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Petersburg Distillery RD #8

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 17:55:49 GMT

Petersburg Distillery 1907

The Petersburg Steam Mill Company was established in 1817 by a North Carolinian named John James Flournoy. The business was transformed into a distillery when two Virginian brothers purchased it in 1833. The Petersburg Distillery was the only distillery in Boone County and at one time the largest in the state of Kentucky. In 1860, the Petersburg Distillery produced 1.125 million gallons of whiskey. Despite the exuberant Federal liquor tax of the Civil War, the distillery continued to do well and, in 1874, was purchased by the Cincinnati firm of Freiburg and Workum. They expanded production so that by 1897 the annual capacity had ballooned to 4 million gallons. The success was not to last, as it was sold in 1899 to a company who sold off all the bonded whiskey and eventually dismantled the buildings. Several buildings in town were built from bricks that were once part of the distillery, including Odd Fellows Hall, Petersburg Baptist Church, and the Petersburg Jail.

Lewis Loder, a Petersburg resident who was bookkeeper and clerk at the Petersburg Distillery and also Justice of the Peace, documented almost 50 years of operations at the distillery and daily life in Petersburg. Lewis was born in Pennsylvania but came to Boone County with his father and siblings around 1839. On March 2, 1849, Lewis married Julia Goodridge Hayden who was widowed and caring for a son from her first marriage. They moved into a two-story home known as White Hall on the corner of Tanner and Front Streets, where they ran a tavern and inn. In 1857, Loder was elected Justice of the Peace and began keeping his daily diaries that would continue until 1904. He gave a great deal of information about the people who lived in Petersburg and the surrounding areas. He recorded the temperature and weather conditions, births, marriages and deaths, happenings at the distillery, and everyday events such as picnics or other events.

In 1894, at the age of 75, Lewis moved to Constance to live with his son Leon. He continued to write in his diary until 1903 when a new hand takes over writing, most likely Leon. The last entry in the diary is on December 15, 1904. Lewis died at the home of his son on March 16, 1905. In his obituary it states he had a long illness and that he was to be interred in Petersburg but there is no marker for him.

As you drive down Kentucky 20 into quiet Petersburg, Kentucky, it is hard to believe that Kentucky’s largest distillery once dominated the southern half of the town. For over a century, the Petersburg Distillery, by far Boone County‘s leading industry, sat along the banks of the Ohio River in Petersburg.

The early development of Petersburg was closely tied to a North Carolinian named John James Flournoy who, in 1817, platted the town and established the Petersburg Steam Mill Company. Flournoy’s mill was transformed into an industrial power by a Virginian named William Snyder who came to Petersburg in 1833 with his brother John. William Snyder developed the Petersburg Distillery into an industrial giant: in 1860, the distillery produced a staggering 1.125 million gallons of whiskey. Despite the distillery’s success, Snyder was heavily in debt. In 1862, his assets were seized and auctioned by the sheriff at the courthouse.

The distillery weathered the exorbitant Federal liquor taxes of the Civil War under subsequent owner Colonel William Appleton. Near the end of the war, Appleton sold most of his interest to Petersburg’s Joseph C. Jenkins and James Gaff of Aurora, Indiana. Jenkins was a successful stock breeder whose glorious home, “Prospect Farm,” still commands the hill above town. Gaff was a distiller whose brother Thomas Gaff’s 1855 home “Hillforest” is a National Historic Landmark. The trio had some success, but by 1874 each had sold their interest in the distillery to the Cincinnati firm of Freiburg & Workum.

