Michter's demise and Hirsch bourbon revisitied

[NorCalBoozer]

inspired from DougDog's recent post about the 15 y.o. Hirsch...

The Hirsch 16 back label seems to spin a story where the "last remaining barrels were brought to Kentucky for final aging and bottling" as if there were only a limited amount of barrels left that were somehow saved from imminent demise.

But after looking at newspaper clippings from a site that TNBourbon had previously posted ( http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ybfowler/legacy.htm ) in a thread here on sb.com...

a clipping from 1994 talks about over 300,000 gallons being "abandoned". That is over 5500 barrels.

Basically the distillery was left quite full of bourbon and in subsequent years people had broken in and started to steal the loot left behind.

so how much did Hirsch really buy? I mean if 300,000 gallons were still left in 1994, I really wonder if the Hirsch spin is somewhat overstated. how much are they really sitting on?

Did Hirsch only buy the mature barrels? and if so why wouldn't they but the remaining maturing barrels, like the ones that only need 1-5 years of aging? they didn;t want to age it? 300,000 gallons is a lot of bourbon.

So did Hirsch bottle the 20,19 and first 2 bottlings of the 16? then Preiss bottled the 16 gold foil?

[Vange]

I am not sure, but it is an interesting thread for an interesting bourbon. I love a spirit witht his much history!

Although ,my question is this. Is Hirsch boubron the ONLY pot stilled bourbon since prohibition as stated below? Is this actually true or just hype?

"Michter’s Distillery finally closed in 1988 after making the only post-Prohibition pot still Bourbon in America."

[TNbourbon]

Preiss is not 'sitting on' any Hirsch by now. In this thread:

Hirsch 16yo

you'll find Henry Preiss' response to an email almost 2 years ago in which he states the 20 is all distributed and, at that time, approximately 2,500 cases of 16yo remained. I suspect in two years, that's in circulation by now, too.

As Randy (doubleblank) points out in the Hirsch 15yo thread, the 'pot still' distillation is mythological, at least as we know it. The doubler used my many, if not most, distillers is effectively a pot still, and pictures in the Michter's promotional literature -- copied, I believe, in that website noted above from a Bomberger descendant -- show a "Pot Still" sign attached to that portion of the distilling column. The true pot-still Michter's was only offered in small batches in the distillery's gift shop, and is not part of the Hirsch bottlings.

[Gillman]

Michter's did make a true pot still whiskey (a la single malt) but only later in its life, as Randy said, after it acquired a pilot plant which included a copper pot still built as a Bi-Centennial Project. Before that it used (from post-Prohibition start-up in about 1951) a continuous still and doubler in a way apparently similar to all bourbon makers today. The product sold to the public, apparently from 1956, was Michter's Original Pot Still Whiskey. Initially this was sold in small jug-like containers, later an extensive decanter series was adopted, this started sometime in the 1970's. During this time (1970's) the distillery became called Michter's, after the name of its main consumer product. Before, it was called Pennco Distillers. There were numerous ownership changes after the 1960's, I understand.

The recipe for Michter's Original Sour Mash Whiskey was developed by Charles Everett Beam, an uncle of Beam family descendant Bettye Jo Boone of our forum. He devised a mash of 50% rye, 38% corn, the remainder barley malt. This was essentially a proprietary form of straight whiskey because otherwise distilled and aged like a straight whiskey under U.S. regulations. It was not called "straight" whiskey on the labels because it was not a bourbon or rye as defined (it did not have at least 51% corn or rye). But it was, depending on how you view it, essentially a high-rye bourbon or low-rye rye whiskey, either way it was very good, I've tasted some from various sources. The decanters tend to be leaky and I think oxidation of the whiskey was accelerated in many cases due to some porosity in the ceramics used. There is a characteristic metallic-like taste which I have noticed in some old Beam decanters too, that seems to be the result of oxidation. So you need to get a good one, but they exist. Randy traded me one recently which was very good, tasting soft and rich but of course much younger than than the Hirsch stocks which were a minimum of 16 years old (or 15 years, it now seems). Michter's Original Sour Mash had elements of a clean young bourbon but with rye tangs (spearmint-like) and smoky notes somewhat reminiscent of maple sugar or Jack Daniel, IMO.

