For my first ever Distiller Discussion, I welcome distiller Mark Sorrells of GIA Distillery. GIA (pronounced Gee-ah) Distillery produces a delicious one-year-old whiskey named FJW that is distilled using the solera method. In addition, Mark’s distillery produces Francesca Grappa. To learn more, watch the YouTube video! Keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming FJW Whiskey tasting lead by whiskey buff Jeff...
Bouvier Buchu Gin I spend so much time on whiskey that sometimes it is good to get out of my lane for a bit. For this installment of Something Different, I bring you Bourvier Buchu Gin. from the Bouvier Specialty Co., Louisville, Kentucky. This bottle is obviously pre-prohibition era and is somewhat ornate with the brand name embossed on the sides. A great label, for sure. This bottle isn’t particularly rare but it is very cool indeed!...
“Kentucky Bourbon is the ONLY bourbon”, they say. “You can’t really make bourbon outside of Kentucky because it’s a combination of the barrels and the limestone fed springs that give us water. That’s our story and were sticking to it.” Considering that only 5% of the world’s supply of bourbon is made outside of the southern state – is there a method to this myth? First off, all bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon. Whiskey...
Meet The Chicken Cocks I’ve been meaning to post this article for quite some time so today I bring you my Chicken Cock Whiskey collection. There are several interesting things going on here besides the greatest name ever bestowed upon a whiskey. Let’s take a look. We have 5 bottles spanning the prohibition era to the modern era (if you want to see a pre-pro example, check out Chicken Cock’s Instagram)One of the bottles is a...
Interesting note: the whiskey in this bottle spans the entirety of prohibition! Bottle Information Brand:Four RosesSize:PintBarrelled:1917Bottled:1934Distiller:H.S. Barton, Owensboro, KentuckyDistillery No.:24District:2nd Dist. KYBottler:Frankfort Distilleries, IncorporatedWarehouse No.:4District:Dist of Mo. Condition Fill Level:Poor – 33%Label:MintTax Stamp:Very GoodGlass:Floral...
After some time off from the hobby I’m coming in hot with lots of new bottles to share. A good friend has asked me to sell his whiskey bottle collection and I’m only too happy to oblige. So, to start, I’m selling the empty bottles first. Quarts, pints, 1/2 pints, and one 1/4 pint. Bourbons, ryes, and blends. Canadian and American from pre-pros, prohibition era, and post-prohibition. I’ll be posting about 25 bottles a week, so if you’re...
Over the years I have been chasing a complete run of the same brand of prohibition whiskey bottle sizes: quart, pint, 1/2 pint, 1/4 pint, and 1/10 pint. As it turns out, my quest is impossible to complete, which I will detail here in a minute. Because of this, I have done the next best thing by including two post-prohibition bottles and one brand that doesn’t match but fills in the 1/4 pint slot. Whiskey Bottle Sizes: Quart My original...
Forrest Cokely who writes for Old Liquors Magazine was kind enough to reach out for a short interview and include me in this very informative article he wrote named The Last Call – Tasting History with Pre-Prohibition Bourbon. Give it a read as I’m sure you will not be...
The biggest thing I have learned from collecting prohibition medicinal whiskeys is that the brand doesn’t matter the vast majority of the time. For example, I have a 1/2 pint Old Fitz and a 1/2 pint Waterfill and Frazier. Both were distilled by Mary M. Dowling (one of the most fascinating female distillers of all time. Read this: http://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-mary-dowling-outwitted-national.html). The juice in...
In this post I want to share one of my favorite brands: Old Sunny Brook. It isn’t particularly hard to find and doesn’t excite many collectors but I’m a big fan of the evolution of this brand and its mascot, The Inspector. In the photo above we have four bottles that represent very different eras in whiskey history. The half-pint bottle second from the left is from the pre-prohibition era and was actually distilled by The...