Cincinnati’s whiskey industry of the late 19th Century was marked by expansion and agglomeration and Freiburg & Workum were the biggest fish in a very large pond. By 1880, the distillery was making more whiskey than any other distillery in the state of Kentucky. That year, the distillery was worth $250,000 and produced 975,820 gallons of whiskey. By comparison, the nine distilleries in famed Bourbon County produced only 433,263 gallons of whiskey. By 1897 the Petersburg Distillery’s annual capacity had ballooned to 4 million gallons. The daily capacity of the stills (12,000 gallons) was more than 14 times that of the average 1890s Kentucky distillery and comparable to the output of the massive distilleries of Peoria, Illinois

The Petersburg Distillery’s success would not last into the 20th Century. Freiburg & Workum sold the distillery in 1899 to a company that sold off all the bonded whiskey and eventually dismantled the buildings. By 1919, little of the once proud industry remained. Today, the distillery is an archaeological site with remnants of stone and brick foundations and walls. Three buildings from the complex survive, including the ca. 1870 Cooperage, ca. 1850 Scales Office, and 1885 Superintendent’s House. Other buildings in town are built from distillery brick, including several houses, the 1913 Odd Fellows Hall, the 1916 Petersburg Baptist Church and the tiny 1916 Petersburg Jail.

The Chicken Cock Distillery RD #14, 7th District Bourbon County, KY

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 18:18:47 GMT

The Chicken Cock distillery was established in 1855 by a “Mr Foley” ( Cecil 1999). It was located on Maysville Pike, 1/2-mile east of Paris.According to Cecil, the distillery passed through several hands between 1855 and 1882, including J A Miller, Wm Tarr, G A White and C Alexander.Insurance underwriter records compiled in 1892 suggest that the plant was large. The distillery itself was brick with a metal or slate roof. The distillery property included a grain warehouse, a corn house, a cattle barn, and a cooper shop. There were six Bonded and one Free warehouses, all brick with metal or slate roofs. Locations are follows:

Warehouse A, B, and C — adjoining and 50 ft south of the still.
Warehouse D — adjoining A, B and C, located 155 ft south.
Warehouse E — 40 ft north of the still.
Warehouse F — 170 ft east of the still.
Warehouse F — a Free warehouse located on Church St near the depot.At that time, the distillery was being operated by G G White Co., formerly White & Alexander.

Chicken Cock Whiskey was first established in 1856 in Paris… Paris, Kentucky, that is; a town tucked away in the heart of Bourbon County. One hundred sixty two years ago, James A. Miller built a distillery and started making a type of whiskey unique to the Bluegrass region, bourbon. He named his whiskey Chicken Cock.

Chicken Cock’s Rapid Growth

Just a few years after Chicken Cock’s founding, James A. Miller passed. All he left behind were a few thousand dollars to a trusted clerk at the distillery and a high-quality whiskey brand that was still in its infancy. The clerk, a man named George G. White, would be the man to carry on Chicken Cock Whiskey’s legacy and make it into what we know today.

Together, White and a few partners were able to buy the distillery and continue production. Soon, the Chicken Cock Distillery was mashing up to 400 bushels of grain per day. At this rate, 9,000 barrels of Chicken Cock Whiskey were filled annually.

Around 1880, White changed the distillery’s name to the G.G. White Distillery. The name might have changed, but he didn’t forget who created this iconic bourbon. White paid homage to James A. Miller by renaming the spirit The Old J.A. Miller Chicken Cock.

By 1886, White had increased the mashing capacity to 600 bushels per day. This warranted the creation of six warehouses, each capable of storing up to 32,000 barrels.

America was starting to notice.

Growth, Prosperity, and Imitation

The G.G. White Distillery continued to grow in size and production capabilities. Eventually, the distillery grounds included a cooperage, cattle barn, and grain bins. Hundreds of heads of cattle and hogs were fed the spent grain mash, or slop. The cooperage crafted handmade wooden barrels for the bourbon to age in, while White continued to prove to be a keen and determined businessman.

Chicken Cock Goes West

Kentucky’s proximity to the Mississippi River granted access to distribute bourbon to every port down to New Orleans. From there, it could go anywhere in the world. Through aggressive advertising, J.A. Miller Chicken Cock rose in sales and expanded its reach across the country. They forged relationships with a network of distributors stretching from the Midwest to up the East Coast.

J.A. Miller Chicken Cock even made its way out west, all the way to California. An article published in California praised Chicken Cock Whiskey as a favorite.

Large dealers were purchasing lots from 50 to 1500 barrels at a time. In a land that loves its whiskey, Chicken Cock was making an impact.