I believe the Hirsch/Michter's bourbons were first owned by former Schenley executive Adolph Hirsch, then the Hue family and finally by Henry Preiss of California and were acquired in about 1989 or earlier - some years before the press stories from 1994 referring to thousands of barrels of whiskey in locked warehouses. Presumably that on-site whiskey is all gone now but how, when and to whom, I don't know and is a mystery which needs unravelling. I believe for most of its life Pennco Distillers sold most of its whiskey in bulk to the whiskey industry, it is known for a time it sold straight rye to various parties including National Distillers for Old Overholt, for example. Once a formal Michter's Jug House was set up in the late 70's or early 80's, its job from what I understand was to bottle and sell the remaining Michter's Original Sour Mash whiskey, mostly in decanters. No new distilling was carried on in the last phase except for the barrel per day being made by the experimental 1976 pot still. Presumably this was put in decanters too in the 80's when old enough and sold like the other whiskey but the details are not known, e.g., the taste of all-pot still (as we see from WR Four Grain) can be different from column still/doubler whiskey so maybe the special all-pot still whiskey was sold only in certain containers, or labelled a certain way, I don't know (e.g. Michter's bottles - glass bottles - seem to have come in only in the 1980's and I wonder if those contained the pot still whiskey and were sold possibly during tours of the facility organised at the time by the Jug House).

Pennco must have made some bourbon because the 1974 whiskey in the Hirsch bottles is called bourbon on the label. To me it tastes quite similar to Michter's Original Sour Mash (which was 6 years old) but of course older as Tim Sousely has noted too from his own tastings and experiments. It is all an interesting story..

Of the whiskeys available under the modern (revived) Michter's name, I like Michter's Straight Rye Whiskey the best. It is fairly close in palate to the original Michter's, not exactly the same , but very good and possibly in one sense better in that it seems to have a more defined rye palate. The original Michter's whiskeys were made and aged in Schaefferstown, PA, a climate quite different from Kentucky's where the new Michter's whiskeys are made (by whom is not clear, I believe Heaven Hill made the Michter's Straight Rye whiskey). And of course the yeasts and other factors applying to the moderm Michter's whiskeys would vary from what were used originally. Still, they are very good, especially Michter's Straight Rye Whiskey which is about 5 years old, maybe a bit older, by my reckoning.

Gary

[doubleblank]

Good summary Gary. Back in December we had an extensive thread on Michter's (I don't know how to link it, sorry). They sold their true pot still whiskey as Bomberger Pot Still Whiaskey in special decanters for $500 (not the $1000 I posted earlier). I think Tim has an empty one. They made less than a barrel a day.......and they had a unique barrel purchase program. You could purchase a barrel of new distillate on a particular day....ie an anniversary....and ask them to age it a certain number of years and bottle it for you at that time. They even had a chart that predicted the ultimate number of bottles that would come from a barrel aged X number of years. I've got this barrel purchase info at home and am uncertain if anyone did this. Anyway....that Dec '04 thread has lots of interesting info on Michters.

Randy

[Gillman]

Thanks, Randy, I was away for part of that time and did not get the full story. Interesting they put out a whiskey called Bomberger (name of the family who owned the pre-Prohibition distillery from the mid-1800's; before that a family called Shenks were involved but I think a Michter was an early owner, too). The decanter I found most interesting was the Pagoda one you gave me, since poured into an empty VOB fifth bottle, of which half is left. I'll try to bring it to the next Gazebo because in my view it is very good, not metallic or degraded in any way.

Gary

[BourbonJoe]

Gary,

That Pagoda decanter was modeled after the Pagoda that sits atop the mountain overlooking Reading Pennsylvania. It is the defining landmark for Reading. If you would like to see the Pagoda, look up "Reading Pagoda" in Google.

Joe

[Gillman]

Many thanks, what does it signify, that Pagoda, why was it built there, and when approximately?

