Whiskey in Virginia in the 1860's

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Whiskey in Virginia in the 1860's

Unread postby gillmang » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:50 am

http://dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr/

The above link provides a glimpse at whiskey in the market in Richmond, Virginia in the early 1860's. Trade ads from the Richmond Daily Dispatch of this era can be searched at the above link.

A trawl through informs as follows: whiskey was available both in bottled and barreled form. Some was from out-of-State, e.g., "Bourbon" from "the manufacturer in Kentucky", the maker is called Summerdean.

Most references to whiskey seem to be to "old rye whiskey" but occasionally to "rye whiskey"; "mountain whiskey" (it is sometimes sub-titled "from the mountains of this state"); "common whiskey", and "wheat whiskey". One ad refers to "mall rye whiskey" which clearly is a misprint for malt rye whiskey. (Mall shopping goes back a ways but not that far in America!).

While most references to "old rye whiskey" do not specify age, at least two do: they state: "old rye whiskey (two years old)". Thus, one can see old rye was generally around two years old - considered matured for the purpose as it still is under U.S. law i.e., to earn the plain designation "rye" or "bourbon".

One ad states that whiskey in various grades is available and "the above brands are from one to five years old".

Thus, 5 years old was very old - and the current brand Very Old Barton to describe 6 year old whiskey therefore surely reflects a 19th view of the maturities of bourbon whiskey.

Another ad refers to "Bourbon Old Rye Whiskey", which is further evidence that originally, Bourbon whiskey could be rye or corn-based whiskey and the term Bourbon referred to the process (surely) of aging common whiskey in new charred wood.

Common whiskey probably was old enough only to get to market, it probably tasted like the Tuthilltown whiskeys of today.

Whiskey was also available occasionally from Scotland, Ireland and the Monongahela valley.

I wish we could construct a time travel machine and shoot back to Richmond, VA in 1861. We would avert our eyes from the issues and scenes associated with the war between the states and focus on the happier subject of whiskey.

We could bring with us some Tuthilltown bourbon, some Georgia Moon, some Barton VOB to equate to the oldest Bourbon then available in Virginia, some Old Overholt for a "very old" rye, and why not throw in a Glenlivet for some scotch. Then we could leave our machine in the remote hollow in which we landed. We would find our way to Richmond somehow (a kind farmer will give these strange lookers a ride), and sally down to the old warehouse district to confer a spell with the local merchants - and then we would buy samples of the 1860's analogue of each of these. Finding 1860's (Confederate or other) money is not a problem, we could get a power of whiskey samples for the 1960's British rock CDs I always carry with me, or better yet an MP3 player: you can't fool a smart tradesman, they know which way the winds are blowing!.

We would put up for a couple of nights in one of the galleried wooden-built hotels in the nice part of town, and get a fine old Virginia dinner downstairs before commencing our comparative study session.

And what would we find, gentlemen?

Gary
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Re: Whiskey in Virginia in the 1860's

Unread postby Bourbon Joe » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:03 pm

And what would we find, gentlemen?

The Union Army getting ready to torch the place.
Joe :roll:
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Unread postby gillmang » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:09 pm

Then we'd have to work fast, Joe. :)

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Richmond burned

Unread postby Triple B » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:25 pm

If I'm not mistaken, Richmond didn't fall to the North until 1865, four years after our little journey. We could drink a lot in four years!
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Unread postby Dump Bucket » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:30 pm

hell with this group and 4 years we could defend it and be making more... :twisted:
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Unread postby gillmang » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:50 pm

A number of time travellers from the 21st century are gathered in 1861 on the veranada of Johnson's Hotel in Richmond, VA. It is mid-winter. Due to the relative coolness of the season, they decided that ice is not necessary for their forthcoming, cross-century bibulous investigations. They will do a kind of vertical tasting, or series of them, vertical in this case meaning around 150 years.

Ice is available from the bar but at a high cost. The men wish to conserve their dwindling stock of rock CDs, extra Nike and Reebock shoes and baseball caps, used for trading, to ensure enough food and transportation to return to their time vehicle hidden in a Virginia glen after their mission is completed. The whiskeys will be tasted straight or just with cool water from the big, slightly cracked porcelain pitcher on a corner table.