Catching a Copycat

Chicken Cock Whiskey became so popular that in 1889 White noticed signs of an imitation brand. Miller’s Game Cock Bourbon, out of Boston, Massachusetts, copied everything from the name to the label design of J.A. Miller Chicken Cock. And while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, something had to be done.

In order to protect the name of his whiskey, White filed a trademark infringement suit. The Circuit Court of Massachusetts ruled in their favor, stating:

“This whiskey for more than 30 years has always been known in the trade as Miller’s Chicken Cock Whiskey,” or “Chicken Cock Whiskey,” and has been noted for its high grade and uniform excellence; and this mark has been stamped on every barrel or package of the whiskey made or sold by Miller or his successor in the business.”

Increasing Legitimacy in the Bourbon Industry

States with strong grain economies, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, particularly thrived during this time of rapid expansion. As whiskey continued to gain popularity, distilleries began popping up across the nation. Unfortunately, not all of these makers were in it for the craftsmanship of distilling spirits. Dishonest manufacturers added things like prune juice, other spirits, and even tobacco spit to their product and sold it as bourbon. Actions like this tarnished the whiskey industry, making it hard to decipher what was true bourbon and what was not.

Distilleries sought a way to protect the bourbon name and add legitimacy to the industry. They needed some form of federal quality regulation. Bourbon distilleries lobbied congress and successfully passed the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. The act put in place specific regulations that ensured that only quality bourbon was being sold as such. Bourbon was now required to be stored in government-regulated and supervised warehouses, be aged a minimum of four years, poured at 100 proof, and be a product of a single distillery. By following the government regulations, distilleries could earn the “bottled-in-bond” stamp of approval signifying a high-quality, pure product.

Whiskey Worth More Than Murder

Bottled-in-bond bourbon wasn’t cheap, and it turns out that stolen whiskey was worth more than murder. In 1899, Bourbon News reported that Henry Gaines was sentenced to five years for the murder of Tom Allen. However, John Henry Trigg received 10 years for stealing a barrel of Chicken Cock Whiskey. Five years went to the man who knowingly bought the stolen whiskey.

Chicken Cock Releases Premium Aged Bourbons

Having been a prominent whiskey distillery in the South for roughly 50 years, Chicken Cock had been around long enough to produce premium whiskey that had been aged for decades. In 1905, Bourbon News reported that a run of Chicken Cock Whiskey aged for 25 years was now available. This run, however, was for society’s elite and sold exclusively to “millionaire clubs.” That is, until prohibition.

Prohibition and the Cotton Club

Prohibition hit America in 1920. The 18th amendment deemed the manufacture and sale of alcohol to be forbidden by law. Large distilleries were able to utilize a legal loophole to sell their spirits for “medicinal purposes” at pharmacies, but this process was expensive. Many smaller distilleries were unable to afford the prescription labels that were required to take this route.

These new laws brought many mom-and-pop spirits companies to a halt, including G.G. White Distillery and its J.A. Miller Chicken Cock Whiskey. Like many small operations, a larger foreign conglomerate bought them out. Distillers Corporation Limited, of Montreal, Canada, purchased legal rights to the Chicken Cock name and began production outside of the U.S.

New Owner, Same Chicken Cock

With longer transport routes, Distillers Corporation Limited did away with the identifiable J.A. Miller Chicken Cock Whiskey glass bottles and opted for tin cans filled with Canadian Rye. The packaging and liquid may have been different, but Chicken Cock was still making its mark in whiskey lore.

Chicken Cock and the Cotton Club

As a result of prohibition, smuggling alcohol into America became an industry of its own. The illegal sale of bootlegged alcohol ran rampant, and nowhere more so than in speakeasies. Speakeasies offered refreshment, exclusivity, music, and secrecy. It wasn’t long before Chicken Cock found its way into one of New York City’s most popular nightclubs. The Cotton Club, located in Harlem at 142nd St. and Lenox Avenue, featured Chicken Cock as their house whiskey.

