The Filson Historical Society Blog

Do you love bourbon?

Are you interested in Kentucky’s distilling history?

If you answered yes to the following questions, then don’t miss Mike Veach’s upcoming talk, “Political Intrigues and Scandals of the Distilling Industry,” at the Filson Historical Society, Friday June 24, noon.

Knowledgeable on all things bourbon related, distilling historian Mike Veach is renown for his excellent bourbon events which are both educational and spirited.  Click on the video clip below to see footage from a December 2010 Filson bourbon tasting and book launch event.  Tom Fischer of Bourbonblog.com interviews author and Four Roses Brand Ambassador Al Young about his new book Four Roses: The Return of a Whiskey Legend at The Filson Historical Society.  The Filson’s own Mike Veach is also interviewed in this video segment.

Banners on a Louisville, Ky liquor store announce imminent prohibition and encourage patrons to stock up, circa 1920.

On Monday, November 27, 1933, Kentucky became the 33^rd state to pass the 21^st Amendment which repealed the 18^th Amendment to the United States Constitution. That week was Thanksgiving week and no other state voted on the issue until Tuesday, December 5^th.  First Ohio and then Pennsylvania passed the 21^st Amendment, but it fell to Utah later in that day to be the 36^th state to vote for repeal and end national prohibition. The 18^th Amendment was the only Amendment to the United States Constitution to take away a freedom from its citizens, so it is only appropriate that it is also the only amendment that has been repealed. It ended 15 years of what can only be called a national tragedy. Prohibition cost people jobs, the government tax revenue and most importantly, it caused citizens to lose respect for the law of the nation.

 Prohibition got its start in 1918 when the government passed “Wartime Prohibition”, prohibiting the distilleries from making beverage alcohol so they could supply the government’s war effort in Europe. Even when the war ended in November 1918, the government simply extended the law because the 18^th amendment was well on its way to being passed and was indeed passed in January of 1919. The law called for prohibition to start one year to the day from the ratification of the 18^th Amendment so prohibition officially started on January 16, 1920.

"Some day they'll be back for your guest's enjoyment..." Schenley Distilleries Company anticipates the return of bonded whiskey in the post-prohibition era. From the United Distillers Collection, circa 1937.

 In the 15 years that had passed since the beginning of wartime prohibition much changed. The industry had lost many of its skilled workers due to age and death. The nation was in the middle of the Great Depression and the distilleries had to compete with Scotch and Canadian whiskies that were ready to enter the market immediately, while American distillers would have to wait four years before they could have an aged product ready for the market. Times were tough and they would not get better soon. The Second World War brought back wartime prohibition and it was 1946 before the distillers could begin to meet consumer demands for bourbon whiskey.

 For those interested in these subjects, I recommend looking in the following collections at the Filson Historical Society. The Henry Watterson papers have editorials against prohibition. The Brown-Walker Family papers discuss Creel Brown’s plans for distilling in Florida after the repeal of prohibition. Finally, the Taylor-Hay family papers include scrapbooks dealing with the prohibition movement in the early 20^th century and correspondence dealing with the K Taylor Distillery founded after the repeal of prohibition.

On Thursday, December 17, 2009 President William Howard Taft was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame at the Governor’s Mansion in Frankfort. It was decided to induct Taft in a special ceremony in December in order to pay homage to the centennial of his famous “Taft Decision on Whiskey” which defines whiskey as we know it today.

The Taft Decision defined the categories of “Straight”, “Blended” and “Imitation” whiskey which the distilling industry still adheres to today. In 1906 the United States Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. With this legislation there became a need to define “What is Whiskey?” so that proper regulations could be placed upon the product. This need caused the friction between Kentucky’s straight whiskey distillers and the rectifier portion of the industry to come to a point where it would spend three years in the court system with no solution. Since the regulations would come from the President’s Cabinet members, President Taft took the task of answering the question upon himself. After six months of listening to both sides of the issue, Taft announced his decision on December 27, 1909.

The event started at 5:30 in the evening and I arrived a little early. I walked up to the Mansion with Harlan Wheatly, the Master Distiller at Buffalo Trace. The holiday decorations gave the place an air of festivity that was increased as people visited the bourbon bar and food was brought out. I met with Eric Gregory, the President of the Kentucky Distiller’s Association (KDA) and he filled me in as to what my role would be in the ceremony. I was the person who pointed out to him back in September that President Taft’s Decision was turning 100 years old this year and that the KDA should honor him with a special ceremony. He took it to the board of the KDA, and they agreed. They were going to have Governor Taft of Ohio accept the honor, but at the last minute he had to cancel, so I was drafted to accept the honor in his place. The plan was for Pam Gover from the Kentucky Bourbon Festival to welcome everybody to the ceremony, followed by Gregory introducing other Hall of Fame members and KDA board members and finally introducing Governor Beshear. The Governor would then give a brief talk followed by Gregory presenting me the award and I would accept on the behalf of the Taft family. Once I finished then the Master Distillers would come forward and Jimmy Russell, the Master Distiller from Wild Turkey and senior statesman of the group, would leads us all in a toast to William Howard Taft.

People were arriving and the bourbon and food was served. They had a separate wine and beer bar down the hall for the few guests who were not inclined to drink bourbon. There was an official photographer for the event, but the press was not invited. Besides Jimmy Russell and Harlan Wheatly, Fred Noe (Jim Beam), Kevin Smith (Maker’s Mark) and Tom Bulliett (Diageo) were the Master Distillers / Brand Ambassadors present. The guests mingled and enjoyed the excellent food and libations. The First Lady, Jane Beshear came down at about 6:00 and entertained her guests with conversation, but the Governor was at a meeting across town. In fact the Governor was running a little late and did not arrive until 6:45 causing the actual ceremony to start about 15 minutes late. Read the rest of this entry »

The Filson Historical Society took a bus trip to the Four Roses Distillery on Saturday, October 31^st. Yes, Halloween day.  A rainy Halloween morning, but as the day progressed the sky cleared some it turned to a typical brisk fall morning in Kentucky. The bus left the Filson just a few minutes after 9:00 for the hour drive to the distillery, just south of Lawrenceburg, Ky.

The Four Roses distillery, then Old Prentice, ca. 1915

The drive to the distillery was filled with a lecture about Kentucky’s distilling history. I started the talk with the requirements for bourbon whiskey and then launched into its history. I described the earliest records, the change from farmer distiller to industrial distilling, the conflict between straight whiskey distillers and rectifiers, the “what is bourbon” debate of the 1890s and 1900s, prohibition, World War II, the golden days of the 1950s, the decline of the 1970s and the rebirth of the 1990s. With the questions asked, the hour drive passed quickly.

Read the rest of this entry »

For the final week of the Filson Bourbon Academy, the subject of the history portion was the post prohibition bourbon world and bourbon in the 21st century. The tasting segment of the night was the “final exam” where the students were asked to take notes on two unknown whiskeys.

When prohibition ended in 1933, the distilling industry wanted to prevent it from happening again. The distillery owners met and set up self regulations and codes of conduct. They agreed that they would not use women in advertising, no images of Santa Claus or other images appealing to children in advertising, and no radio (and later television) advertisements. In 1959 Glenmore Distillery was the first company to break one of the self regulations by using women to advertise Glenmore Gin. When there was no public uproar, other companies quickly followed their lead. The other regulations are still in place but there is movement to advertise spirits on television today.

Read the rest of this entry »