In front of them on a rickety pine table are a number of bottles of liquor. Some are what you would find in most any decent-stocked U.S. store of 2008: Georgia Moon unaged corn liquor; Old Overholt rye; and Very Old Barton 6 year old bourbon. Also present is a rarity, Hudson Four-Grain Bourbon Whiskey from a small distiller in the Hudson Valley in New York State, it is said to resemble a young bourbon of the 1800's. Well, since they are IN the 1800's at the moment, they also have some liquors from that time, bought earlier that day in fact in the older part of Richmond, VA. They bought them as I said for no money since they don't have 1861 money and there are no ATMs in Virginia in 1861, so they traded extra shoes and other clothing that the merchants marvelled over after meeting these strangers so oddly dressed and yet quite familiar to them despite some differences in accents and vocabulary. Indeed the feeling was mutual.

On the table next to the Georgia Moon is one of the best mountain whiskeys obtainable in the great state of VA in 1861. It is made by a family who have been distilling in America since their forbears came from Derry in Ireland in the 1700's. It is pure white corn whiskey. No sacharums or other things were added we were told, and it was made in a shed in the old mountain way about 100 miles east and north of Richmond. It was ladled from a barrel without a name but is known as MacClelland's whiskey.

Next to that brace is Johnson's Old Rye Whiskey. It is made by some country kin of Augustus Johnson who owns the fine hotel the group are lodged in, and it was procured from the bar downstairs. Mr. Johnson - he said after one night's stay to call him Augustus - told them it is reputed not a day under three years old. It looks indeed that, maybe older judging by its dark blonde appearance. It was set next to Old Overholt whiskey of 2008. The group couldn't find any 1860's Old Overholt in Richmond although at the wine and spirits mart next to the train depot whiskey dealer Dan Tucker told them you can get Overholt sometimes, from the Spring until the early Winter.

Now on the edge of the table we see Very Old Barton bourbon, 6 years old, 100 proof, from a well-reputed distillery in Bardstown, KY - another great State for whiskey, the greatest, in fact. (Dan Tucker and even Augustus had to agree, if a little grudgingly). The boys have put it against the expensive and VERY well-regarded Summerdean 5 year old Bourbon whiskey from Kentucky. Dan Tucker said, "you boys won't find any better whiskey anywhere in these United States. Well, there's some question how united we are at the moment" (said he almost as if to himself). Then he brightened and proclaimed, "fellers, let's talk whiskey now, not politics!". He let them have some Summerdean which came in a heavy fluted bottle and took from Gillman a pair of black extra-wide Reebock shoes in payment. He said, "Boys, I don't know where you're from exactly, and normally I don't sell except for cash money right on top of that barrel there, but my John-boy can use a pair of new shoes and I think he'll like these foreign shoes. We've NEVER seen shoes like that in these parts before". So the group got the choice Summerdean Bourbon and darn if it wasn't of the most lovely color: a little darker than the VOB but not dissimilar, like the VOB if you poured some port wine in it.

Also on the table as noted is the cute little bottle of Hudson Four-Grain Bourbon from a little distillery in New York State of 2008. It is only about 4 months old but because aged in small barrels it can be regarded as about a year old or more. Year-old whiskey is quite common at the mart by the depot where Dan Tucker works. The group got some by parting with a Beatles Anthology CD, Live At Leeds Deluxe Edition CD and a portable CD player. Joe told Dan it's kind of mountain music updated a bit and you can hear it with electricity which soon will be available due to some people in the North working on artificial lighting. Dan said, "that's all correct with me, Sir" and kept turning over the objects in his hand and marvelling at them. (The batteries had died during the trip, they hardly last a few months let alone 150 years!).

So the Hudson Four Grain is paired with an 1861 one year old rye whiskey from the Richmond whiskey mart. Dan Tucker said it is one of his top sellers: it's light golden, quite similar in color to the Hudson Four Grain (maybe a little lighter). It has no name so the time travellers call it Dan's Whiskey.

So now Gary, Joe, Mike V. and the other investigators start to taste and compare these liquors. The 1860's Virginia liquors are not quite the strange brews they might first seem because the group researched them before they left the dimension of 2008 Time, but still the frisson of tasting something historical and in original condition is evident on their visages.

Joe is first-off, he tastes the Georgia Moon and then the MacClelland's pure corn whiskey from the Virginia glens of 1861. He looks at the others and says, "gents, we could have saved our money and time at least for this duo: they taste almost the same". Gary says, "Joe, how can that be? Corn was different in the 1860's, so were stills, yeasts, everything was different". So he takes a taste of both too. "Gosh darn Joe you're right! Heaven Hill got it just right, amazing!". Some of the boys resolve to buy Georgia Moon when they get back but one is heard to mutter, "I don't like corn liquor in 2008 and I don't like it in 1861 and that's that".