Making an Impression

The Cotton Club was one of the most famous speakeasies in history and hosted some of the jazz era’s most prominent musicians. Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Fats Waller all took their turn performing at this iconic 1920s hideout. Duke Ellington and his orchestra regularly performed on the Cotton Club’s stage, which eventually launched him into national fame and international stardom.

As the house whiskey, Ellington recalls Chicken Cock as “good whiskey,” and even reminisces about the whiskey that came sealed in a can in his memoir, Music is My Mistress.

During the prohibition period, you could always buy good whiskey from somebody in the Cotton Club. They used to have what they called Chicken Cock. It was a bottle in a can, and the can was sealed. It cost something like ten to fourteen dollars a pint ($140+ in today’s dollars).

—Excerpt from Music Is My Mistress, Duke Ellington

Prohibition didn’t last forever, though, and when the 21st amendment was passed, distilleries were hopeful for whiskey’s future.

Post-Prohibition

Toward the end of prohibition, Chicken Cock Whiskey changed hands again. The American Medicinal Spirits Company, owned by National Distillers Products Corporation, trademarked the brand and sold it for medicinal use. After the 21st amendment passed and Prohibition came to an end, there was a push for the revival of Chicken Cock Whiskey. National Distillers Products Corp. poured efforts into advertising attempting to bring it back to its pre-prohibition glory.

But it wasn’t that easy.

Bourbon Faces Challenges

Prohibition outlawed the manufacturing of intoxicating beverages in the United States. This means that for thirteen years, while prohibition laws were intact, there was little to no whiskey being distilled in the U.S.

For several years after the end of Prohibition, whiskeys were either barely aged or replaced by unaged bourbon. It was hard (if impossible) to procure quality aged liquors for the market. Whiskeys quickly fell out of favor for lighter, unaged spirits.

Gradually, the once coveted Chicken Cock Whiskey brand started fading away, until dying off in the 1950s.

Chicken Cock Whiskey’s Revival

Chicken Cock’s fortunes changed in 2011 when spirits entrepreneur Matti Anttila discovered the brand while researching the early days of distilling in the United States. A mere memory at that point, he decided that The Famous Old Brand needed to be brought back from the dead. So he started buying the best aged bourbon he could find and exploring the market for old relics of the brand’s glory days.

H.E. Pogue Distillery RD #3

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 18:25:32 GMT

Historical Marker #2206 notes the location of the H. E. Pogue Distillery, which operated for more than fifty years near Maysville.

The Ohio River route into what became Kentucky was popular with settlers from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and northern Virginia. In time, the town of Limestone—which eventually became Maysville—developed on the banks of the river at Limestone Creek. From the era of those early pioneers up through the twentieth century, Maysville had an association with distilling whiskey.

The earliest distilleries in Maysville were likely small operations that produced whiskey for local consumption and a limited market. After the Civil War, distiller O. H. P. Thomas produced several brands of whiskey including “Old Time,” and “Old Maysville Club.” Thomas’s chief distiller was Henry Edgar Pogue. In 1876, Pogue bought out Thomas and opened his own distillery at the Maysville city limits. Pogue continued to make several brands that Thomas had started and introduced more. Pogue’s new operation was touted in the “Maysville Bulletin” in the summer of 1876. “The capacity is about eighteen barrels per day,” the article noted, “though only about ten are made. A very important feature in the establishment, is a copper boiler invented by Mr. Pogue, and, used only by him, which affords all the advantages and none of the defects of the apparatus employed in making the best grades of Kentucky liquors.”

By 1900, production was up to fifty barrels per day and Pogue was reputedly among the best distilleries in Kentucky. When Pogue died in 1890, his son Henry Pogue II took over the operation for the next thirty years until he was killed in a distillery accident. Henry Pogue III next ran the business and even survived several years of Prohibition—distilling for medicinal purposes—but ended production in 1926. In 1934, the Pogue Distillery resumed production until it was forced to close yet again due to competition in a new era of distilleries and mass production. After World War II, manufacture again ceased at the Pogue Distillery. In 1973, the distillery was razed.

Today, Pogue descendants have rejoined the distillery business. The company now produces bourbon and rye whiskey in Maysville, on the site of the company’s first location.

