Those Were the Days: Prohibition Era Bourbons

It's hard to fathom the impact prohibition had on whiskey production in the United States.  Keep in mind that while prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933, it came right on the heels of a wartime ban on spirits production which was in effect during World War I, such that almost no whiskey (outside of the few producers who received medicinal licenses) was produced in the Untied States for sixteen years, from 1917 to 1933.

Imagine if all spirits production in the US halted now and did not resume until 2029 or if we were just coming out of a prohibition that started in 1997.  All of the innovation and development that led to our current whiskey boom wouldn't have happened.  There would have been no Pappy Van Winkle, no Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, no Parker's Heritage Collection, no Four Roses Single Barrel, and no craft distilleries at all.

The enormity of that gap became apparent to me as I tasted through a series of prohibition era whiskeys at the LA Whiskey Society.  All of the whiskeys we tasted were distilled prior to prohibition (mostly in 1916 and 1917) and released either as medicinal whiskeys during prohibition or after repeal. There were six bourbons, three ryes and three simply labeled as "whiskey."  All were 100 proof Bottled in Bond and ranged from seven to seventeen years old.  The tasting included whiskeys distilled in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania, and their distilleries and brands carried names that are now legendary:  Albert Blanton, George T. Stagg, Stitzel, Dant, Gibson, WA Gaines, Joseph Finch and EH Taylor.

The most striking thing to me about this tasting was not only how different these whiskeys were from today's but how similar they were to each other. The overriding flavor note on almost all of the whiskeys was a bold, spicy rye. This makes sense given that rye was America's primary whiskey in the pre-prohibition era.  Even the bourbons lacked the sweetness that I associate with today's bourbons, in favor of a hefty dose of spice.  Some of those bourbons had a stronger rye flavor than some of today's ryes, and the rye flavor is of a different character with more sandalwood  and wood spice notes. This was an entire style of American whiskey that was lost to prohibition.

People who taste Scotches from a similar era often note that the peating level was much higher even on whiskeys we think of today as not having much in the way of peat, like Macallan.  Of course, peat is what they used to cook the barley, but the phenomenon of these bold and spicy American whiskeys makes me wonder if perhaps people simply appreciated bolder flavored spirits back then.

It also gave me a sense of how different Pappy Van Winkle's wheated bourbons must have tasted compared to what people were used to when he opened up the Stitzel-Weller distillery shortly after prohibition ended. Today, the sweeter style of bourbon dominates even in rye recipe bourbons, but back then, Pappy's whiskey would have seemed like a true alternative to the dominant (or formerly dominant) style.

Were these ancient whiskeys good?  Most were quite good, some were great, and a few were bad, not unlike many other tastings I've done.  You can find detailed descriptions, bottle photos and links to tasting note in the LA Whiskey Society's post Medicinal Whiskey:  A Tasting from Prohibition.

Photos by FussyChicken.

Dusty Thursday: Century Old Taylor

I tried some National Distillers Old Taylor on a previous Dusty Thursday. Today's Old Taylor is dusty on steroids. Bottled in 1912, this is pre-prohibition Old Taylor "Kentucky Whiskey." According to bourbon historian Mike Veach, E.H. Taylor thought that many bourbons of the time were inferior so beginning in the 1870s, he started labeling his bourbons as "Kentucky Whiskey."

This bottled in bond bourbon, which I received from a reader, does not appear to have been treated well. It has a mangled tax stamp and comes with the remains of a torn up cardboard tube. The bottled date of 1912 is legible on the stamp, but the stamp portion which would have included the distillation date is torn off.


Old Taylor BIB, bottled 1912, 50% abv.

The nose has some nice caramel and vanilla notes, some marshmallow and rye spice, but also a touch of vinegar. The palate on this starts with some of those sweet bourbon notes with that touch of tang that came off as vinegar on the nose. It goes down quite hot for a 100 proofer; it may be that the acidic quality adds to that. The finish is very acidic, sort of reminiscent of when you throw up a little bit in your mouth but manage to force it back down; it's not that it tastes of vomit but of the subsequent acid in the mouth.

Well, the problem with dusties, especially really old ones, is that you never know how they were handled over the years and whether they have maintained their integrity. Of course, it could have had these qualities to begin with, but that acidic vinegar note suggests to me that this one has gone bad, while some of the underlying bourbon notes hint at what might have been a really good whiskey. Given that this is one hundred years old, it could have spent 60 years in someone's steaming hot attic or woodshed. Who knows? Pity my poor reader who paid a pretty penny for it, but that's the world of dusties for you.