Now they decide to go for the gold and Gary takes a sip of the Summerdean 5 year old bourbon, made in the late 1850's in northern Kentucky. Mike V. says he'll check when he gets back on Summerdean, but the name sounds familiar. Then the rest of them taste Kentucky's finest bourbon of 1861. Gary's reaction is typical: "Man that's good! It's like a combination of VOB bourbon and a Pappy Van Winkle 15 year old, with an underlying fruity taste, kind of plummy-like". They all agree nothing seemed added and maybe that strong fruity taste is from some old bourbon yeast long disappeared by 2008. VOB is essayed too as a foil and it stands up well, but seems to lack something by comparison. Still, it's very worthy and certainly in the same ballpark (they all agree after further tasting and pondering).

Now they will go more for the mid-range: Dan's Whiskey of 1861 against the 2008 Hudson Four Grain. The Hudson first: it has a bracing, piney-like taste with noticeable edges of sweet oaky flavor. Quite nice although some of the boys think it would be best with ice and maybe a dash of soda of some kind. Then they taste Dan's Whiskey. It is rather different, not sweet at all (probably wasn't aged in a new charred oak cask), quite spicy, they've had something like this before, yes, it's quite like that young rye whiskey made today in West Virginia! Dan's Whiskey is darker in color but the taste is almost the same, piney and fruit gum-like. They all concur: these old drinks do taste like something known in America in the 2000's!

They have time for one last taste, it is getting dark, they have to go to bed soon and make sure they don't miss the horse and coach Augustus has arranged to take them out to the country to find their time travel ship to take them home. They take a slug of Johnson's Old Rye Whiskey 1861 to compare to modern Old Overholt. They agree that the Johnson's is pretty good overall and evidently higher proof than the 40% ABV Overholt. But something's a little wrong with it, it has a slightly decayed taste, as if some rotted vegetable or even old fish of some kind got in it. They wonder what kind of barrels were used to age this in, some of the casks might have been used to hold something else before. But under the off-taste they could detect the spicy, rounded taste of a good, aged rye whiskey and agree the Overholt is the same kettle of fish, so to speak. They jaw it over and most agree the Johnson's Rye is probably not at its best tonight although Mike V. says it might represent some long-lost regional whiskey taste. Still, they are glad they tried it.

Now Gillman says, "before we retire, let's mix them all and compare the vattings of each century". The others object quite strongly because they feel this would damage the intellectual integrity of what they are trying to accomplish. After a large cup of Augustus' best coffee, Gary agrees that it wouldn't make sense to do this, but then he adds in a low voice, "maybe just combine the Summerdean and the VOB 100 2:1?", but no, in the end he agrees the occasion isn't right and the study session ends on a smooth note with all agreeing they have learned a lot and been very fortunate to do such a cross-century investigation.

All retire to their rooms on the second and third floors of the handsome old wood hotel. All the bottles are put in a wood box and given to Augustus to give to Dan Tucker. Augustus asks for half of the VOB 100 in the "new-fangled" bottle, he says he doesn't drink strong liquors except once in a while as a medicine, and the group are happy to oblige. The rest will all go to Dan Tucker with a note that he might like to do a similar comparison tasting with his merchant friends one day. The note said to write down their impressions and a way would be found for Dan to send the notes to the travellers for study and comparison to their own. But for now, the voyagers bid farewell to a gent who sells some fine liquors, whose language both generalist and technical they fully understood, a man who sells liquors that more than find an echo some 150 years later in America.

And the travellers left Old Virginia and returned home, a long way indeed but they arrived safe and sound. Yes, that very close huge white light half-way back did seem troubling for a moment but it passed. Suddenly it was January, 2008 and all were safe at home before their computers.

Gary
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Unread postby EllenJ » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:46 pm

Wow, Gary! Have you got St.Bunghole visiting with you this morning?
That was a terrific story, among the best I've ever read. I was doing a quick run through the forum, looking for something (that I never found, on account of spending all my time reading your story) and now I'm going to be late for an appointment -- especially since I'm taking even more time out to respond!! :wink:
Uh, say Gary... do you still have that there time machine handy? Maybe I could borrow it for a few minutes?

Anyway, great job! Next time you go, please say "Hi" to Weena for me.

I'll bet MikeV. will be going in to work early tomorrow (easy enough, if you're storing the time machine at his place) to get some research in on Summerdean. Since I'm already late, I might as well be a little later, so here's some stuff I could find (or rather, couldn't find) about the brand...

First of all, I've found nothing about any Kentucky commercial distiller or brand called "Summerdean". In fact, I couldn't even find a town called Summerdean, Kentucky -- but I did find such a town in Virginia. It is, in fact, in Augusta County, not far from Bunghole's own plantation in Stuart's Draft.

