New York Whiskey History
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 8:27 pm
As I mentioned in my little intro, I'm interested in hte history of whiskey distilling in New York. I didn't want to put this in the "Bourbon Lore" category since historically rye was the common whiskey (perhaps a presumption on my part!).
I'm thinking that this can be the thread where people can post information they find about New York whiskey distilling (the history).
To begin, I found a site on the History of Buffalo, NY. And some pages maintained by Peter Jablonski on the history of NY whiskey distilling and especially in Buffalo. Apparently by 1887 there were only 3 distilleries operating in NY; government taxation had forced many others to close. One way they did that was the distillery had to operate at least 80% of capacity, regardless of profit or not. Much of the info comes from an 1887 book History of Buffalo.
http://www.buffaloah.com/h/whiskey/index.html
E.N. Cook & Co was making Frontier Rye Whiskey, Rye Malt Gin and Pure Molasses Rum.
Charles Person's Sons (wholesalers) had a number of brands including Buffalo Club Rye Whiskey.
John F. Malone was one of the largest wholesalers, advertising Malone's XXXX Whiskey.
The plate showing the building of James F. Merritt, Wholesaler, clearly indicates Bourbon and Wheat whiskies, and what appears to be Monongahela Rye on their building advertising!
So pretty interesting to me at least. I'll post more as I find good info. Hopefully this won't trouble too many folks.
I'm thinking that this can be the thread where people can post information they find about New York whiskey distilling (the history).
To begin, I found a site on the History of Buffalo, NY. And some pages maintained by Peter Jablonski on the history of NY whiskey distilling and especially in Buffalo. Apparently by 1887 there were only 3 distilleries operating in NY; government taxation had forced many others to close. One way they did that was the distillery had to operate at least 80% of capacity, regardless of profit or not. Much of the info comes from an 1887 book History of Buffalo.
http://www.buffaloah.com/h/whiskey/index.html
E.N. Cook & Co was making Frontier Rye Whiskey, Rye Malt Gin and Pure Molasses Rum.
Charles Person's Sons (wholesalers) had a number of brands including Buffalo Club Rye Whiskey.
John F. Malone was one of the largest wholesalers, advertising Malone's XXXX Whiskey.
The plate showing the building of James F. Merritt, Wholesaler, clearly indicates Bourbon and Wheat whiskies, and what appears to be Monongahela Rye on their building advertising!
So pretty interesting to me at least. I'll post more as I find good info. Hopefully this won't trouble too many folks.