Old Pogue has a history dating back to the years following the Civil War. In 1876, the original Pogue distillery, Kentucky registered distillery No. 3, was established in Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky, very near a site often said to be the location of Kentucky’s first bourbon distillery.

Prior to Kentucky’s statehood, Maysville was part of Old Bourbon County , Virginia, where pioneer distillers discovered that the Indian corn and limestone water of the region made a product of mellow character and distinguished flavor.

Today, the bourbon-making tradition is carried forward by fifth and sixth generation Pogues using the original Pogue recipes under a time-honored and fixed formula. Our current base of operation is located in the very same plot of land in Maysville, and we are proud to offer superior quality, small-batch bourbon and rye spirits.

That was the short version. For you history buffs out there, here is the long version: Following the Revolutionary War, a few venturesome settlers migrated down the Ohio River. One of their first stops was at the junction of the Ohio River with Limestone Creek, an area in centuries past known for buffalo fording the Ohio River and beating a path to inland Kentucky in search of nutrient rich salt licks. This migration pattern was the beginning of old “Buffalo Trace”. Here in the original Bourbon County or “Old Bourbon” as it was commonly called, the settlement of Limestone Landing was formed. Limestone Landing became Maysville, KY in 1792 and the whisky that passed through Maysville was known as Old Bourbon County Whisky.

Limestone Landing became host to several early bourbon distilleries. In fact, the region experienced an influx of pioneer distillers seeking to escape the taxation on spirits associated with the payment of Revolutionary War debt. The evasion of taxation culminated in the mustering of troops to put down the protest that came to be known as the “Whiskey Rebellion.” After the rebellion and nearly 30 years of marketing corn whisky from Old Bourbon county, in 1821 the Maysville commission merchants “Stout & Adams” placed the first advertisement for just Bourbon Whisky in the Western Citizen newspaper. This advertisement is often credited as the document that named the product we enjoy today. Here’s a short video from the documentary “Bourbon & Kentucky: A History Distilled” reviewing some of bourbon’s history:

Henry Edgar Pogue (1825-1890)

Shortly after this time in 1876, Henry Edgar Pogue (H.E. Pogue I) purchased the Old Time Distillery from O.H.P Thomas. H.E. Pogue was the head distiller for O.H.P Thomas at the time of the acquisition and produced “Old Time” Sour Mash and “Old Maysville Club” Rye. The distillery became Kentucky Registered Distillery No.3, located in the 7th District within the Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky city limits.

According to some records, the H.E. Pogue Distillery’s original brand was “Old Pogue” Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky. Pogue’s whiskies quickly established themselves throughout the country as whiskies of superior quality and they flourished in popularity. Early brands in the late 1800s and early 1900s were “Old Time” Sour Mash Pure Copper Whisky, “Old Maysville Club” Rye Whisky, “Royal Club” Wheat Whisky, “Old Pogue” Straight Bourbon Whisky, “Royal Club” Pure Rye Whisky, “Niagara Whisky,” “Belle of Maysville” Fire Copper Whisky, “Old 56” Gentleman’s Whisky, “Ace” Bourbon Whisky, “Good News” Bourbon Whisky, “Lincoln Club,” and many others.

A newspaper account from January 25, 1900 notes that the H.E. Pogue distillery was distilling 50 barrels of whisky daily and stated,”it is said by those who know that there is no better distillery in Kentucky”. Original correspondence from the early 1900s reveals orders from Yuma, Arizona, Oklahoma, and even as far as Japan. The newspaper account went on to report that the Pogue Distillery had “built up a large business strictly through honorable methods” and “enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best known and best patronized in the State of Kentucky”.

Henry Edgar Pogue (1825-1890)

H.E. Pogue I died November 1, 1890 in an accident in the distillery and was succeeded by his son, H.E. Pogue II until 1919, when he too passed in a work-related accident. While fighting in World War I at the age of 23, H.E. Pogue III was informed of his father’s death and returned home to run the distillery. Less than one year later in 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified and the United States Congress subsequently passed the Volstead Act, ushering in the Prohibition Era, which prohibited the sale of distilled spirits, including whisky, except for medicinal purposes.