According to the [Staunton, VA] Valley Conservation Council:
"... Another once-bustling village in the shadow of Little North Mountain is Summerdean, situated at the crossroads of two major trails providing access to the mountain, Routes 602 and 603. Route 602 runs along the base of Little North Mountain in the project area, and prior to the establishment of the Little North Wildlife Management Area, Route 603 connected Middlebrook (and the turnpike) with Augusta Springs by way of Pond Gap. Summerdean developed as a trade center and small market village by the mid-19th century. One of the many remaining questions about this settlement is the origin of its name. The Summerdean Store and Post Office is one of the earliest brick store buildings in the county, dating from 1840-60, and prosperous farmers in the area built several large brick homes and a brick church. The post office was operating by l857. The community became the focus of local industry by 1884. Businesses included a tannery, four mills, two blacksmiths' shops, and a wagon shop."

No mention is made of any distillery there, but that's not unusual in "goodie-two-shoes" civic promotional material.

The Virginia Historical Society, in its Annal of Augusta County from 1736 to 1871, also doesn't mention any distilleries located in or anywhere near Summerdean, but it does refer to others in the area:
"...After the Revolution, distilleries continued as a cottage industry in the upper Valley. By 1800, George Clemmer was manufacturing Clemmer Whiskey on his farm just off the turnpike south of Middlebrook. A.E. Clemmer was one of many 19th century commercial distillers in Augusta County; fifteen other liquor manufacturers were operating in the county by 1884. Perhaps the best known was the Bumgardner Distillery southwest of Chestnut Ridge near Folly Mills. Constructed in 1820 by M.J. Bumgardner, the distillery produced whiskey under that name [meaning Bumgardner], advertising its quality with the claim, 'Wherever it goes it goes to stay.' His sons took over the business and expanded it into the Bumgardner and McQuade Wholesale Liquor House in 1878."

The Snyder Database, however, DOES recognize Summerdean Whiskey. There isn't a whole lot of information about it, but they do say that there was such a brand registered around 1875 to the Jenkins-Capers Co. of Richmond, Virginia. Perhaps "Summerdean" was their own brand and named for the Virginia community (a resort area like Berkeley Springs, maybe?), while the whiskey itself was the product of one or more unidentified distilleries in Kentucky. They may have owned it before 1875 but didn't need to register it before then, or they may have purchased it as an existing brand from whoever owned it in the 1860s.

If I had the time, I'd check out Jenkins-Capers, but I really don't right now. GOOD LUCK, MIKE!!
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Unread postby gillmang » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:56 pm

Great information, John, thanks very much, and for your kind words. I will find again and quote the specific reference from the link to Summerdean whiskey but am almost 100% sure it was described as a Kentucky whiskey, as you say possibly the name was chosen to describe the whiskey because the town Summerdean had a positive connotation (as a resort perhaps as you said) to Richmonders.

When you mentioned Linn I realised I had forgotten to offer birthday greetings, so preoccupied have I been with this research and my little story. Belated Happy Birthday Linn.

John, you must join us on the next trip. In terms of the one just past, I ask any of the others who were able to go to obtain Dan Tucker's notes of the analogue 1861 tasting with his merchant friends and reproduce them below in this thread.

Gary
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Unread postby gillmang » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:02 pm

Here is one of 19 references to Summerdean whiskey in the Richmond newspaper I referred to from the early 1860's, and it contains also a reference to Bumgardner whiskey which confirms John's research:

"M. Blair & Co. have on hand several choice brands of

Mountain Whiskey,

Such as L. Bumgardner & Co., Summerdean, genuine Bourbon, direct from the manufacturer in Kentucky, and also

Wayt's Pure Eye and Wheat Whiskey, Of all the above brands, we have it from one to five years old.

All who wish a pure article, will do well to give them a call.

Richmond, March 15, 1861. mh 15--3m ".

The reference to "Eye" clearly is a misprint for Rye.

Here is another reference to Summerdean:

"whiskey.--Summerdean, 2 years old, $1.25; 3 years, 20 per cent; 4 years old, 5 years old, $4.50; Richmond Rectified 95 cts."

