Who owns what American Whiskey

[Attila]

Bumping aroud wikipedia, and the net, I gathered this information as to who owns what Whisky. I am confused by some of the information (I thought Van Winkle was independent, but the Sazerac Company's website lists it as a brand, etc.) Any additions / corrections welcome.

Wild Turkey - Pernod (France)

Bulliet - Diageo (UK)

Four Roses - Kirin (Japan)

Makers Mark - Private (USA)

Old Potrero - Anchor Distillery (USA)

Black Maple Hill - CVI (USA)

Kentucky Bourbon Distillers - (USA)

- Noah's Mill

- Vintage Bourbon

- Johnny Drum

- Old Bardstown

The Sazerac Company - Private (USA)

- Sazerac Rye

- George T. Stagg

- Buffalo Trace Distillery

- Van Winkle Family Reserve

- Ancient Age

- Blanton's

- Old Charter

- Elmer T. Lee

- W.L. Weller

- McAfee's Benchmark Bourbon

- Hancock's Reserve Single-Barrel

- Rock Hill Farms

- Eagle Rare -17 years old

- William Larue Weller

- Thomas H. Handy

Fortune Brands (USA)

- Old Crow

- Jim Beam

- Knob Creek

- Booker's

- Basil Hayden

- Baker's

Brown Forman (USA)

- Early Times

- Jack Daniel's

- Woodford Reserve

- Old Forester

Heaven Hill - Private (USA)

- Elija Craig

- Evan Williams

- Fighting Cock

- Henry McKenna Bourbon

- Kentucky Delux

- Old Fitzgerald

- Ezra Brooks (brand owned by Luxco- USA)

- Rebel Yell (brand owned by Luxco- USA)

[barturtle]

Fortune Brands owns Makers Mark

Diageo also owns George Dickel and James E Pepper

Luxco (aka David Sherman) is a private bottler and also owns:

Bourbon Supreme

Yellowstone

David Nicholson 1843

Davies County

Governor's Club

a couple others

From what I understand BT has distribution rights to the VW line, but the VW family still owns and controls production, but I'm not exactly sure if the actual details, so I may be totally wrong

Fortuen Brands also does:

Old Grand Dad

Old Bourbon Hollow..

Ah heck why am I bothering to type all this shit...

here's possibly the most complete link, though it isn't the most up to date...look under "brands"

btw this site doesn't work at all in FF, you must use IE...:smiley_acbt:

[kickert]

this link should work in firefox:

http://www.kybourbon.com/english/pages/brands.html

[Attila]

Updated from above comments (Thanks for the link).

Wild Turkey - Pernod (France)

Four Roses - Kirin (Japan)

Old Potrero - Anchor Distillery (USA)

Black Maple Hill - CVI (USA)

Diageo (UK)

- George Dickel

- James E Pepper

- Bulliet

Kentucky Bourbon Distillers - (USA)

- Noah's Mill

- Vintage Bourbon

- Johnny Drum

- Old Bardstown

The Sazerac Company - Private (USA)

- Sazerac Rye

- George T. Stagg

- Buffalo Trace Distillery

- Van Winkle Family Reserve

- Ancient Age

- Blanton's

- Old Charter

- Elmer T. Lee

- W.L. Weller

- McAfee's Benchmark Bourbon

- Hancock's Reserve Single-Barrel

- Rock Hill Farms

- Eagle Rare -17 years old

- William Larue Weller

- Thomas H. Handy

Fortune Brands (USA)

- Makers Mark

- Old Crow

- Jim Beam

- Knob Creek

- Booker's

- Basil Hayden

- Baker's

- Old Grand Dad

- Old Bourbon Hollow

Brown Forman (USA)

- Early Times

- Jack Daniel's

- Woodford Reserve

- Old Forester

Heaven Hill - Private (USA)

- Elija Craig

- Evan Williams

- Fighting Cock

- Henry McKenna Bourbon

- Kentucky Delux

- Old Fitzgerald

Luxco (USA)

- Bourbon Supreme

- Yellowstone

- David Nicholson 1843

- Davies County

- Governor's Club

- Ezra Brooks

- Rebel Yell

[StraightBoston]

Don't forget Preiss Imports:

A.H. Hirsch

Hirsch Special Reserve

Barton Brands (Constellation Spirits):

Very Old Barton

1792 Ridgemont Reserve

Ten High

Tom Moore

Kentucky Tavern

Kentucky Gentleman

Barclay

Colonel Lee

As well as a slew of blends. There are probably more "cats-and-dogs" at Beam and Heaven Hill.

