James Randy Dunavan Five-O-Two E. Pirate Street Longview, Texas 75604-2428 -----Original Message----- From: Charles K. Cowdery <cowdery@ix.netcom.com> To: Randy Dunavan <randyd@texramp.net> Date: Sunday, May 16, 1999 7:03 PM Subject: Re: Wathen Bourbon >Randy, > >I recall hearing that some Medley was going to issue a bourbon in honor >of Wathen Medley, who personally represented a kind of merger between >those two famous distilling families, but I can't find the reference to >it now. You might try looking up listings for the Owensboro area to see >if you can find an address (e-mail or otherwise) or phone number for the >Medley Distillery, or a company under a similar name. I seem to recall >seeing something about it on the personal web site of a college-age >Medley not too long ago, but I can't find it now. > >I didn't cover the Medley family in the Whiskeymen article because there >are no bourbons currently sold under the Medley name (except the rumored >one mentioned above), but it is certainly a distinguished name in >bourbon history. > >Below is an article from a 1994 issue of my newsletter that tells the >story of Old Grand-Dad bourbon, which is where the Wathen and Hayden >families intersect. Hope it helps. Thanks for your interest. > >-- >- chuck > >For all of your Chuck Cowdery needs, see my web site at >http://www2.netcom.com/~cowdery > >When Jim Beam Brands Co. (a division of American Brands) acquired >National Distillers in 1987, they >obtained two distinguished bourbons, Old Grand-Dad, National's flagship >bourbon, and Old Crow. Each >was still being made at its own distillery in the Frankfort area but >both brands were in serious trouble. Both >had been losing sales for more than a decade and had suspended >production for extended periods. >When Jim Beam took over, distilling stopped permanently at both sites. >When the "real" Old Crow >ran out, Beam just put its own whiskey into the bottles. By that time, >Old Crow was considered a cheap, >"bottom shelf" brand and nobody much cared what it tasted like. >National had made such a mess of the >product that anything Jim Beam did was an improvement. > >Old Grand-Dad was another story. It was considered a quality bourbon. >Although sales were down, it >still commanded a premium price and was highly profitable. Jim Beam, of >course, wanted to keep those >profits rolling in, so they didn't mess with the Old Grand-Dad formula, >even though they shifted the >distilling to their own plants in the Bardstown area, at Clermont and >Boston. > >Beam couldn't just bottle any whiskey as Old Grand-Dad, like they did >with Old Crow, because the >difference would be obvious to any Old Grand-Dad drinker. Old Grand-Dad >is a high rye bourbon. Rye >makes up about 27% of its mash bill. With the usual 10% malt, that >means Old Grand-Dad is only 63% >corn, barely a bourbon. (51% corn is the legal minimum.) Jim Beam, a >more typical bourbon, is about >76% corn and just 13% rye. > >There is some irony in the fact that Old Grand-Dad is now made at Jim >Beam. The Jim Beam >Distillery at Clermont sits about two miles from the site of the >original Old Grand-Dad. Both sites were >chosen for their railroad access, like many distilleries built in the >later half of the 19th century. In this >case, it was a spur of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad that went >on to Bardstown and Springfield. >"My Old Kentucky Dinner Train" uses the route today for excursion trips. > >The Old Grand-Dad Distillery was built by R. B. Hayden and F. L. >Ferriell at Hobbs Station in 1882. >Another account says it was built in 1840, but that appears unlikely >since Hayden would have been only 19 >years old. Regardless of when the Hobbs plant was built, Raymond B. >Hayden had probably been a distiller >all his life, just like his father and grandfather before him. Basil >Hayden, Raymond's grandfather, came to >Kentucky from Maryland in 1796, settling in the country outside >Bardstown. He was a typical >farmer/distiller, making whiskey for his family's use, selling some to >his neighbors, and shipping what was >left down the river to New Orleans (when permitted by Spain). He was >succeeded in this enterprise by his >son, Lewis, and his grandson, Raymond. > >As the region became more developed, whiskey distilling became more >commercialized. With >Kentucky whiskey being shipped all over the country on the new >railroads, brand names became important. >When Hayden and Ferriell built their new distillery in 1882, they called >their brand "Old Grand-Dad" in >honor of Raymond's grandfather, Basil. Raymond's mother, Polly, also >came from a distinguished whiskey >family, the Dants. Raymonds partner, Ferriell, was a former >"government man," that is, a federal revenue >agent . > >Raymond Hayden never married and he left no direct heirs. After his >death in 1885, Philetus S. >Barber, a wealthy furrier and stock breeder, entered the firm. Upon >Barbers death in 1893 his son-in-law, >Lou Baldwin, inherited controlling interest. In 