Gary

[BourbonJoe]

what does it signify, that Pagoda, why was it built there, and when approximately?

Gary

It was built in 1908 at a cost of $50,000.00. History is as follows: W hat makes this building remarkable isn't so much its form, but its location. Perched atop Mount Penn, east of a generic town called Reading, Pennsylvania, this is a wonderful addition to an otherwise unremarkable area. It was built by William A. Whitman, who owned a rock quarry on the mountain. This was his attempt to make up for the damage he did to Mount Penn and restore a little beauty to the area. The pagoda is topped with a four-foot-tall shachihoko (dolphin), a Japanese water symbol meant to protect it from fire. This is ironic because the building shares the mountain top with a forest fire lookout tower. The pagoda also features a bell made in 1739 in Obama, Japan. It was part of a Buddhist temple before coming to Pennsylvania. From the sixth floor, an observation deck offers views of the valley, the city of Reading, and a nearby power plant. The best times to look at in the early summer when the valley is lush and green, or in the middle of winter after a fresh snowfall, making the city look like a picture postcard. In addition to its visual appeal, at one time the pagoda served a practical purpose. The levels are rimmed with lights, and people in the city below could compare the light pattern with a code published in the local paper to find out the results of elections, sports, or other news. Sort of a breaking news service before radio and television became dominant. There is also an art gallery and a gift shop inside.

Joe

[NorCalBoozer]

thanks. after reading that link I was both surprised and sadden at what became of Michters.

[Gillman]

That's very interesting, thanks!

Interesting too that the U.S. gave such a nod at the time to Japan, an emerging commercial and military rival which not many years after (relatively speaking) became a sworn enemy of the U.S. (now fortunately all that is passed).

Was there any interference with the Pagoda or its design during the Second`World War, as far as you know?

Gary

[Gillman]

Hey Joe there have to be a lot of people in PA who know the full story about Michter's. And there HAS to be a lot of original Michter's whiskey around, no? I don't recall if PA is a control State, if so, the chances of finding old stock in stores are probably minimal since I suppose only current-listed invenory can be sold, but there would have to be many families who have stocks of the stuff in basements, other storage, old bars, no? It was fine whiskey and the distillery didn't close all that long ago in relative terms. If someone organised a historic Michter's tasting down in PA I want to come, I'd be happy to buy a ticket. I wonder if such a thing could be legally organised, e.g., a charity or historical society tasting. Maybe someone could come up with that pot still whiskey Randy was discussing.

It may sound odd to say it about a distillery that had such an old and involved history, but Michter's was ahead of its time...

Gary

[hookfinger]

Pa is a control state and sadly there is no Michter's to be found easily. I live within 30 miles of the old distillery. There is some memorabilia to found in some of the out of the way shops but not much worth buying. I assume it was snapped up by people smarter and faster than me. I also recently made a trip out to the distillery to poke around. It is in a very sad state, unfotunately. There is alot of history there that sadly will probably just crumble to dust. In an interesting aside, while in the area, I got lost so I pulled into a small gas station for directions.

Do you happen to know where the old distillery is at around here?", I asked the kind woman.

"Nope," she answered, "know nothing about it, but there is Distillery Rd. about a quarter-mile back"

[BourbonJoe]

Was there any interference with the Pagoda or its design during the Second`World War, as far as you know?

Gary

According to my relatives, the Pagoda was regarded as a Chinese symbol and therefore had no problems during the war.

Joe

[Gillman]

Dave, I hear what you are saying, but don't give up. There has to be a lot of knowledge hidden away there about Michter's and its whiskey, keep asking questions. E.g. some people in Schaefferstown, especially 50 and over, must have knowledge of this situation.

One day you'll uncover a basement full of Michter's in prime condition.

Gary

[Gillman]

Again most interesting.

One day, in a perfect world, a bunch of us would walk up that hill and sample vintage Michter's on a lovely day overlooking Reading. And maybe Koji (a great whiskey fan) would be there!

You never know, right?

Gary