old 1889 royal

I have an unopened bottle of Old 1889 Royal. It was purchased in the 1940's at an insurance salvage auction. from which i was told. the whiskey was aged 12 years before bottled in 1948 and it is 86 proof.also it is a sourmash bourban Whiskey. The bottle is a 4/5 qaurt and clearly marked as such. It also states (Whiskey bottle) on the bottom on the bottle. The factory name is Old 1889 Distillery Co. BardsTown, Kentucky. Which burned to the ground. As im aware at this time, it is the only bottle of its kind from that manufacturer and very rare. is this true? The Kentucky Whiskey Museum wanted it on thier display as well. And is there a value to this bottle of whisky with collectors of rare fine whiskeys?

I hope you didn't pay too much for it, because somebody was giving you a load of hooey. I have never heard of an "Old 1889" Distillery in Bardstown, so that probably is a DBA. I'm sure the Oscar Getz Museum would accept it as a donation, but "wanted it on their display" sounds unlikely. (Mike Veach can speak to that better than myself.) "The only bottle of its kind from that manufacturer and very rare" is pure horse pucky because there is no reliable source for that kind of information. "Is there a value to this bottle of whisky with collectors of rare fine whiskeys?" No, because there really aren't any "collectors of rare fine whiskeys."


--Chuck Cowdery

the distilery is printed right on the label

i did some investigating and found the factory to exist!

and the museum would pay 50 dollers for it and thats it

agian as i know it is the only one know to exist. i have a pic if its needed

I have 2 or 3 bottles of Old 1889 Royal 12 yo as well as a couple of bottles of regular Old 1889 bourbon (3 yo). I bought them last year at various liquor stores in my area. They didn't cost much (and for good reason...). The Royal isn't bad, but the regular leaves a lot to be desired in the flavor department. I was under the impression that these labels are owned and bottled by Heaven Hill. These are not old bottles by any means, as none of them have tax stamps.

How did you determine the Royal was bottled in 1948? Does it have a tax stamp? I would be interested in anything you might find out. From what I understand, it was a very common bourbon in the Missouri/Kansas market years ago.

Last year I was contacted by a woman that saw my website. She said that her grandfather used to be associated with the Old 1889 Distillery and she wondered what information I could provide her. I told her all that I knew and asked her to share any information that she might have. I even offered to send her an unused bottle label, but she never replied to me.

Bill
http://home.kc.rr.com/mashbill/

MetalMan,

Yes, there really was such a bourbon as "Old 1889 Royal". It was, as you describe 86 proof and 12 years old. It was made by the Meadowlawn Distillery in Jefferson county (Louisville). And that's the distillery name printed on the label. That distillery did indeed burn down, in 1966 and again, bigtime, in 1971. They did continue to bottle and sell Old 1889 until 1977.

HOWEVER (and it's a big "however"), if your bottle says "Old 1889 Distillery, Bardstown, KY" it isn't that bourbon. It's a reproduction, one of many made by Heaven Hill, who now own the label. It may have been made as early as the early '80s, but since it's currently available it's probably not old at all.

Even the original isn't all THAT rare, and it wasn't a particularly special bourbon to begin with. Nor was it original to Meadowlawn! They bought the brand from an outfit in Kansas City (and they sold most of it in that area where it was popular). Now if you only had a bottle made at THAT distillery, you'd really have something.

I'm still intrigued at some of the details you mentioned, though. If the bottle is a true fifth (4/5 qt.) then that would indicate it's older than the Heaven Hill reproductions would be. Is it possible someone would stick a current "Old 1889" label on an old bottle? Meadowlawn was nowhere near Bardstown and wouldn't say that on the label. Yes; please do post a photo. Especially of the bottlecap (you can tell a lot about the era of a bottle by the bottlecap, since just about everyone used the same ones at the same time).

=John=
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

I don't think he has HH's label. He specifically mentions Royal on his label. The label today says only Old 1889 Brand no royal. It is yellow and white with black letters. There is a small gold seal on it that has the state of Ky with the words Kentucky State Fair Award of Excellence.

boone

the bollte in the glass was printed 4/5 quart also
on the bottle in the glass it manufactuered dates is 1948

here is the top

here is the label

here is the bottle stamp date
and did you notice the salvage stamp on the label