1899, Baldwin sold out >to the three Wathen brothers, John >Bernard, Richard Nicholas (Nick), and Martin Athanasius (Nace). > >The Wathens were another old whiskey family, coming to Kentucky from >Maryland about 1787 and >settling in what is now Marion County, like the Haydens. The Wathens >were among the first Catholic >settlers in Kentucky. Like Basil Hayden, Henry Hudson Wathen was a >small farmer-distiller, as was his >son, Richard, who became quite prosperous as a farmer and made whiskey >as a sideline. In 1863, Grant >met Lee at Gettysburg and the eldest son of Richard Wathen, John >Bernard, age 19, quit college to run the >family distillery. > >Although Kentucky was officially neutral in the Civil War, most >distilling families in Marion and >Nelson County were sympathetic to the Confederacy. Still, they sold >whiskey to both sides and it was >during the "War Between the States" that whiskey-making in Kentucky >evolved into a true commercial >enterprise. Whiskey sales continued to boom after the war but in 1871, >J. B. Wathen closed the family >distillery for some unnamed health reason. Four years later, he and >Nick built a big, new, modern distillery >in Lebanon. John was 31, Nick was 28. Nace, then just 18, would join >them later. Five years after >Lebanon opened, they built an even larger distillery in Louisville, at >Broadway and 26th Street. In 1899 >they bought Old Grand-Dad and made Nace its president. > >John Bernard was the leader of the clan. He was a highly successful and >respected businessman. His >distilling career spanned nearly 50 years. In 1867, he married Margaret >Adams, granddaughter of the >nephew of John Adams, the second president. Their sons Dick (Richard >Eugene), J.B. Jr., and Otho Hill >were all educated at Georgetown and Notre Dame, and also were prominent >in the whiskey business. >Then came Prohibition. Both J.B., Sr. and Nick died shortly before it >took effect in January of 1920, >within a few months of each other. The youngest brother, Nace, had died >first, in 1912. During >Prohibition, under the direction of J.B.'s sons, the family consolidated >all of its operations in Louisville and >established the American Medicinal Spirits Company (AMS). In addition >to Old Grand-Dad, AMS owned >the Hill & Hill, Bourbon DeLuxe and Hermitage brands. The Wathen family >sold AMS to National >Distillers in 1929. > >After Repeal, the old Mueller, Wathen and Kobert Distillery in Lebanon >was returned to production as >the John A. Wathen Distillery Co., with one William Hayden as its Master >Distiller. It was subsequently >sold to Schenley. Of the sons of John Bernard Wathen only Dick, at age >56, returned to the industry after >Repeal, becoming an executive with National Distillers. One of his >cousins, Nick Wathen's daughter >Florence Ellen, married Tom Medley and two of their children, Ben Medley >and Wathen Medley, were also >prominent in the post-Repeal whiskey business. The Medleys are a >Western Kentucky family who have >operated several distilleries in and around Owensboro, on the Ohio >River. Charlie Medley was making >Ezra Brooks there until about a year ago, when United Distillers closed >the plant and sold the brand to >Heaven Hill. > >The original Old Grand-Dad Distillery did not reopen after Repeal. Only >the plant's concrete footings, >and a crumbling creek rock wall around the old spring, remain at the >Hobbs Station site today. In 1940, >National Distillers bought the K. Taylor Distilling Co. at Elkhorn Forks >on the Georgetown Pike outside >Frankfort, and renamed it Old Grand-Dad. > >The first distillery on the site at Elkhorn Forks was built in 1901 by >John D. Hinde and associates. >During Prohibition, it was destroyed in a spectacular and mysterious >fire, which was fictionalized in the >climactic scene of Irvin S. Cobb's novel Red Likker. After Repeal, the >property was acquired by Kenner >Taylor, one of the sons of E. H. Taylor (founder of Old Taylor). Taylor >died before his new distillery was >finished, but when it opened in 1937 it was called the K. Taylor >Distilling Co. anyway. National made its >first entry of 112 barrels of Old Grand-Dad there on November 26, 1940. > >Old Grand-Dad continued to be made at Elkhorn Forks until Jim Beam >Brands Co. bought National in >1987. The sign outside now says Jim Beam. Whiskey is still stored and >bottled there, but not distilled. >Old Grand-Dad is now distilled at either Clermont or Boston. > >Of the many bourbons made and sold by the Wathen family, Old Grand-Dad >is the most prominent >brand still made today. "Old Grand-Dad" himself, Basil Hayden, now has >a brand in his own name too. >Basil Hayden's is one of the Jim Beam "Small Batch" bourbons. It is 8 >years old and 80 proof. >The story of American Whiskey is a story of families; the Beams, Browns, >Dants, Haydens, Medleys, >Motlows, Ripys, Samuels, Shapiras, Taylors, Wathens and Wellers. At >least six of these families have >touched the story of Old Grand-Dad, making it one of the richest in >bourbon country. >