H.E. Pogue III (1894 – 1954)

During the early 1920s, Pogue sold limited quantities of its whisky for medicinal purposes under the “Old Jordan” brand. “Old Jordan” was an 18 year old, 91 proof whisky. At this time, the Pogue distillery also legally distributed significant amounts of its whisky through famed Cincinnati pharmacist George Remus. During the early Prohibition years, H.E. Pogue III acquired two other distilleries: the Greendale Distillery of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on June 22, 1921 and New England Distilling Co. of Covington, Kentucky on November 30, 1925. Greendale manufactured Gin and Spring Water Whisky and the New England Distilling Co. primarily made “Red Star” Rum, which was used as a flavoring in tobacco products.

Despite these advances, however, Prohibition eventually took its toll on the Pogue Distillery. On August 10, 1926 the Pogue Distillery ended its operations as a bonded whisky storage warehouse for the government when the last barrel of whisky (Barrel #6796) was shipped to the Louisville Warehouse Company for consolidated government supervision. As a newspaper account reported at the time, “So many thousands of barrels have entered and departed that, if turned into terms of money at bootleg prices, it would far exceed the national debt.” The account concludes “the passage of the Volstead Act made sure the passing of this business”.

At the end of Prohibition in 1933, H.E. Pogue III became a consultant to various entities and individuals attempting to restart distilleries now that whisky production was legal once again. Still troubled by the early deaths of his father and grandfather, Pogue III did not want to reopen the Pogue distillery and instead negotiated the sale of the distillery to Rose of Chicago on October 22, 1935. Shortly thereafter, following an interval of 18 years, operations at the H.E. Pogue Distillery resumed production. Rose renovated the distillery, including the construction of three new 10,000 barrel of warehouses at the original distillery site in Maysville, KY. A circular published after the renovation may be seen below.

Today, the fifth and sixth generations of Pogues, direct descendants of H.E. Pogue I, II, and III, including H.E. Pogue IV and H.E. Pogue V, return to offer the discriminating whisky drinker super-premium handcrafted whiskies fashioned from the original Pogue recipes. As one of Kentucky’s oldest whisky families, the Pogue family is pleased to offer products never changed or cheapened in character, and has never compromised quality for quantity.

Hoffman Distillery RD#406 District #8

Sat, 19 Jan 2019 18:38:43 GMT

The Hoffman Distillery was built on the banks of the Salt River in 1880 by S.O. Hackley. Soon after the distillery was built, he teamed up with Ike Hoffman and from there grew two well-known brands at the time; Old Hoffman and Old Spring. By 1912, Hoffman was the sole owner and went bankrupt. In 1916 the distillery was brought by L.&E. Werthheimer. The distillery was closed and torn down during prohibition. After repeal, the distillery was re-built and the new owners hired Robert and Ezra Ripy to run the distillery. Robert and Ezra were two of the sons of Thomas Ripy who was one of the most famous distillers in the late 1800’s. Thomas’s other two sons founded the Ripy distillery that would eventually become Wild Turkey as we know it today.

During the subsequent years at the Hoffman Distillery, Robert and Ezra, along with the Wertheimers and Frank Silverman created a new brand of bourbon; Ezra Brooks. Rumor has it that the team liked the Ezra portion of the name but didn’t want the Ripy name on the label so they created Ezra Brooks. By this time, the distillery was producing Ezra Brooks, Old Hoffman, and Old Spring at the rate of 300 bushels per day. With the rise of the Ezra Brooks brand, the distillery was renamed in 1968 to the Ezra Brooks Distillery.

Along the journey and rise of Ezra Brooks as a popular brand of bourbon, there was a large bump in the road. That bump was named Jack Daniels. In 1960, Jack Daniels brings a lawsuit against Hoffman Distilling Company for trademark infringement for the packaging and advertising methods that, in their terms, mimicked Jack Daniels Black label. Ultimately, the court decided that there was no evidence of trademark infringement by Hoffman and that both brands have such a clearly defined and different labeling that there is no likelihood of confusion by the consumer and therefore the consumer could not be deceived. Considering the size and stature of the two companies, this had to be considered one of the great underdog legal wins in the history of whiskey and sprits lawsuits.

