. The registered trademark included an image of the Yellowstone Waterfall. When bottling of whiskey became common in the 1890s,... Continue Reading →
The first written mention of Bourbon is in 1826. There were no regulations on what is Bourbon at that time. In fact, there was only the idea that Bourbon was a corn whiskey made in Kentucky. There was not even... Continue Reading →
I am often asked about the history behind the wheat recipe Bourbon; It is a short history to write, but a long history over all. It starts in the early 19th century. There are several mash bills dating to the... Continue Reading →
In a letter of January 1902, Edmond H. Taylor, Jr. admitted that he had some barrels of whiskey for sale that were ten years old and thus were not available to be sold as bonded whiskey. The bonding period for... Continue Reading →
I recently was invited to do my Bourbon Country Institute at the Ben Holladay Distillery in Weston, Missouri. They wanted to do a two day event with the first day, Friday, being a class for the staff of the Distillery... Continue Reading →
Japan has been a major market for Bourbon for a long time. It could possibly trace its roots to the 1850s when Commodore Matthew Perry first went to Japan in a bit of gunboat diplomacy and forced open the Japanese... Continue Reading →
In early days of Kentucky distilling history, the Ohio River was the natural trade route for goods produced by the settlers. Kentucky is blessed with many navigable rivers and it was easier to load trade goods on a flatboat and... Continue Reading →
On March 3, 1897, President Grover Cleveland signed the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. It was the last piece of legislation that he signed as President of the United States. He signed the act and got into the carriage that took... Continue Reading →