What I'd like to learn are the sources for the export whiskeys available in Japan and Europe, for example:

Cock of the Walk

(American) Cowboy

Yellow Rose of Texas

Virgin

Old Man Winter

Olde St. Nick

etc. etc.

In general, I always assume the ones with "Kentucky" in the name or handwritten-looking labels are KBD, and the rest are HH but I'm not sure!

[ThomasH]

I am sure that Virgin Bourbon in its various ages is from Heaven Hill!

Thomas

[bluesbassdad]

The SB.com page on this topic is worth a look.

Useful as it is, the distillery information can be confusing in that many so-called "distilleries" do not distill presently and some never have. At least that's my understanding from Kentuckians and others with contacts within the industry.

The association between Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace (Sazerac) came about recently. Hopefully VW products distilled at BT will become available in time to supplant current stocks and will live up to the high standards set by current and previous bottlings.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[Attila]

The SB.com page on this topic is worth a look.

Indeed worth a look. Thanks!

Hopefully VW products distilled at BT will become available in time to supplant current stocks and will live up to the high standards set by current and previous bottlings.

Hope so indeed!

[craigthom]

Neither Blanton's nor the van Winkles are owned by Sazerac. That's something of a technicality with the Blanton's, since Buffalo Trace makes the whiskey, ages it, bottles it, and distributes it in the US, but there it is.

[StraightBoston]

We never talk about it as much, but doesn't the same hold true for Ancient Age as for Blanton's (Age International), or did Buffalo Trace/Sazerac buy that label back?

[Attila]

Chatham Imports, Inc.

- Michter's (Bardstown)

[mozilla]

I have personally seen the HH label books at the distillery. I would not think it possible, without seeing it myself, that HH owned so many odd labels. There were literally, 3 books the size of the Houston phone book, full of labels I had never seen before.

It would be impossible to list all of them in a post.

After getting to know the style of HH, it is easy to recognize their labels. Also, look for the Bardstown zip code and charcoal filtered to identify HH brands.

[OscarV]

Check out the link below they have a pretty good list.

http://www.kybourbon.com/english/pages/brands.html

[Attila]

If Michter's is made in Bardstown, does that mean it was made at Barton?

[cowdery]

No one really knows who makes the whiskey currently being bottled by Chatham Imports under the Michter's name, except the parties, of course. Heaven Hill is well known as a source for contract distilling and bulk whiskey. Barton is less well known, but they do it too. Everybody else does it from time to time but not as an ordinary part of their business.

The city name on a label signifies a place of business for the producer, but that is not necessarily the distiller. Frequently it is the bottler, who may also be the broker who sources the spirit. The Kentucky Secretary of State shows Michter's as an assumed business name of Kentucky Bourbon Distillers ltc. which is the company that performs that service for Chatham, and which is located in Bardstown.

[barturtle]

No one really knows who makes the whiskey currently being bottled by Chatham Imports under the Michter's name, except the parties, of course. Heaven Hill is well known as a source for contract distilling and bulk whiskey. Barton is less well known, but they do it too. Everybody else does it from time to time but not as an ordinary part of their business.

The city name on a label signifies a place of business for the producer, but that is not necessarily the distiller. Frequently it is the bottler, who may also be the broker who sources the spirit. The Kentucky Secretary of State shows Michter's as an assumed business name of Kentucky Bourbon Distillers ltc. which is the company that performs that service for Chatham, and which is located in Bardstown.

+1:grin:

I'm not even sure where I would look to find that list form the Secretary of State, but I will add, for historical background (which I'm sure Chuck knows, but forgot to add...or just didn't consider it relevent) that the Van Winkle's used to do the bottling for the Michter's labels before they joined forces with Buffalo Trace.

[cowdery]

I think Julian only did the initial bottling. That relationship ended long before he moved to BT, as I recall.

The KY Secretary of State business names search engine is here.

[Attila]

You are both awesome. Thanks!