Like much of the entirety of the bourbon industry, the 70’s and 80’s presented hard times for most. It was during this time frame that the Ezra Brooks distillery was purchased by Medley, who was then acquired by Glenmore. The Ezra Brooks brand was eventually sold around and ended up with Luxco, although it has never regained the type of recognition and popularity as it had in the mid 1900’s.

In 1979, the Hoffman Distillery was shut down and with the shutdown was the end of the Hoffman Bourbon brand. The distillery sat for four years until a gentleman by the name of Julian Van Winkle III purchased the distillery and transformed it into a bottling facility for his Old Rip Van Winkle product. In 1981, the Van Winkle family cut ties with Stitzel-Weller and needed a place to bottle their aging whiskey. From 1983 until 2002 the Van Winkle’s bottled their famous product out of this old Hoffman Distillery. In 2002, the Van Winkle’s went into a partnership with Buffalo Trace and the Hoffman Distillery was left abandoned.

T.W. Samuel’s Distillery

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 18:42:02 GMT

1844: Taylor William Samuels turned his father’s farm distillery into a commercial operation known as T. W. Samuels & Son. The son’s name was W I Samuels.

1892: Insurance underwriter records note that the distillery was of frame construction with a metal or slate roof. The property included two bonded warehouses, both iron-clad with metal or slate roofs:
Warehouse B — located 220 ft north of the still.
Warehouse D — located 220 ft north of the still and 46 ft from Warehouse B.
There was also an old Free warehouse, of frame construction, and there was a detached railroad depot. The insurance records show the distillery was being run as T W Samuels.

1898: T W Samuels and W I Samuels both died, leaving the distillery in the hands of W I Samuels’ son, Leslie B Samuels.

1909: The distillery and six warehouses were destroyed by fire with a loss of $100,000, including 9,000 barrels of whiskey. Their brands were “T. W. Samuels” and “Old Deatsville”.

1913: The Star Distillery Co . of Cincinnati purchased control of the company, buying out the Samuels’ family interest. Leslie retained his share of the company and remained as manager until the plant closed in 1920.

1920-1933: During prohibition most of the buildings were razed for salvage.

1933: The company was reorganized as the T W Samuels Distillery Co. with Robert Block, president, T. W. Samuels, VP, and Leslie B. Samuels, manager. A new plant was built with 600 bu capacity and 19,000 bbl warehouse capacity.

1936: Leslie died and his son, T. W. Samuels (Bill, Sr.) assumed the position of manager until 1943 when he disassociated himself from the firm.

1953: Bill Samuels re-entered the distilling business with the purchase of the former Burks Spring plant near Loretto on Star Hill Farm. He restored this plant to operation as Makers Mark. (History is from the Coyte Papers, cited in OASG )

stone-fences-tours-1

Petersburg Distillery RD #8

Petersburg Distillery 1907

The Chicken Cock Distillery RD #14, 7th District Bourbon County, KY

Chicken Cock’s Rapid Growth

Growth, Prosperity, and Imitation

Chicken Cock Goes West

Catching a Copycat

Increasing Legitimacy in the Bourbon Industry

Whiskey Worth More Than Murder

Chicken Cock Releases Premium Aged Bourbons

Prohibition and the Cotton Club

New Owner, Same Chicken Cock

Chicken Cock and the Cotton Club

Making an Impression

Post-Prohibition

Bourbon Faces Challenges

Chicken Cock Whiskey’s Revival

H.E. Pogue Distillery RD #3

Henry Edgar Pogue (1825-1890)

Henry Edgar Pogue (1825-1890)

H.E. Pogue III (1894 – 1954)

Hoffman Distillery RD#406 District #8

T.W. Samuel’s Distillery

The Samuels Distillery, RD#145, 5 th District, Nelson County, KY (1844-1920)