Here’s a Kentucky whiskey from the prohibition era (Bottled in Bond: Spring 1917 – Fall 1933) from my collection that is in excellent condition except for the poor fill level. Usually, the fill level on these examples will be about an inch higher or right above the label. Some of the corks from this period are much more porous than others leading to various fill levels even from the same case of whiskeys.
Old Lexington Club Whiskey
This particular example has very little information on the front and back labels. Produced by Edwin Gerdes, you would think this is the distiller of the Old Lexington Club brand. Well, as noted in a prior blog post, this isn’t necessarily true. However, in this case, it is! Edwin Gerdes used the Old Lexington Club brand from 1914 to 1917. When prohibition came around, it must have wiped out his company like so many others. His whiskey was then rounded up and put in a consolidation warehouse where various brands were slapped on just about any whiskey they had in store. This is a rare example of the brand and the distiller matching up.
Who Owned the Old Lexington Club Brand?
While doing my research, I found a really interesting post by Brian Haara that shows just how important defending trademarks is. No spoiler alerts here. If you want to know who actually owned the brand, you’ll have to read Brian’s post.
Note: as of February 26, 2023, this bottle is now on sale in my shop.