Strong Medicine: Prohibition Era Medicinal Rye

One of the few ways to get legal booze during prohibition was to get a prescription (hmmm, sounds similar to what people do today at California's "green pharmacies"). Doctors, dentists and even veterinarians could legally prescribe liquor to cure your tired blood or whatever fake disease you had.

This bottle of Pennsylvania rye is an example of medicinal whiskey. Distilled prior to 1917, by the time this bonded whiskey was ready for bottling, twelve years later, prohibition was upon us. To that end, the back label clearly states, "For Medicinal Purposes Only - Sale or Use for Other Purposes will Cause Heavy Penalties to be Inflicted." Ouch! Just to make sure you know it's medicine, it includes a big Rx and the Latin name Spiritus Frumentt, which means fermented spirits. I'm convinced!

According to the label, this bottle of John Gibson's Son & Co. Ancient Special Reserve Rye was made by the Philadelphia Pure Rye Whiskey Distilling Company and bottled by the Dougherty Distillery.

John Gibson's Son & Co. Ancient Special Reserve Rye, Bottled in Bond, 12 years old, 50% abv.

I really love the nose on this. It's got leather and cologne and some wood. The palate is deep with that spicy sandalwood note that I associate with these old Pennsylvania ryes. It's also got some hops like notes that remind me of Charbay whiskeys as well as some cocoa. The finish in minty with wintergreen.

For as long as this stuff has been around, it's really retained a tremendous amount of flavor, and is my favorite of the Pennsylvania ryes I've been able to taste. This is a medicine I'd gladly take anytime!

Dusty Thursday: Large Monongahela Rye (circa 1918)

There are dusties and then there are dusties. Most of the dusties I find languishing on the shelf at the corner store date back to the 1980s or, at the earliest, the late 1970s. Today, we go back further, much further to a whiskey released in 1918. Yes, 1918. Do you remeber 1918? Woodrow Wilson was president, World War I came to an end, Babe Ruth was a pitcher for the Red Sox and, unbeknownst to the citizenry, the United States only had a few years left of legal drinking.

Back then, American whiskey usually meant rye whiskey, and Old Monongahela Pennsylvania style rye was one of the major categories of rye. It's hard to find information about the rye of that era, but from what I gather, it contained a much higher percentage of rye than today's Kentucky rye whiskeys, which tend to have close to the minimum of 51% rye. Monongahela rye also usually combined malted and unmalted rye. [EDIT: See the comments by Pennsylvania whiskey expert Sam Komlenic which indicate that by the twentieth century, Pennsylvania rye was no longer using rye malt but barley malt in combination with the unmalted rye].

The Large Distillery was a major producer of rye whiskey in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. According to the excellent history at the John and Linda Lipman site, after prohibition, the distillery was sold to National Distillers, which retired the Large label and used the distillery to make whiskey for another Pennsylvania rye the company had purchased: Old Overholt. National eventually sold the distillery and it was no longer distilling by the 1950s.

Well, thanks to a very generous friend, I've got a small piece of this liquid history to sample. This Large Rye is bottled in bond. It was distilled in fall 1913 and bottled in spring 1918. I don't see a proof on the bottle, but as a BIB, it would be 100 proof.


Large Monongahela Pure Rye Whiskey, 50% abv.

The nose is very musty, like an old antique shop. (old bottle effect?) There is polished leather and an underlying spiciness but not similar to the rye spice I know from today’s ryes, also some pine and floral notes. On the palate, I am again struck by how very unlike today’s ryes this is. It's very dry and musky, like old fashioned shave soap and polished wood, ending on a sort of peppery note with some nuttiness. The finish may be the best part of the whole experience, lingering with a sandalwood scent.

This is wonderfully different from anything around today. It’s dry and spicy but much more fragrant than today's ryes; the spice notes are less in the realm of cooking spices and more in the realm of wood, soap and subtle cologne. Fascinating stuff. It definitely transports me back, back to an old drug store with a polished wooden bar. I can almost hear the barbershop quartet.

Is it good? I'm not sure I would say that. Honestly, it's so different from today's whiskeys that it's hard to compare. If this liquid had come out of a modern bottle, I would probably thing something was dreadfully wrong, the style being so dramatically different, though the more I drink it, the more I like it. And of course, I have no idea how it would measure up to other Old Monongahela style ryes from a century ago, but what's life without a little bit of mystery.