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... Continue Reading →
There has been a great growth in brands of Bourbon using a wheat recipe Bourbon in the last two decades. I thought I would look at the history of this growth in this blog. The use of wheat as a... Continue Reading →
It is often said that the barrel gives about 50-70% of the flavor to aged whiskey and it is true that the barrel gives the dominant flavor to whiskey. However, that leaves 30-50% for other sources to impact the flavor... Continue Reading →
Bottle shape was fairly standard for much of the 20th century, but not so before Prohibition. I thought I would look at these pre-Prohibition whiskey bottles and discuss the history of these bottles. Whiskey has been put in bottles since... Continue Reading →
I have always been an advocate for making Repeal Day a national holiday. It is a day when we as Americans, should celebrate the freedom it brought back to the constitution. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was the only... Continue Reading →
Sometimes I let my mind wander about a subject and today, I pondered the subject of whiskey legends. I have always said that in distilling history, there are two types of history – the verified facts and marketing legends. I... Continue Reading →
Military Veterans have had a long history with the American Distilling Industry. It starts with the whiskey tax that caused the whiskey rebellion. Veterans of the American Revolution opposed the tax. They had just fought a war over taxation and... Continue Reading →
When Americans first started distilling, the major roadway was the river. Distilleries depended upon the waterways to get their whiskey to markets that were not local. Shipping barrels of whiskey was hard to achieve on the primitive roads of the... Continue Reading →
This is a question that was very much discussed with my good friend, Al Young, when he was still with us. He would often call me and ask this question and we had several interesting telephone calls as a result. ... Continue Reading →
