At one time, the Kentucky Bourbon Affair had an event at the Filson Historical Society where Bill Thomas, Jared Hyman and I held an appraisal fair. It was a lot of fun and many interesting items came in for appraisal.... Continue Reading →
At the turn of the 21st century, archeological work at Mount Vernon, the home of our first President, George Washington, uncovered evidence of his distillery. With funding and help from DISCUS (Distilled Spirits Council of the United States), the distilling... Continue Reading →
This bar decanter dates from the first decade of the twentieth century. Peter Cooper Rye was a product of the rectifying company of Dreyfuss, Weil & Co. of Paducah, Kentucky. Paducah, Kentucky has a rich heritage in the spirits industry.... Continue Reading →
The Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Ky. has a “scrapbook” from a lithographer named Miller from the 1850s. It is really a sample book of his work. There are labels of all types. Miller printed labels for perfumes, jellies and... Continue Reading →
The original of this print is part of the United Distillers archive. They had a collection of prints of the distilleries and buildings that came before the Stitzel-Weller Distillery. This included the original Stitzel Bros. Distillery at 26th and Broadway,... Continue Reading →
You can see a blown-up version of this photograph at the Oscar Getz Museum in Bardstown, Ky. It is on the wall of one of the rooms with some other old photographs of bottling whiskey at Kentucky distilleries. The original... Continue Reading →
In the summer of 1994, I was working as the archivist at United Distillers and was asked to take the artist, Ralph Steadman to the Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark distilleries. Steadman was doing the illustrations for the annual winter... Continue Reading →
The Tom and Jerry was a very popular cocktail before Prohibition, but seems to have faded out of existence after the repeal of Prohibition. It is a cocktail that was served either hot or cold that contained eggs. It was... Continue Reading →
After the repeal of Prohibition, Seagram built a distillery in Louisville. This distillery was on the southern boundary of the city on Seventh Street Road. The city limits ended not far from where they built this distillery at the time.... Continue Reading →