It is clear from this and other entries that Summerdean was not, in the first quotation above, mentioned to describe a place where Bumgardner was located (and in fact Bumgardner was not located there as John has discovered); rather, Summerdean was the name of a prized whiskey from Kentucky. It was available as we see from 1-5 years of age with the oldest being considered the best. While said to be of Kentucky origin, just as clearly as John has also shown, Summerdean was in Virginia, not Kentucky. So it might have been as he suggested a brand name chosen because the name had a particular resonance in Richmond (e.g., the resort idea) or maybe the dealer who obtained the whiskey (and aged it?) was in Summerdean, VA. I haven't looked at a map to see how far Summerdean was from the Kentucky border. If it was too far for someone to have run a business there dealing in Kentucky whiskeys, there must have been another reason to brand a Kentucky whiskey with a Virginia name.
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Unread postby gillmang » Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:48 pm

See next post.
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Unread postby gillmang » Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:49 pm

From the same newspaper and era: evidence, at least from someone evidently a high-grade merchant, that bourbon of up to 14 years age was in regular commerce:

"Thos. J. Burrows would most respectfully call the attention of the citizens of Richmond and the vicinity, that he has opened at the above No a choice assortment of Wines, Liquors and Cigars; also, a large stock of Wooden Ware. The stock consists in part of Choice Brandies; Champagne super and medium qualities; Super Hennessey Brandies; Sir Robert Burnett's Super London Gin; Old Bourbon and other "Whiskeys, some 14 years old; Port, Sherry and Madeira Wine, in cases and casks; 250,000 Cigars all qualities, some as low as $8 per 1,000; Demijohns in great varieties; Brooms; Brushes, and Slacking all of the above goods have been purchased within the last thirty days, consequently are low. He would invite a call, being satisfied he can sell as low, if not lower, than others".

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Ou est-ce que c'etait vraiment la meme chose...? The time travellers missed this one, but there is always next time.

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Unread postby gillmang » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:39 pm

A resource called Kentuckiana Digital Library, easily found on the Internet, is interesting to peruse from a whiskey standpoint (and of course many others). Just casually inserting "bourbon whiskey" in the search box for "e-texts", I came across a three page article on the Kentucky bourbon industry written in the first decade of the 1900's, taken from:

"Commercial history of the state of Kentucky : Kentucky Division, Travelers' Protective Association of America, representing the manufacturing, wholesale, banking, railway, hotel, educational and commercial interests, and the resources of the state in general ... ; edited and compiled by T. Edgar Harvey., Travelers' Protective Association of America. Kentucky Division. Post D, Louisville.".

I do not know how to link the actual article (it shows a picture of a young R.E. Wathen who was head of an industry association) but maybe Mike you know how since you will easily be able to find this. I salute the Kentuckiana Digital Library project which has brought such fasinating early materials to light.

In the article, it is said that while "the general public labors under the exactly opposite impression", the quality of Kentucky whiskey only really was gained in the 1870's. Before that, the whiskey often had a "scorched" taste because boiling the mash over a wood fire resulted in scorching the grain. A less clear sentence states also that the stills would "spew" with the result that the liquor took the "rank" and "offensive" flavor of the "backings". I am not sure what this really means. If the stills overflowed, perhaps the surging mash (which would often have included a proportion of setback) burned on the fires underneath the pot still and this somehow communicated bad odors to the vapours being distilled.

Or maybe simply when a sour mash (as opposed to a sweet mash) burned on the base of the pot still, this gave an additional bad taste to the whiskey, i.e., over and above the burned taste resulting from the grain solids being scorched.

While no reference is made to what accounted for the improvement in the whiskey by the 1870's, we here know the answer: continuous distillation.

The time travelling group who visited Richmond, VA recently in 1861 encountered no scorched taste in the whiskeys tasted from that time. No doubt we were exceedingly lucky, at least as judged by this article.

Still, the author allowed for the possibility that some of the pre-1870's whiskey was good, he implies this by his statement that bad results would come unless the distiller was very skillful. The difference from the 1870's onward was (clearly) that the continuous still allowed good results to be obtained routinely.

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Unread postby cowdery » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:52 pm

The "spew" you mentioned made me think of puking the still, which is what happens in a pot still operation when the fire is too hot, the mash boils and mash, not distillate, gets into the condenser.
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Unread postby gillmang » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:58 pm

Thanks, Chuck. By the way the address of the Kentuckiana Digital Library is http://www.kdl.kyvl.org

It appears not possible without permission of the organisation to distribute the texts including electronically, however the site allows free searching and display of the text, i.e., any person can dial in and read the article himself, so interested parties here may wish to do that.

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Unread postby Mike » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:58 pm

Very creative, interesting, and entertaining story, Gary. I would love to have been along and offer my take on the taste of 1860's whiskey. Put my name on the list for the next 'backward to bourbons past' adventure. If I get stuck there by the 'time machine', I will look for my VA relatives.
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Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas
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