Hirsch bourbons

[cas]

I suspect this information has been posted in various snippets before, but can someone review how the Hirsch 16 and 20 year came to be? My understanding is that this bourbon all originated from a 1974, I believe, distillation at the now defunct Michters distillery. But, why was a single year's product released under the name Hirsch, what made it particularly special, and how does this differ from the other Michters whiskeys that are available?

Craig

[boone]

I can't answer all your questions but alot of information can be found here

C.E. Beam aka, Charles Everett Beam aka, Uncle Everett

Bettye Jo

[cas]

Very interesting - thanks for the link.

Craig

[Gillman]

I think it is an open question when whiskey marketed under the Michter's name was first bottled (or "decantered") and sold. While some of the familar white jugs may have been released in 1956 or between '56 and the early 80's, I believe from other information gleaned over the years that this was not the case. In other words, I think Michter's/Pennco Distillers was a bulk producer for most of its life. Only when the jug house was set up, which I think occurred after an ownership change in the late 70's/early 80's, did bottling occur in the decanters and (some) glass bottles under the Michter's name. It is known Michter's/Pennco made rye whiskey for Overholt and probably other famous brands and also supplied the whiskey for a brand called Kirk's rye. It may have made bourbon but it also made the whiskey devised by Bettye Jo's uncle which was a proprietary straight that was neither bourbon nor rye: this was the Original Sour Mash recipe of 50% corn, 38% rye, the rest barley malt. Why whiskey was rescued from the single 1974 year is hard to say. It is called bourbon on the label of the Hirsch bottles so perhaps there was a run of bourbon made that year but not typically in other years and maybe that is why that year only was represented in the Hirsch 16 and 20 year olds. There were hundreds if not more barrels left at Schaefferstown after the final shut down and I wonder what happened to those. Some were pilfered I believe, some was bottled into the decanters that appeared throughout the 80's (all denominated Michter's Original Sour Mash Whiskey), and some may still exist in some form for all we know. The Michter's story needs explaining, it is the last distillery about which little is known either for its early years or later (post-Prohibition) incarnation.

Gary

[barturtle]

In early 1996 all remaining stocks were destroyed by court order (source: World Whiskey Guide, J.Murray), apparently more than the angels share was disappearing.

[TNbourbon]

Here's another website from a Bomberger descendant which outlines much of the distillery's latter history, with several pictures, including one of the 'pot still' which is really the doubler:

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ybfowler/legacy.htm

[BourbonJoe]

Tim,

That was a great post. The Bombergers site that you included provided much info. that I never knew and I only live about 15 miles from it. Live and learn.

Thanks,

Joe

[gr8erdane]

Pardon my shriek: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

[Gillman]

Joe, maybe one day you'd run in to people who used to work there (it isn't all that long ago). Their memories would be valuable documents to understand what Michter's made, when, for whom, under what names.

Gary

[BourbonJoe]

Joe, maybe one day you'd run in to people who used to work there

Gary

Good point Gary. I'll ask around.

Joe

[Gillman]

Tim, good work to find this again.

From this I conclude:

A column still (the big still referred to and seen in the photos) made whiskey which was doubled in the large doublers shown, from 1947-1980. In fact I think whiskey production only started up in 1951 or so because Louis Forman did not "return" to the site until then.

In 1980, distilling ceased and never recommenced on an industrial scale. However a pilot plant true pot still acquired (other sources tell us) as a Bicentennial project in late 1970's was in later years put to work producing one barrel per day and was used as part of a tourism venture in conjunction with the jug house which sold whiskey bottled in decanters (and some bottles) obtained from the large store of whiskey on-site in cement warehouses. Some of these decanters were issued (I am quite sure) in the 1970's when the industrial plant was still operating and it seems the decanter program expanded after shut down in 1980. There was plenty of whiskey aging to fill the decanters. And more was made from the pilot still when it started up in the late 80's only to stop definitively in the early 90's.

(I think I read somewhere that the jug house still exists after a fashion, selling memorabilia associated to the plant but no whiskey).

As late as 1994 it seems there was a large quantity of whiskey aging in barrel in site. Some of this must have been from pre-1981 production and would have (at the time) reached a good age. Some must have been production from the Vendome pilot plant which is now owned by members of the Beam family in Bardstown and stored in a shed across from the Genernal Nelson motel.

What happened to all that barreled whiskey still there only 10 years ago? Hundreds of thousands of gallons is a lot of whiskey. I wonder if it was sold off to pay debts and ended up in blended whiskey. If so I wish I knew which brands.

Plans to continue industrial distilling had to be shelved due to lack of compliance after 1980 with environmental regulations

The property changed hands a number of times and was embroiled for a time in a welter of issues relating to taxes and liens.

The current (2005) status of the property is unclear except it seems the buildings that comprised the original plant are in poor condition or have been dismantled.

These brochures and press reports from pre-1995 give hardly any product or brand information. No mash bills are given. There is no reference to "bourbon" or "rye". It seems clear to me however that what was being made by the industrial and later the pilot plant was Michter's Original Sour Mash Whiskey, the 50% corn, 38% rye and 12% barley malt mash discussed by Michael Jackson as the distillery's current product in his 1987 World Guide To Whiskey. This does not mean other types of whiskey had not been made on the site after 1951 and it is known that true rye whiskey was made there and perhaps bourbon, too. I still believe that until the late 70's, Michter's/Pennco was a bulk producer and its whiskey appeared under others' brand names such as Kirk's Rye, Overholt's Rye and others. If as seems likely the Original Sour Mash was being made in the 1960's, say, in what form was that sold to the public? It wasn't a rye whiskey so it could not have been sold as Overholt Rye or Kirk's Rye. Maybe it went into blended whiskeys of the era. This is where hard information is thin on the ground. Someone who worked at the distillery in the 60's and 70's would likely know the exact answers. There must be many people still living who worked in the company then or were one of its owners.

Gary